Context 153 - March 2018

C O N T E X T 1 5 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 8 35 ASHLEY PETTIT Celebrating the Sea Terminal Building The much-loved Sea Terminal Building in Douglas, built in the 1960s at an important turning point in Manx history, is one of the island’s best buildings from that period. The Isle of Man became a tourist destination in the 19th century, when in the summer months the island prospered and the port was busy with trippers. By the mid-1950s visitor numbers were declining, the Lancashire textile factories were closing and the traditional trip to the holiday island had competition from Europe. The government invested in a new airport terminal in Douglas in 1950, and in 1956 the Harbour Board began an ambi- tious scheme to revamp theVictorian dock facilities with an airport-style reception building. The first published scheme had many features we would recognise as being of that period, but the final building has a character of its own and was very much home grown. The design was developed by Davidson Marsh, a local firm established by Alex Davidson in 1928, with Robert Bruce as the job architect.The brief was for a building to be developed around the present facility in stages, so that sections of the old building could be demolished as new facilities were provided.The work was to be carried out mainly in the winter months over a period of four years. The design incorporated the Three Legs of Man symbol, dividing the narrow pier into three distinct areas: a covered waiting area (completed first, in 1962), a dockside reception area where the horse trams and foot passengers arrived, and a new entrance with parking for six double-decker buses where the two legs were curved in a continuous canopy, linking a covered way to the King Edward pier (the only public structure in Britain named after EdwardVIII) to the sweep of the promenade. Externally the building has a continuous wide canopy cantilevered out from the concrete portals. It is punc- tuated by porthole-like circular roof lights. Similar portholes are incorporated in the roof of the Crow’s Nest restaurant on the top floor, giving views of the spire from its base. The building is a celebration of concrete in its many forms.All the flat roofs were formed using Omnia beams, then a very new product. These were formed using a simple, lightweight, steel-lattice reinforced beam placed across the span, infilled with lightweight blocks and then infilled in situ with concrete to make a structural unit. The overall design was overseen by Gifford and Partners, a UK engineering practice, with all the components produced on the island. A terminal building by definition – be it an airport, bus station or seaport – provides an opportunity for the designer to produce a memorable building with a celebration of arrival, here expressed by the flowing sinuous curves of the main building (inside, all the cor- ridors lead you to your destination on a constant bend). There is even a circular staircase to the upper floors and an eccentric round lift shaft encased in concrete panels. A picture postcard showing the three-legs shape; the waiting room with its barrel ceiling set between two legs and overlooking the harbour; the Crow’s Nest supported on pillars (this area was filled in 1979); and the covered link to the Edward Pier.The small stone building in the harbour is the Tower of Refuge, built by SirWilliam Hillary as a place of safety for mariners shipwrecked entering the harbour in heavy seas.