Warwickshire, Coventry, Hill Top, John F Kennedy House
Youth Hostel (20th Century)
Site Name Warwickshire, Coventry, Hill Top, John F Kennedy House
Classification Youth Hostel (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Stables; Bridge Club; Youth Hostel; Coventry Cathedral Youth Hostel; J F Kennedy Hostel; John F Kennedy House; John Kennedy House
Canmore ID 286022
Site Number SP37NW 6
NGR SP 3356 7912
NGR Description Centred on SP 3356 7912
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/286022
- Council Not Applicable
- Parish Not Applicable
- Former Region Not Applicable
- Former District Not Applicable
- Former County Not Applicable
Building Notes
Although Coventry Cathedral was completed in 1962, Sir Basil Spence continued to be employed as Cathedral Architect until his resignation five years later. In 1964 the Cathedral Council commissioned him to provide a refectory extension and separate youth hostel. W H Harrabin & Sons won the main building contract for this new commission. The youth hostel was part-funded by the government of West Germany in recognition of the damage caused to Coventry during the air raids of the Second World War. Willy Brandt, Mayor of West Berlin (and later Chancellor), opened the hostel on 24 April 1965, dedicating it to President John F Kennedy who had been assassinated two years previously. In 2000 the hostel was pulled down and replaced by a new office for the Cathedral designed by MJP Architects.
The site for the youth hostel was to the north west of the Cathedral and required the demolition of a stable block and the conversion of a ladies' bridge club into a common room with an attached kitchen. The hostel was three storeys high and built in brick. Above the common room was a first floor lecture area. The upper floor was a timber frame construction clad in slate and consisted of four square dormitories each with five bunk beds around the walls, central lockers, and its own pyramid skylight.
Archive Details and Summary
The Sir Basil Spence Archive holds 23 manuscript folders, 283 drawings, and 35 photographs relating to the youth hostel and refectory extensions. The drawings show all the design stages from first sketches to measured details of every part of the building. These are all housed with the material for Coventry Cathedral. There is only one contemporary newscutting in the Archive.
Business papers in the Archive show that all of the contractors had to submit tenders to see who could provide the work at the lowest price. This process ruled out several names that had served Spence well during the building of the cathedral, including the building firm John Laing & Son Ltd.
This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.
