The Reeves family have lived  in Whitstable since 1732 that we know of for certain, but it could be possibly longer.
Reeves Yard was built in the 1899 by Stanley Reeves as a builder’s yard. It was originally of timber construction as can be seen in these early photos.  It previously had a machine shop to saw the felled timber, several offices and large stores for all the building materials.  Everything was moved around town by horse and cart in the early days.
 

In 1932 the yard was rebuilt because it was burnt to ground by an arsonist in September of that year.  The new building was constructed of brick to prevent further attacks.

In 1964 plans were drawn up to put a second story on the yard facing Albert Street, but this never went ahead, we are not sure why, but we think it was due to finances.

The yard you see today is much the same as it was in the 1930s.

First World War
During the War work was presented to Stanley Reeves Builders from the War Office with substantial extensions to their buildings in London and an order for 10,000 wooden bedsteads for the wounded.
We have accounts from the ledgers of Bomb filling in 1915 from the Zeppelin attacks over Whitstable.

1920's
The roaring twenties was a boom time for building in Whitstable.

This is when all of the houses in Warwick Road and Acton Road

were built.  New motorised trucks were purchased to make

carting materials easier.

1930's
The thirties were much the same as the twenties but with the

exception that the yard was burnt down by an arsonist. 

It was hastily rebuilt but this time in concrete instead of timber and looks much the same then as it does today.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               Original Yard                                                                       Brick built yard.
 

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Second World War
This war almost stopped the building production because nearly all of the men were sent off to fight.  We know this by the wages book and have heard firsthand accounts of Stanley Reeves sitting in his office pushing lumps of wood on to the fire all day because he had not much else to do. 
After the war the then labour government wanted houses built for returning troops and to replaced the ones that had been bombed and builders were required to build a certain number of houses for councils.  But unlike after the First World War the amount of money that the council/government paid per house made it very difficult for builders to break even let alone make a profit, which made the 1950s very hard times for builders.
Stanley Reeves Jr was fighter pilot in the Second World War and was taken prisoner on Crete and marched to Germany. His wages while he was prisoner of war were sent to his father to keep the building business afloat.  He stayed in the RAF until 1953 after that he came into the building business full time. The building trade continued through the 1950s but was never as successful as it had been in the 1920s and 1930s high taxes and PAYE also made it difficult to make a profit.  The glory days for Reeves Yard were sadly over.

1960's
In 1965 Stanley Reeves died and a very large amount of money was taken by the government for death duties.
So between 1965-68 as times were hard for builder’s Stanley Reeves Junior had had enough of the building trade. He packed up the building trade and rented out the units, and it has remained as rental units up to present times.
Some of yard was previously leased to the government for storage, and the lock up garages at end of alley (now units) were leased to the GPO and housed their Morris Minor post vans.
Reeves Yard has rented units to some very colourful characters over the years but that’s another story.
Reeves Yard has remained in family since it was built  by Stanley Reeves and we still have all the ledgers of the yard dated back to January 1907.

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Stanley Reeves Snr. 

Stanley Reeves was a prolific builder around Whitstable, he built all the houses in Warwick Road, Acton Road,  all the houses and flats in Cornwallis Circle, and many more around the town and in Tankerton and Chestfield.

Numerous places in Whitstable are named after the Reeves family, Reeves Beach, Reeves Ally, Reeves Way and not forgetting Reeves Yard. 

Today the business is run by Stanley's Grandson Adrian Reeves, and his Great Grandson James Reeves.