Cabmen's Shelter, Grosvenor Gardens

This cabmen’s shelter was first built in 1906 on Hobart Place, and subsequently moved to its current location in Grosvenor Gardens. It is a slightly modified version of the 1882 ‘ornamental’ design by Maximilian Clarke, commissioned by the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund. The shelter is constructed with an oak frame and deal cladding, painted green, and has an oak shingle roof.

The building’s plan is rectangular, with an open-plan galley kitchen and a communal area for cabmen. It is a single-storey structure of seven main bays and three end bays, situated on an elevated platform that extends across the pavement and road. The timber frame is prominent, with vertical boarding between the horizontal and vertical members. A main entrance door is on the north-east side, and a central pivoting serving window connects the kitchen to the north-west end for customer service. Square-headed windows with six panes and glazing bars, with pivoting hopper lights above (now mostly replacement frosted plastic), are evenly spaced along the sides of the shelter. Two sets of windows flank the entrance, and a trio are on the opposite side; the northern pair of these have been painted over. The south-east end features three windows, mirroring those on the side elevations. Decorative fretwork panels displaying the ‘CSM’ monogram, embellished with ribboned garlands, are positioned below the eaves between window bays. The half-hipped roof overhangs and exposes the joists. Louvered gablets are at the ends and sides, and a square, louvered ventilation lantern with ornamental dormers within a small, tented rooflet crowns the ridge.

Inside, the fittings are modern, but the original layout of a galley kitchen, serving hatch, and a separate communal area for the cabmen remains. Replacement bench tops and tongue-and-grove seat-back panelling are present in the communal section. A hatch to the ventilation lantern is retained in the ceiling.