Beach Huts And Cafe

Beach Huts and Café, early 20th century with minor later 20th century alterations

This group of beach huts and café is situated within South Cliff gardens, a public park to the south of Scarborough overlooking the sea. The buildings represent a pioneering development in seaside resort architecture and are among the earliest examples of their type in England.

The café occupies a level upper terrace within a stone walled enclosure. A stone stair with balustrades and interval square piers with ball finials leads down the cliffside to the beach. The beach huts comprise two groups of 11 single cell changing rooms arranged on terraces set either side of the stone stairs immediately below the café, with further rows of 6, 2 and 3 huts to the south.

The huts are constructed of overlapping timber boards with original French doors, now with applied panels, painted in primary colours. All have white painted open latticework timber verandas. Roofs are hipped or pitched with orange tile and prominent sprockets; the most northerly two rows have modern replacement roof covering and projecting end bays with canted bay windows to their gable ends. The interior of each hut is simply constructed and clad in tongue and groove timber, painted with dado rails, with boarded floors, double full height corner cupboards and small folding tables.

The café has a projecting central section of 3 bays with a hipped roof, surmounted by a square clock tower with four faces and pyramidal roof bearing an ornate weather vane. The central projecting entrance bay has a dentilled segmental pediment carried on an entablature, with glazed French doors flanked by glazed windows below. To either side of the central section are single storey ranges each of 3 bays formed by a wooden blind arcade of open latticework mirroring that of the beach huts. The first bay of each range contains glazed French doors with others having large glazed windows, and the ends of each range are canted and formed of glazed windows. The café building has prominent sprockets mirroring those of the beach huts. Internally, the original plan form is retained with the central room having original wooden panelling, a delft rack and original coat hooks. Above the higher central section, access is gained to the clock tower with an original working clock from a small loft.

The beach huts and café were constructed in 1911–12 as part of the overall scheme to improve visitor facilities at South Cliff during the early 20th century, close to the area known as 'children's corner'. They pioneered the chalet style of terraced beach huts in England, following closely after similar developments at North Bay, Scarborough in 1911. This building type represented a significant shift from the wheeled bathing machines previously used, reflecting changing ideas about social decorum and the development of the modern seaside resort. Scarborough itself was England's first seaside resort and continued to lead innovation in seaside facilities. South Cliff had begun development as a select resort from the mid 19th century with the construction of The Crown Hotel and the Esplanade in 1845, followed by further development between 1864 and 1880 including South Cliff baths, a tramway, a new Spa Hall and grand terraces. South Cliff gardens were laid out from around 1910 and included an Italian garden in 1912. The beach huts and café are intact with original plans and interior features largely preserved, and they capture the spirit of Edwardian seaside leisure.