Sun Pavilion and Sun Colonnade

The Sun Pavilion and Sun Colonnade, built in 1933 by Borough Surveyor Leonard Clarke, comprise a tea pavilion and promenade colonnade now operating as a hospitality venue following restoration in the 1980s and 1990s. The design combines Neoclassical architecture with Art Deco elements, constructed in mellow red brick with concrete dressings imitating sandstone.

The complex is located on the north side of Valley Gardens alongside Cornwall Road. The Sun Pavilion is built into a slope, featuring a main octagonal entertainment space with flanking service projections at the rear on the north side. The principal elevation faces south onto Valley Gardens, while an additional entrance introduced on the north side in the 1990s now serves as the main entrance. The Sun Colonnade wraps around the Sun Pavilion with concave arms before continuing north-eastwards for approximately 209 metres in a linear plan alongside Cornwall Road. Along its length it incorporates two smaller semi-octagonal pavilions and terminates in a third small rectangular pavilion 60 metres from the park's main entrance.

The single-storey Sun Pavilion is designed as a classical pavilion, with the main body consisting of a large double-height octagonal entertainment space top-lit by a large dome. Lower single-storey service projections extend on the east and west flanking sides alongside Cornwall Road. Windows are of bronze metal with margin lights, mainly set within concrete surrounds. The flat roofs are concealed behind parapets with concrete copings, and the dome has replaced external glazing.

Due to the sloping ground, only the upper part of the building is visible from Cornwall Road on the north side, whereas the full double-height character is visible from the other elevations. The wide three-bay north face features a large pediment with an entablature that continues around the other faces of the pavilion. The two outer bays each contain a large round-arched window with a brickwork lintel and concrete triple-keystone, while the wall edges have clasping pilasters with concrete Tuscan capitals. Projecting from the central bay is a pedimented enclosed porch added during the 1980s and 1990s restoration works, constructed in the same style and materials as the rest of the building. The porch has double doors on the north side and windows on the side returns. Metal balustrading interspersed with low brick and concrete piers, added at the same time as the porch and matching its style, is attached to the porch and encloses the building at the front. Flanking the central section and aligned with the north wall face are lower service wings, each with three sets of two-light mullioned windows containing square lights. Attached to the eastern wing is a section of walling enclosing a small yard, which connects to a further section of the wing wrapping around the east and south sides of the yard.

The principal south elevation faces Valley Gardens and originally formed the building's main entrance, with no patron entrance on the north side initially. It incorporates a glazed wall to the lower part comprising three sets of three-light double doors with cross-shaped bars to the upper lights, separated by fixed windows in the same style. Doors in the same style are present on the two side returns on each flanking side, with each set separated by rusticated pilaster strips. The canted corners are narrower and thus have only a single glazed door flanked by fixed windows. The upper part of the elevation features a five-light clerestory band with replaced glazing in the same style as the original glazing surviving elsewhere and shown in historic photographs. The side returns also have clerestory bands, with those on the canted corners having two lights. The south elevations of the two side wings are rendered and incorporate concave arcing sections without windows.

Wrapping around in front of the pavilion and its side wings on the south side is the Sun Colonnade, a covered promenade supported by concrete Tuscan columns and terminated by brick piers at the side wings. The floor has replaced paving. The colonnade in front of the side wings originally incorporated glazing between the columns in the same style as the pavilion's doors, but this has been removed. The section in front of the pavilion's south face and canted corners was always open in the style of a verandah. The spaces between the columns have since been infilled with low painted-metal balustrading believed to have been introduced in the late 20th century. The colonnade wrapping around in front of the pavilion and its side wings also originally had a glazed roof, but the glazing was removed during the late 20th century restoration works, leaving an original timber pergola ceiling structure beneath retained metal roof trusses and beams. The roof glazing has been replaced with modern Perspex sheeting to the section immediately in front of the pavilion's south face and canted corners. Set below the colonnade, arcing around the Sun Pavilion, is a full basement with an external access door in the south-west corner.

Beyond the eastern end of the east side wing, the Sun Colonnade continues for approximately 209 metres, constructed of the same materials and in similar style but using square Tuscan columns of brick with concrete bases and capitals instead of the concrete Tuscan columns used in front of the Sun Pavilion. The colonnade retains its original concrete paving slabs and pergola ceiling structure but has lost its original roof glazing which was formerly above. The colonnade incorporates two smaller semi-octagonal, double-height flat-roofed pavilions in similar style to the Sun Pavilion, with an entablature and parapet concealing flat roofs. It is terminated at the eastern end by a small rectangular pavilion with pediments to the north, east and south sides and concrete Tuscan columns flanking large openings. This pavilion has lost its roof glazing but retains its metal roof trusses and joists. The two intermediary pavilions have very large round-arched windows with moulded concrete heads and triple keystones, separated by rusticated piers. The window openings were originally glazed, but the glazing has since been removed and low late 20th century painted-metal balustrading inserted. Each pavilion is top-lit by a large lantern rooflight. The colonnade's north wall incorporates Tuscan pilasters that separate the wall into brick panels, some of which are blank and have an attached trellis, whilst the remainder have high-level traceried open windows. Openings in the north wall at three points along the colonnade's length access stair enclosures and brick and concrete access staircases leading up to Cornwall Road and a small electricity substation.

Internally, the Sun Pavilion has a large function space top-lit by a dome with Art Deco patterned stained glass set within a coffered ceiling supported on large decorative gilded brackets. The floor has been replaced, but bronze window furniture survives. Originally there was a stage on the north side of the space which housed an orchestra, but this has since been removed and a late 20th century sweeping staircase with a metal balustrade in the same style as that to the main entrance inserted to access the 1980s and 1990s main entrance and a small mezzanine seating area and wheelchair lift. On the mezzanine is a plaque recording the reopening of the building in 1998 by Her Majesty the Queen, and beneath the mezzanine is a storage area. The stage's moulded proscenium survives with bead and acanthus leaf decoration and is replicated in smaller versions on each of the pavilion's walls, which surround window and door openings. A modern bar counter in Art Deco style has been inserted to the right of the stair. Later inserted doorways lead into the flanking side wings. The west side has been modernised and contains toilets and a bridal changing room. The east side wing is less altered and contains a kitchen, cold store, storage areas, and a small office, as well as access to the rear yard. Some original moulded door architraves appear to survive, along with some doors and bronze door handles and hand and foot plates.

The interiors of the Sun Colonnade's intermediary pavilions and end pavilion have rendered walls, whilst the former also contain cornicing, moulded window heads, and panelling around the edge of the rooflights.