Britannia Mansions And Attached Railings

Britannia Mansions comprises a pair of seaside terraced houses on Marine Parade, Saltburn, now converted into flats. They were built between 1863 and 1864 by John Ross of Darlington for the Saltburn Improvement Company, originally as Britannia Terrace. The construction utilized mainly white brick with red sandstone and fossil limestone dressings, with a red brick gable on the left return side; the roof is Welsh slate with fishscale mansard and brick chimneys. Wrought-iron balconies and handrails are also present.

The houses are four storeys high, with attics and a basement, and feature a six-window front. External access is via ten steps leading to a double door with a circular central panel and a shaped overlight, framed by limestone shafts and a recessed red sandstone surround. The ground floor also includes casement windows with stone surrounds, retaining glazing bars in No.9. The basement windows are set behind segmental arches with a red brick arch surround and cast-iron piers supporting a ground-floor arcade. First-floor windows are full-length, with scroll brackets beneath cornices and central raised decoration. Second-floor sashes have shallow balconies with pierced stone balustrades and dripmoulds; smaller third-floor sashes are similarly detailed. The eaves cornice is deep, featuring elaborate modillions, and there are two segmental headed dormers on each house. The roof has inserted glazed lights at No.7.

The ground-floor cast iron balustrade incorporates arched panels, lozenge dogbars, and leaf and tendril iron brackets forming elliptical arches above tapered octagonal cast-iron columns supporting the first-floor balcony. The first-floor balustrade has an ornate geometric pattern. Interior details are unrecorded. Area railings echo the ground floor balustrade design, and twisted balusters support wide iron handrails flanking the steps to the main entrance. No.9 served as the summer residence of Henry Pease, the founder of the Saltburn Improvement Company.