Death, dereliction and destruction - The Curious Case of Jezreel's Tower.

This strange folly stood in Gillingham, Kent from 1885 until 1961. It was never completed and had already started to fall into dereliction when this misspelt  postcard was produced.

The building was the vision of self proclaimed prophet James Jershom Jezreel, the founder of  the Jezreelites sect.
He had grand plans for the tower which was to be their headquarters. These plans  included an amphitheatre to hold upto 5000 people, printing presses, castellated towers in a cube shaped building with a glass roof. Perhaps the most ambitious part of the project was the assembly room floor which would rise under hydraulic pressure on which a choir and preachers would rotate.  Along with gardens and stately avenues ,the estimated cost of the project was £25,000.
Jezreel did not live to see his vision realised. He died in March 1885, 6 months before the foundation stone was laid.
His unpopular widow carried on with the project,  alienating many of the followers along the way before she too died in 1888 at the age of 28. Her death put an end to any further building work.  
The Tower was sold in 1903 but only used by the few remaining Jezreelites for two years before demolition began.
However in  twist to the tale, the contractors employed to do this went bankrupt and demolition was only completed in 1961.
The strange building, fortunately for people like me, was a popular subject for postcards allowing people to marvel at the eccentricity of it all.