Context 153 - March 2018

C O N T E X T 1 5 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 8 37 into Douglas on one of the old steam-packet boats. For us, it didn’t just point upwards to the sky. It pointed towards Fairy Bridge, towards Perwick, Silverdale, Bradda Glen, the limpet cities sprawling across the flat rocks ofThe Point.When our two weeks with Grandma were up, we’d watch the spike shrink down to nothing, blending into the horizon and blurred by tears, because we could hardly bear to leave the island that had our hearts.This is why I love this building. Not only is it an iconic part of our heritage, but also because it’s part of my family’s history, woven into our visual DNA through layers of memories you can’t put a price on.’ An early photograph shows the transport hub, with three steamers docked at Victoria Pier and another just visible on Edward Pier.The horse tram has pulled away from a new, rather grand, covered terminus.These trams were clearly still important, delivering holiday makers to their hotels along the promenade, and were an efficient way of dealing with the huge numbers arriving by steamer needing help to find their lodgings. The terminus has long since been demolished to provide additional car parking, but the horse trams still operate in the centre of the road along the promenade in the summer. They have seen a recent resurgence as a must-do experience for trippers on coach holidays or cruises, or as part of a historic transport weekend along with the steam railway and electric trams up the mountain. The building was completed in 1964. It may never really have had the visitor numbers it was designed for, although at peak times, such as TT fortnight, it is Ashley Pettit, an architect practicing in Douglas, represents the Isle of Man on the IHBC north west committee and the IHBC on the Isle of Man conservation forum. A drone view of the terminal today Holidaymakers in the Sea Terminal’s waiting hall, returning home after a summer holiday. In the winter the hall was used for exhibitions. The terminal in the 1960s a hub of activity. The building has been altered many times to accommodate new working systems, including the roll-on, roll-off ferry docks, where many of the passengers now arrive directly without passing through the building. The restaurant closed in 2008 and the building has been divided into offices for government departments, including until recently the island planning policy team, empowered with producing the plan for the east of the island, including Douglas.Their offices looked out across the bay, providing plenty of opportunity for blue-sky thinking, but the team has now been moved and is hidden away in central government offices. The whole complex is ripe for reassessment. The main building is not protected by registration or on an UK listing. While there is still access to records and to some of the staff who built and managed the early building, a conservation plan should be produced and options to reopen the upper floors assessed. The complex is cut off from the town by the road serving the dock, and the major route north and south, but it is close in many other ways, and as the only entry and exit from the island by car, it has been visited by every resident at some point. The terminal has been the starting point for many adventures, and the meeting point for friends and families returning to the island. It was built at an important turning point inManx history and there are few buildings of this quality from that period. The port is a vital link to the neighbouring islands and this building should be maintained as a flagship.