Sun Shelter, Cliff Gardens

Summary

A sun shelter, completed in 1928.

Reasons for Designation

The sun shelter in the Cliff Gardens of Southend-on-Sea is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an unusual example of a curving seaside shelter, the largest in the East of England;
* for its stripped Classical style, fusing tradtional architectural forms with the emerging moderne;
* for its designed relationship to the surrounding Cliff Gardens.

Historic interest:

* as an artefact of the heyday of the English coastal resort in the early C20, allowing day trippers to shelter in comfort from the varied weather of the Essex seaside;
* as the earliest and most complete survival of three 1930s shelters all of similar design that were constructed in the Westcliff area of Southend.

Group value:

* for its strong functional and historic relationship with the three Grade II listed late-Victorian shelters found within the Cliff Gardens.

History

Serious investment in Southend as a seaside resort began in 1791. A royal visit in 1804 boosted popularity, and in 1829 the first pier was built. The coming of the railways in the mid-C19 stimulated growth, first in 1856 with the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, which led to the development of Clifftown, followed by the Great Eastern in 1889. Southend flourished from the end of the C19 to the first half of the C20.

From 1885 to 1914 the borough acquired the area of the Cliff Gardens. The cliffs are around 20m high and had been subject to landslips which threatened the Esplanade along the waterfront. Under municipal ownership the cliffs received new drainage, planting and pathways in an attempt to stabilise the land and to contribute to the attractions of the town as a resort.

Three brick and stone sun shelters were created in the inter-war period; one each at the top and bottom of the Cliff Gardens and one between Clifton Drive and Western Esplanade. The upper shelter in the gardens was the first to be built and was completed in 1928, its roof forming a terrace on Westcliff Parade. The others followed in around 1930-1931. The lower shelter in the Cliff Gardens stood at the foot of St John’s Steps until its demolition in the 1970s. The further ‘horseshoe shelter’ on Western Esplanade was converted to become a restaurant in 2015.

The gardens below the upper shelter were made into a tiered rock garden in the early 1930s: several flights of stairs ran axially down from the centre of the shelter through various levels of interconnecting paths, terminating at the Esplanade below. Midway through the descent the axial route split into an imperial staircase landing at an elliptical area of level ground. The tiered gardens were lit by tall cage-like lamp standards with cuboid lamps.

Between 1945 and 1957 a series of railway posters advertising Southend as a resort were produced with the Sun Shelter as a prominent feature at the top of the cliffs.

Since its completion the partial glazing to the south elevation has been removed, though metal grids retain the pattern of the original glazing bars.

In 2001 the a major programme of works to conserve and enhance the Cliff Gardens was carried out with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, this included the refurbishment of the Sun Shelter and the reinstatement of the Art Deco lamp standards below it.

Details

A sun shelter, completed in 1928.

MATERIALS: the shelter is built of brick and Portland stone. The roof is covered in asphalt.

PLAN: the building forms a segmental arc facing south over the Thames estuary.

EXTERIOR: the sun shelter stands at the top of the Westcliff. The rear parts of the shelter are built into the cliff, and its flat roof merges into the promenade along Westcliff Parade.

The shelter has a bowed central section of three bays, symmetrical wings of three bays, and terminates in projecting square pavilions of a single bay. The bays are formed by Doric columns of Portland stone, round where they are in an open colonnade and square where they are joined to an unglazed grid of astragals.

There is a rooftop parapet of brick laid in Flemish bond, changing to a stone balustrade over the wing colonnades.

INTERIOR: wooden benches with arm rests run along the rear walls of the interior, facing out to the gardens beyond and the estuary below. Two grids of unglazed astragals separate the central bow from the wings. The floor and walls are finished in cement.

Sources

Websites
British Railways (Eastern Region) Southend-on-Sea poster (Kenneth Steel, around 1957), accessed 29/01/2025 from https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co445864/southend-on-sea-sun-shelter-the-cliffs
British Railways (Eastern Region) Southend-on-Sea poster (Frank H Mason, around 1950), accessed 19/02/2025 from https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co231356/southend-on-sea
London Midland & Scottish Railway / London & North Eastern Railway, 'Happy Holidays at Sunny Southend-on-Sea' poster (unknown artist, around 1945-1947), accessed 19/02/2025 from https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co231796/happy-holidays-at-sunny-southend-on-sea

Other
OS 25" Mapping from 1875 onwards
Historic Designed Landscapes of Essex Inventory Part VIII - Designed Landscapes of City of Southend-on-Sea (Sept 2024, Essex Gardens Trust)
'Southend Cliff Gardens – A review for National Listing on the Register of Park and Gardens' - Milton Society, September 2024

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