Tram shelter

near Whitburn Road - Seaburn Terrace, Seaburn, Sunderland, SR6 8BZ

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Tram shelter, 1901-1904. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1467684
Date first listed:: 16-Mar-2020
List Entry Name:: Tram shelter
Statutory Address:: near Whitburn Road - Seaburn Terrace, Seaburn, Sunderland, SR6 8BZ

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1467684
Date first listed:: 16-Mar-2020
List Entry Name:: Tram shelter
Location Description:
Statutory Address 1:: near Whitburn Road - Seaburn Terrace, Seaburn, Sunderland, SR6 8BZ

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: near Whitburn Road - Seaburn Terrace, Seaburn, Sunderland, SR6 8BZ

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Sunderland (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: NZ4062259925

Summary

Tram shelter, 1901-1904.

Reasons for Designation

Seaburn tram shelter, 1901-1904 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is a rare, in a national context, and largely intact example of an early-C20 tram shelter; * it is an elegant and attractive tram shelter design with notable cast-iron work and internal seating.

Historic interest:

* an example of tram-era public transport in Sunderland, enhanced by its association with the heyday of the English seaside.

History

The Sunderland Tramways Company had operated a horse-drawn tramway in the town since 1879, which in 1900 was bought by Sunderland Corporation. Electrification of the service followed rapidly with the first converted service opening from Roker to Fawcett Street in August 1900. Work started on extensions to Grangetown, Fulwell and Sea Lane (Seaburn) the following year, and all had been upgraded by 1904. The tram shelter is depicted on the Third Edition Ordnance Survey map surveyed 1913-1914 (published 1919). The tram system closed on 1 October 1954, but the tram shelter has continued in use as a sea-front shelter and bus shelter.

Details

Tram shelter, 1901-1904

MATERIALS: timber-framed with cast iron columns and timber partitions; Welsh slate roof with terracotta ridging.

PLAN: rectangular of two by four bays.

EXTERIOR: the shelter occupies a site that slopes gently to the north with two-three wide steps up to it at this end. It is a timber-framed structure with chamfered and fluted detailing to its principal uprights. Slender cast-iron columns with fluted bases and crocketed capitals support ornamental arch braces to the boarded ceiling. The end screens have two top rows of small-paned glazing bars (missing to two windows) and one large row at waist height; the original glazing has been removed. The low pitched roof with a mixture of standard and fish-scale slates, has wide eaves with end, louvred half-gables, a plain terracotta ridge and the stumps of former ball finials. End ventilator shafts rise from the public conveniences below and the original rain water goods are retained.

INTERIOR: there are head-height central partitions along both axes creating four compartments, which would have allowed shelter whatever the wind direction. The partitions are boarded and have replacement low bench seating carried on original cast-iron supports.

Sources

Websites
FROM STAGECOACH TO METRO , accessed 31-12-2019 from http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland014.html

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.