Former Cleethorpes Railway Station Buildings (1884)

Former Cleethorpes Railway Station Buildings

The former Cleethorpes Railway Station buildings date from 1884 and were designed by Lockerbie and Wilkinson of Birmingham for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company. The group comprises the Refreshment Rooms, a Clocktower, adjoining station buildings, and entrance steps to the Promenade. The complex underwent alterations in the 1960s.

The buildings are arranged in an L-shape on plan. The eastern side contains the L-shaped Refreshment Room facing the Promenade with adjoining station offices to the north-west angle and entrance steps to the north-east corner. A range of station buildings extends to the west with the Clocktower on its western side. All structures are single storey except the Clocktower, which rises three storeys.

The Refreshment Rooms consist of a tall southern section with three bays to the east and west sides, a single bay with rounded corners to the south, and a lower three-bay northern section facing east towards the Promenade. The southern and east sides feature a red brick base with a chamfered plinth, brick pilasters with rounded angles and recessed panels in chamfered surrounds, and stone capping. An iron superstructure of spiral-moulded columns with composite capitals carries round-arched arcades to the southern section and basket arches to the northern section, all decorated with foliate ornament in the spandrels. Maker's plates are attached to the column bases.

The taller southern section retains its original timber framework to the west and south sides. Each bay has a timber apron with a pair of recessed panels flanking an attached central column with a moulded base and capital rising to a projecting sill that supports a taller similar column dividing a two-light window with single plate-glass panes below eight small panes. Above these sit traceried plate-glass windows with wooden round arches springing from the attached columns and roundels in the spandrels, forming an interlacing arcade with the cast-iron outer frame. Entrances with double doors are located to the north-west and south-west (the latter a later insertion). The south side retains original glazing and wooden tracery, though panels below have been replaced. The east side preserves original small-pane and traceried windows above, with replaced glazing and panels below. A rounded hipped roof with a raised flat central section covers this section.

The three-bay north-east section features a taller central bay with a moulded wooden pediment bearing ornate scrolled cast ironwork in its tympanum. The upper section retains original small-pane glazing, while twentieth-century glazing and panels sit below. A pitched roof covers the pedimented section, with flat roofs to either side. A single-bay return to the north side has a half-glazed door to the left and similar glazing to the east side.

A flight of five steps alongside the Refreshment Rooms rises from the Promenade to the section platform. These steps are constructed of red brick with ashlar treads and feature railings with plain bars and moulded principals with ball finials.

The adjoining single-storey station building has a gabled north front with a three-bay round-arched blind arcade, with a lower and narrower central arch. Pilasters with moulded ashlar bases and flush yellow brick bands support keyed yellow brick arches with hoodmoulds. A pair of round-headed plate-glass sashes to the left sits beneath an ashlar sill and yellow brick arch, while a board door stands to the right with an inserted door to the central bay. A stone-coped gable tops the north front. The west side displays a three-bay arcade with square brick piers; twentieth-century lintels and fascia have replaced former arches. The left bay features boarded infill, whilst the right contains an open passage with a pair of panelled doors and two-pane fanlights, that to the central bay beneath a yellow brick round arch, and that to the right in a recessed panel beneath a round arch with an ashlar key and hoodmould. A similar keyed arch fronts the open passage alongside the Refreshment Rooms.

The Clocktower is square on plan and comprises four stages constructed principally of timber with red brick to the first stage and cast-iron balcony, clock and cresting. The first stage features a moulded plinth to the west side, moulded timber angle pilasters with floral ornament to the tops, and a board door to the west side set in a keyed architrave beneath a panelled recess. Recessed panels to the north side (probably a former door) sit in a key architrave. Plain twentieth-century weatherboarding covers the second stage. The third stage has angle pilasters and pairs of recessed panels to each side containing raised keyhole-shaped panels with small circular windows. Ornate cast-iron brackets support a miniature balcony with a single rail carried by ornate posts with finials. The top stage displays ornate cast-iron clockfaces with Roman numerals in cast-iron surrounds with foliate motifs, a moulded wooden cornice, scrolled cast-iron cresting above each side, and a diagonally-set openwork cast-iron ogee spire supporting an ornate central finial with crown and weathervane.

The adjoining section to the north, facing the platform, comprises three bays with a narrower central bay, pilasters, twentieth-century lintel and fascia, and a plate-glass door and windows. The east side, facing the passage alongside the Refreshment Rooms, has twin round-headed keyed arches to the right with recessed panels containing a window and half-glazed panelled door with a two-pane overlight beneath round arches. A recessed section to the right contains a four-pane sash and a panelled door with a two-pane overlight beneath round arches. The south side of the range includes a twentieth-century rebuilt shop section with a rounded angle to the south-west and a hipped roof.

A passage between the Refreshment Room and Clocktower sections is spanned by a twentieth-century four-bay gabled glass roof.

The interior of the Refreshment Rooms contains attached square columns with mirror side panels and roundel ornament rising full height to a moulded cornice. A ribbed roof with wrought-iron ties decorated with ornate pendant drops at intersections completes the interior.

Early illustrations of the station depict a rounded hipped pavilion roof to the open passage, a clocktower with an arch on the south side of the bottom stage and a miniature balcony to a short panelled second stage, and ornate ironwork decoration to the Refreshment Rooms roof—features that have been altered or lost.