Seating shelter and viewing terrace to front of St Nicholas Gardens

Sheltered seating and viewing terrace, dating between 1904 and 1907, designed by Harry W Smith, Scarborough Borough Engineer and Surveyor. The structure is partly accessed from St Nicholas Gardens, which Smith redeveloped as public gardens officially opened in 1900.

The narrow, rectangular terrace is divided into two structures, one either side of the approximately central gardens entrance. Each has a seating area at road level and a viewing platform on the flat shelter roof, reached by short flights of steps in the gardens.

The sheltered seating and viewing terrace stands at the bottom of St Nicholas Gardens, bounding the west side of Foreshore and looking out over South Bay. The south side of the structure is ten bays long and the north side is eleven bays long, both constructed in the same manner and of similar appearance.

The seating shelters have a frame of cast-iron arcades to the front and are a single arch deep. The shallow segmental arches are carried on slender columns with swagged Ionic capitals and attic bases. The cast-iron arch spandrels have ornamental open-work incorporating rose motifs. Above is an entablature beam with moulded cornice, giant panelled cast-iron keystones at the centre of the arches, and fluted shaped brackets with female heads over the columns.

Within the shelters the roofs are formed of concrete slabs and the floors are a continuation of the tarmacked pavement surface. The back walls are of glazed brick standing on concrete plinths and built against the retaining wall of the gardens. The lower half of these walls is brown glazed brick with cream glazed brick above.

The fronts and sides of the viewing platforms are enclosed by replacement iron railings braced by shaped console brackets to the outside. On the rear side the platforms have stone edging and are placed on top of orange brick retaining walls with a hedge planted adjacent. At the outer ends of the platforms are square brick piers to which the side railings are attached. The outermost pier of each platform has a stone band and is missing the cap; the innermost pier of each platform has a moulded stone cap.

Both platforms have altered flights of steps up from the gardens flanked by original brick gate piers with moulded stone caps at the rear of the platforms. The north platform retains an original flight of four stone steps at a right-angle to the platform with low brick side walls with stone coping and square piers with moulded stone caps.

The materials used are cast-iron, orange brick and glazed brick, stone dressings, and concrete.