Tram Shelter (Adjacent To Blue Reef Aquarium)

Early 20th-century former tram shelter, originally located in Southsea Terrace, now positioned at Clarence Esplanade where it serves as a bus shelter. Built in the 1920s by David Rowell & Co. of Howick Place, Westminster, London S.W., the base of each column bears the maker's inscription.

The shelter is constructed of panelled iron and glass with cast-iron column supports. The design comprises four bays divided by columns. Each bay contains a four by two glass window above a solid iron panel plate, with raised ribbon band decoration applied to the inner side. The columns feature bell capitals decorated with leaf motifs and moulded bases; the end columns are topped with cast-iron finials. The slight lean-to wooden roof is covered with felt or lead and carries ornamental cast-iron cresting. It is supported by ornate scroll-pattern cast-iron cantilever brackets.

The shelter has particular significance as a remnant of Portsmouth's tramway era. In May 1865 the Landport & Southsea Tramways Company opened Britain's first statutory street tramway, running from the joint London & South Western Railway and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway station at Landport through Portsmouth town centre to Clarence Pier at Southsea, originally intended to connect with Isle of Wight ferries. The tramway system was subsequently expanded by other companies including the Portsmouth Street Tramways Company (1874) and The General Tramways Company of Portsmouth (1878). By 1883 the Provincial Tramways Company Ltd. had consolidated these operations under the Portsmouth Street Tramways Company name. Following the Portsmouth Corporation Tramways Act of 1898, the Corporation purchased the lines within the borough on 1 January 1901. The tram system declined during the early 20th century and was progressively replaced by trolleybuses from 1934 onwards. The last tram ran on 10 November 1936.

The shelter was relocated from Southsea Terrace to Clarence Esplanade in 1999 due to vandalism at its previous location. It is now situated at the rear edge of the footway between the Crimean Monument and the Tourist Information Centre, north of the Blue Reef Aquarium. This shelter and one at Gunwarf Quays are the only remaining tram shelters in Portsmouth. The shelter has group value with early 20th-century lamp columns on the south side of Clarence Esplanade, approximately 65 metres to the east, and the Crimean Monument, approximately 70 metres to the west.