Beach Chalets

Beach chalets, constructed in 1923 with later twentieth-century alterations. The structure is made of concrete with cast iron columns and railings, and features part-glazed timber panelling.

The complex consists of two terraces. The southern terrace is two storeys high and contains thirty-one single-cell changing huts on the ground floor. Fourteen additional huts and a café were introduced on the first floor in the later twentieth century. The northern terrace is single storey and contains seventeen single-cell changing huts, positioned below the bowling green. An open stairwell runs to the south, with a central open double stairwell serving both terraces.

Ground floor huts are accessed individually from the front (east). First floor huts in the southern terrace are entered individually from a communal rear access corridor, reached by double flight open stairs at the south and centre of the terraces.

The main façade faces the seafront. The southern terrace presents a two-storey row of timber-fronted, part-glazed beach chalets. Cast iron pillars with pierced decorative spandrels support the first floor and roof terrace, each equipped with iron railings. The concrete base of the railings is heavily moulded to resemble a string course. On the ground floor, part-glazed raised and fielded timber panelled double doors are flanked by single narrow windows, with timber louvered ventilation above. The eleven southernmost bays of the first floor provide a covered walkway; the four northernmost bays are occupied by the café. The fourteen upper huts added later have French doors flanked by narrow full-length windows, matching the style of the ground floor huts. The northern terrace is similarly constructed of concrete with timber fronts and cast iron columns with pierced decorative spandrels, though its original part-glazed doors and windows have been boarded over. The flat roof features a decorative cast concrete pierced balustrade and handrail and supports part of the bowling green.

Interior spaces are of simple construction, with either match board tongue and groove timber partitions or plastered and painted concrete partitions. A narrow rear corridor provides access to the upper huts via timber doors with rectangular fanlights above. A life guard station at the left hand end of the first floor is a late twentieth-century addition.

The chalets were constructed in 1923 at a cost of £11,000 as an unemployment scheme on land donated for public benefit by a local beneficiary. They were intended as a visitor attraction reflecting the popularity of the English seaside resort. The design embodies inter-war beliefs in the benefits of fresh air and outdoor activity, and represents changing social patterns following the Great War and embryonic ideas of state social responsibility. The fourteen chalets and café added later to the former first floor covered promenade were likely introduced to meet increased demand for bathing huts and contribute to the historical development of the complex.