There are many seaside shelters that have been listed across the country, 30 that I’ve considered so far when looking through Historic England’s online listings database. List entry details vary depending on the local authority, some are better than others and give a better insight into the reason for designation, using headings from Historic England’s Significance guidance. Others just give a general description of the shelter with little detail on its history or designer. Part of my research included looking through as many of these listings as I could in order to consider the reasons for listings. Were they listed on their own individual merit as a piece of architecture, did they represent a particular point in history, or were they an important part of the seaside landscape?
What became apparent was the combinations of reasons for listing, some including as much as all of the above. The shelters were often forming part of a group with other seaside structures such as gardens. Some shelters formed a part of each towns social history as an important seaside resort. Some were considered because of their degree of architectural detailing. Some were fine examples of Victorian/Edwardian architecture representing that period of taking holidays. And some were because of the Architects and designers, such as the Pulhamite structures in Ramsgate and the more modern shelters in Hastings forming part of Sidney Little's grand scheme for Hastings Promenade.
The variety of reasons for listings could be considered as a lack of consistency in the ways buildings have been chosen as listed over the last few decades, but could also represent the variety of important meanings the shelters have within our society; visual in terms of architectural detailing, important as part of a seaside ‘group’, a part of the social seaside history and representative of different architects.
The example images below are a selection of listed structures from Historic England’s database;
Comments