Lee Tower Opens

1935

Lee Tower, an Art Deco entertainment complex, opened on the seafront at Lee-on-the-Solent in 1935, providing the town with its most distinctive architectural landmark. The building was designed in the streamlined Moderne style that was fashionable in the 1930s, with a prominent tower that could be seen from across the Solent and served as a visual beacon for the resort. The complex housed a ballroom capable of holding several hundred dancers, a theatre for stage shows and cinema screenings, a restaurant, bars and function rooms. It was intended to be the centrepiece of Lee-on-the-Solent's entertainment offer, competing with the larger dance halls and theatres in Portsmouth, Gosport and Southampton. Lee Tower attracted name-brand dance bands and performers throughout the late 1930s, drawing audiences from across south Hampshire. The ballroom in particular became a popular venue for weekend dances, and the building became the social heart of the town. For a resort that had always been relatively quiet and genteel compared to its larger neighbours, Lee Tower represented a step towards a more popular and commercially ambitious form of seaside entertainment. The building's Art Deco design was striking for a small Hampshire coastal town. The clean lines, curved surfaces, decorative metalwork and distinctive tower gave Lee-on-the-Solent a landmark of genuine architectural quality. Contemporary photographs show a building of considerable style, standing out against the modest Victorian and Edwardian houses that lined the surrounding streets. Lee Tower opened just four years before the Second World War, and the conflict disrupted its commercial potential almost immediately. The building was requisitioned for military use during the war years, and although it returned to civilian entertainment after 1945, it never fully recaptured the promise of its pre-war opening.