Blackpool Middle and Lower Walk colonnades including associated retaining walls and pillar in Jubilee Gardens, Claremont, Blackpool

Summary

Colonnaded portal with stairs, of 1923, and a colonnaded public path with a cantlievered roof, of 1923-1925.

Description

Colonnaded portal to sea-front paths, of 1923, and a covered sea-front path with a promenade above, of 1923-1925, by JC Robinson of the Borough Surveyor’s Department.

MATERIALS: reinforced concrete.

DESCRIPTION: standing on the sea-front facing west, between the lower walk path and the upper promenade, and running for approximately 1km south from Gynn Square.

The northern (lower walk) colonnade, segmental in plan, is in neoclassical style, with a granite plinth and reinforced-concrete structure. A splayed stair with solid balustrades descends the plinth at either end, allowing access from the lower walk to the ten-bay colonnade, of paired Tuscan columns. Bays 1 and 2 (from the left) are blind, with blind windows. The flanking walls are rusticated, that to the right continuing as a retaining wall for the ramp down to middle walk, from the promenade. This wall has several original openings and a modern café shopfront*; the interiors* behind the wall are not included in the listing. The wall to the rear of the colonnade is also blind, save for a portal opposite the north stair, which accesses steps down from the north and south. A simple balustrade runs at promenade level. At the left this terminates in a giant pillar with pronounced cornice, mouldings and decorative cartouche. Another alike stands in the sunken gardens. That one has a plaque* mounted on it that records the deaths of three police officers in a sea rescue attempt in January 1983.

The southern (middle walk) colonnade is a cantilevered promenade above a walkway that is alongside, and mostly raised above the level of, the middle walk itself, with various surface finishes to the sloping surface between the path and the covered walkway. The colonnade comprises five bowed bays (segmental on plan) alternating with six flat bays, and flanking walls at either end where the path ramps up to the main promenade. The bowed bays have structural columns and slab-and beam roofs, and form portals between the promenade and middle walk, via balustraded ramps. The flat bays have cantilevered roofs, with non-structural pillars and edge beams.

At its north end, the walk ramps down from Gynn Square, adjacent to the Lower Walk colonnade. The retaining wall mimics rusticated stonework with moulded pillars, and a pierced neoclassical balustrade (with modern railings* on top). The covered walkway has a northern terminal pillar with Greek key frieze and an arched niche. Bay 1 (from the north) has a regular rhythm of seven similar pillars, of twin columns joined by a capital similar to this terminal pillar. The retaining wall and cantilevered roof have regularly-spaced supporting ribs with chamfered edges. Between the pillars is a moulded non-structural edge-beam, with neoclassical railings with a casting mark identifying the makers as T Blackburn and Sons Ltd of Preston. To the front of the bay is a sloping margin. Some original low dry-stone walls survive flanking the paths that cross this margin, but much of the margin slope is covered with later rockery work* (natural and artificial) and paving*.

The junction between bay 1 and bay 2 is marked by a pillar like the terminal pillar, but without the niche. Bay 2 comprises a segmental bowed colonnade of 16 round Tuscan columns, with flanking pavilions each with two pairs of similar columns (the outer column at either end being square). A solid balustrade above a moulded cornice fronts the promenade level. Parallel with the colonnade, the curved ramp rises from the right towards the left, with plainer square pillars running up from the ramp’s solid balustrade to the roof. Ribs run across the soffit from these pillars to the front columns. The ramp slot has a low solid balustrade at promenade level.

The rest of the colonnade is of similar appearance. Due to an increasing rise from the adjacent path to the colonnaded path, towards the south, the other bowed bays have rusticated risers, and railings between the columns of the same design as the parapet railings on the straight bays. Bays 3 and 5 have six pillars, while 7, 9 and 11 have five. None of these has the ribs present in bay 1. Bay 7 has concrete terraces* in place of much of the margin slope. Bay 11 has walls* between the last two pillars and the colonnade terminal, to create two rooms* for lifeguard use. The retaining wall at the south end steps down to the entrance to middle walk, and terminates with a short pillar of the same design as those at the northern entrance to middle walk, matching the base of the extant massive pillars at Gynn Square.

* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the: modern café shopfront inserted in the retaining wall of the ramp from the promenade to the middle walk; the commemorative plaque attached to the large pillar in the sunken gardens; the modern railings on top of the retaining wall at the north end of the ramp down from the promenade to the middle walk; the later rockery work (natural and artificial) and paving to the margin slope between the middle walk’s covered walkway and the middle walk path; the concrete terraces adjacent to bay 7 of the middle walk colonnade; the walls infilling the south end of bay 11 of the middle walk colonnade; and the two rooms behind these walls, are not of special architectural or historic interest. However any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require listed building consent and this is a matter for the local planning authority to determine.

History

After a leisure-industry ‘gold rush’ of explosive growth in the second half of the C19, the early C20 saw a programme of improvement and extension of Blackpool’s promenade and its sea defences, by the surveyor’s department. In common with many other resorts, Blackpool recognised the need for investment in public infrastructure to continue the earlier growth that had resulted largely from novelty.

In 1923, when the artificial cliffs immediately to the north were built, the lower walk colonnade was constructed as a formal portal to steps between the lower walk (along the foot of the cliffs) and the upper promenade. When the colonnade was built, four monumental concrete pillars were built on the promenade, surmounted by giant urns. Two of these pillars flanked the entrance from the promenade to the upper level of the colonnade, while two flanked the head of the ramp from the promenade down to the middle walk, where from 1923 to 1925 another, much larger colonnade was built.

The middle walk colonnade was chiefly designed to provide a new pedestrian promenade along its roof, thus freeing up the existing promenade for the tramway, which was removed from the road so more vehicles could use it. The upper walkway was cantilevered over the covered walkway below, with non-structural columns; only at the segmental bays do the columns actually support the weight of the structure above.

Both colonnades were designed by John Charles Robinson. A design sketch in a 1922 newspaper article announcing the middle walk colonnade project shows that the segmental bays were expected to be flanked at balustrade level by pillars like the four which were built for the lower walk colonnade. These four were of the same design as four pillars formerly at a model yacht pond which was also built in the early 1920s at the south shore, where the sculpture ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’ now (2021) stands. However, the middle walk colonnade was built without these pillars. Historic mapping and photos also show that the sloping margin alongside the colonnade was originally planted, with some of the ramped paths down it at the south end bordered by low dry-stone walls (some of which remain in place).

The steps of the lower walk colonnade have been altered. A former path crossing above the landing between the two flights of steps has been widened to accommodate a small late-C20 toilet block. The steps’ concrete balustrades have been replaced with railings, although the small terminating pillars at the head of the steps survive, each with the base of a former cast-iron lamp standard. At an unknown date the southern two of the massive pillars, flanking the entrance ramp to middle walk, were cut off at balustrade level. The northern two, flanking the promenade entrance to Gynn Square, remain in place but have lost the giant urns which originally surmounted them.

The middle walk colonnade remains largely unaltered, although the slopes abutting the straight bays have had their planted surfaces covered (probably beginning in the 1930s) with later rockery work and paving (thought to be locally designed), and one bay has concrete terraces. Modern railings have been added to the top of the parapet wall near Gynn Square. Substantial areas of the beams, slab and columns have been replaced (mainly in the bowed bays) with new concrete and stainless-steel reinforcement, due to the impact of the marine environment on the original material. Former underground toilets at the south end have been filled in with concrete.

From 1920 to 1944 John Charles Robinson was chief architectural assistant to three successive borough surveyors in Blackpool, and eventually became borough architect. Although attributed to the surveyor heading the department, drawings for many corporation buildings were largely Robinson’s work, including the Cabin lift (National Heritage List for England 1393721).

Reasons for Listing

The Middle and Lower Walk colonnades in Blackpool, respectively a colonnaded public path with cantilevered roof, of 1923-1925, and a colonnaded portal with stairs, of 1923, both by JC Robinson, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* comprising covered walks with good neoclassical detailing and technically-sophisticated, reinforced-concrete cantilevering;

* designed by the borough surveyor’s chief architectural assistant John Charles Robinson, who eventually became borough architect and also designed Blackpool’s Grade II-listed Cabin lift.

Historic interest:
* as important examples of inter-war seafront improvements, in one of the world’s largest seaside resorts, reflecting late-C19 growth in the leisure industry and the higher standards of amenity expected by early-C20 visitors, and also reflecting early-C20 growth in motor transport.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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