Latitude: 53.3285 / 53°19'42"N
Longitude: -3.3936 / 3°23'36"W
OS Eastings: 307282
OS Northings: 382193
OS Grid: SJ072821
Mapcode National: GBR 4YRY.2J
Mapcode Global: WH768.VL5N
Plus Code: 9C5R8JH4+CH
Entry Name: Hillside Gardens Shelter
Listing Date: 12 September 2001
Last Amended: 12 September 2001
Grade: II
Source: Cadw
Source ID: 25744
Building Class: Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces
ID on this website: 300025744
Location: To the south side of Hillside, about 150 m east of junction with Bishopswood Road.
County: Denbighshire
Community: Prestatyn
Community: Prestatyn
Built-Up Area: Prestatyn
Traditional County: Flintshire
Tagged with: Architectural structure Observation deck
When Hillside garden shelter was built in 1929 this was the highest point on the Prestatyn to Gwaenysgor road readily reached by motor transport, and provided a fine view over Prestatyn and the north Welsh coast. Taking full advantage of this viewpoint a shelter was constructed at the expense of a local benefactor, J F King of Stoneby, and presented to the town of Prestatyn on the 6th of December. The structure is an innovative early use of concrete, probably combining precast and cast in situ elements. The contractors were Whiteley Brothers of Wrexham.
Tree-planting work in the vicinity had commenced in 1924, though most of the work to convert the surrounding quarry-land into a terraced garden took place in the 1930s as unemployment relief.
A viewing platform in the form of two terraces, the larger upper one concave at the front and the lower one convex. The upper terrace projects to provide a sheltered area to the rear of the lower one for use in inclement weather. The shelter is in five bays between concrete pillars and with large steel windows at each side.
Both terraces have at front a balustrade consisting of square concrete balusters, with a broad concrete rail at top, and divided into bays by concrete piers. The lower terrace has three bays of balustrading at front, the upper has five bays at front corresponding to the pillars beneath and with return bays to the sides and rear.
An unusual and innovative concrete garden structure, the centrepiece of a public garden marking the continued development of Prestatyn as a resort in the early C20.
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