Southport Arts Centre with entrance to Cambridge Arcade

The Southport Arts Centre, with its entrance to Cambridge Arcade, is a public assembly hall and theatre built between 1871 and 1874, with later alterations. It was designed by Maxwell and Tuke and is constructed of sandstone ashlar with slate roofs. The building is in a French Renaissance style. It features a large rectangular plan with projected corners connected by a loggia incorporating a porte cochere, and an arcade entrance attached to the left, linking to the Town Hall. A tower is located on the south-west corner.

The principal facade is two storeys and an attic high, with a symmetrical arrangement of 1:7:1 windows. Features include a plinth, channelled rustication to the ground floor, an enriched frieze and cornice extending over the loggia, port cochere, arcade entrance, and archway. The roof has a turreted Baroque design on the north corner, an attic dormer in the centre, and an elaborate lead-clad spire atop the tower, displaying clock faces.

The loggia and porte cochere consist of arcaded bays with cylindrical columns, prominent crocketed capitals, stilted segmental arches with enriched heads, and round-headed entance arches and windows. The flanking end bays contain single square-headed windows with run-out voussoirs. The upper floor has tall round-headed windows with moulded imposts and circular glazing bars. The Cambridge Arcade entrance has a two-bay screen of round arches, a moulded frieze inscribed "CAMBRIDGE ARCADE," and a balustraded parapet. A passage entry, bridged by a stilted segmental arch linking to the Atkinson Library and Art Gallery, has a similar style and a frieze inscribed “VICTORIA / SCHOOLS of SCIENCE and ART.”

The interior includes an imposing entrance hall with a stone staircase. The foundation stone was laid by Princess Mary of Cambridge, in whose honour the building was originally named. The Arts Centre forms a group with the Town Hall adjoining it to the left and the Atkinson Library and Art Gallery to the right.