Description

MORECAMBE AND HEYSHAM

SD4364 MARINE ROAD CENTRAL, Morecambe
939-1/5/45 (South side)
07/10/77 Nos.207-214 (Consecutive)
The Winter Gardens

II*

Theatre. 1896 by Mangnall and Littlewood.
Rear elevations rendered, facade of red terracotta and brick.
Slate roof.
Facade has central doorway, and 6 shop units with some degree
of C20 disfigurement but with some original doors and fascias.
In front are cast-iron columns which supported a glazed
canopy, now demolished. Above, the two 3-storey corner towers
are linked by a glazed 1st floor arcade with balustrade and
central projection. The towers have 3rd floor lunette windows,
and shaped gables with finials. The wide central gable is set
back and has a lunette below a stepped coping with volutes and
finials.
Interior: the richly-decorated entrance foyer has a mosaic
floor, a ceiling of elaborate plasterwork, dark timber
revolving doors, 3 box offices, and inner carved doors with
leaded glazing. The walls are of terracotta and colured glazed
tiles.
Stairs rise to left and right and have marble steps, mosaic
landings, glazed terracotta balustrades, and tiled dados.
At 1st floor level the foyer to the circle is in a similar
style, with a plasterwork ceiling and wall panels, and 2
flights of stairs leading to the upper circle.
The auditorium has a plasterwork ceiling with arched ribs
spanning the 118ft width and with richly decorated panels. The
2 tiers of balconies have raking seating and ornamented
fronts.
The procenium arch has an entablature, columns, and scrolled
brackets, all enriched with ornament. It is flanked by 2 tiers
of paired boxes with curved fronts.
The earliest part of the Winter Gardens complex, originally
the 'People's Palace', which opened in 1878, lay to the west
of the surviving building and was demolished in 1982.
(Bingham R: Lost Resort?: 147, 273).

Listing NGR: SD4309864383

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Morecambe Winter Gardens at Wikipedia
• Morecambe Winter Gardens official website
• Wikidata Q15256189

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)