Madeira Terrace, Madeira Walk, lift tower and related buildings

Madeira Terrace is an 865-metre-long covered cast-iron terrace and walkway with an integral former shelter hall and three-stage lift tower, built between 1890 and 1897. It was designed by Philip C Lockwood, the Brighton Borough Surveyor.

The complex stretches from the Colonnade on Madeira Drive to the west to Duke's Mound to the east, facing south towards the sea and standing against the concrete-faced cliff behind. The terrace and walkway are approximately 8 metres deep, with the covered terrace at sea level supporting an open walkway above. The structure comprises predominantly cast iron or wrought iron, with English bond brick elevations to the lift tower and former shelter hall, which also features metal-framed windows.

The most striking feature is the monolithic cast-iron terrace, formed of 151 round-headed arches carried on single columns of a fanciful marine order. The spandrels are scalloped and formed by concentric rings of quatrefoils, creating a pierced sun screen. Their keystones are cast to resemble either female or bearded male deities, possibly Venus and Neptune. The arches are linked by horizontal beams carrying box-guttering and supporting railings above, which follow the standard Brighton seafront design with geometric patterns featuring diagonal struts and central circular motifs.

The walkway above the terrace is supported by wrought-iron shallow segmental trusses fixed into the cliff. Along its length are four shelters, each with a wide shallow-pitched roof supported by plain cast-iron columns, together with decorative cast-iron benches and late-20th-century rectangular planters.

Towards the east end sits a single-storey former shelter hall with a projecting centre bay of 11 windows and recessed wings of seven bays either side. The central entrance has a classically-styled round-headed door case with curved pediment and decorative moulding. The paired timber doors are square-headed and Gothic in character, with quatrefoil detailing to the upper glass panels. The fenestration comprises round-headed metal windows with cast-iron fanlights, six glass panes and margin-lights, set between cast-iron columns with moulded socles and chamfered-bell capitals supporting a concave-curved metal sun canopy. Below the windows is a panel of English bond brick.

The lift tower rises in three sections above ground floor level. The first faces south and consists of an exit set under a porch supported on cast-iron composite columns with pierced brackets, supporting a shallow concave metal roof topped by a metal lantern-type roof with pierced decorative frieze. The mid-section is constructed of brick with octagonal corner pilasters supporting a moulded stone entablature, with a single slender round-arched window to each return. The top section at road level is surrounded on three sides by a square platform with railings following the Brighton seafront design. All four sides of the top section have octagonal corner piers with pairs of thin columns supporting a concave pagoda-type metal roof with broad eaves, surmounted by a Beaux-Arts dome covered with metal fish-scale tiles. This is topped with a metal dragon figurine at each corner and supports a weather vane consisting of a globe supported by dolphins. The infill walls and roof soffit are timber and glazed, painted over.

Access throughout the complex is provided by five sets of steps along its length connecting the three levels. At the western extent, a ramp rises from beach level to the promenade, with commercial units housed within its brick arches. The last cast-iron arch to the western side is brick-faced, and the preceding four arches are half in-filled with brick from a former 20th-century toilet. The area beneath the ramp has seven round-arched commercial units in brick, increasing in height to follow the ramp profile.

The shelter hall interior features a large entrance hall with an ornate cast-iron rail separating it from the lift entrance. To the west and east are former reading rooms, the western now a bar and the eastern divided into changing rooms, with toilets to either side. Throughout the hall are high ceilings with rectangular moulded-plaster decoration and timber wall-panelling to half-height. The principal fenestration features stained-glass fanlights with art-deco patterns of green petals, curved bands of blue lights, and orange circular motifs above. The floor is timber-boarded. Formal internal doors follow the Gothic pattern of the main entrance, set within tall classically-styled door cases, together with late-20th-century flat-faced doors and bar fittings. The lift has sliding metal grille-type doors and is timber-lined.