Green Shelters
Spa Commons
Small places
to pause
We're exploring the restoration of Harrogate's distinctive green shelters, a collection of historic timber pavilions scattered along the town's promenades and public gardens.
Once part of the everyday experience of the spa, these modest buildings offered places to pause, take shelter, enjoy the fresh air and watch the passing world.
Our ambition is to conserve their architectural character, restore their original purpose and bring new care and attention to the landscapes around them.
Together, they could form a renewed network of beautiful, welcoming places to rest and enjoy Harrogate's extraordinary public realm.
Project Infomation
Location
The Stray & Library Gardens
Programme
Spa Commons / Stray 250
Building
Historic timber shelters
Status
Conservation proposal in development
![Foraging on the Stray [Credit George Eglese].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d4a71e_f6fb91e5e6944bf1bd9760cbce7e9806~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_653,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Foraging%20on%20the%20Stray%20%20%5BCredit%20George%20Eglese%5D.jpg)
History
The architecture of taking the air
Promenading was an essential part of Harrogate's spa culture. Visitors came not only to drink the waters and take treatments, but to walk, breathe the fresh air, admire the gardens and participate in the social life of the town.
The Stray and its surrounding promenades formed an expansive landscape for exercise, recreation and convalescence. Bath chairs carried visitors between hotels, springs and gardens, while tree-lined walks and sheltered places offered opportunities to rest and enjoy the passing scene.
Among the most distinctive features of this landscape are the green-painted timber shelters. With their decorative woodwork, glazed screens and generous seating, these little pavilions brought comfort and architectural character to the public walks. Their relationship with the town's bath-chair and carriage services is an intriguing part of the history still to be explored.
Although individually modest, together they formed part of the wider architecture of the Cure, a network of small public places where health, landscape and social life came together.
Today, several survive in varying states of repair. Their continued presence offers a reminder that Harrogate's spa heritage extends far beyond its grand buildings, into the smallest details of its public landscape.
Transformation
The green shelters renewed
Our vision is to restore the surviving shelters as a coherent collection of historic garden structures, preserving their individual character while renewing their place in the everyday life of the town.
The proposal explores careful repairs to timberwork, roofs, glazing and decorative detailing, alongside a sympathetic green colour scheme and the restoration of their original seating. Discreet architectural illumination could reveal their craftsmanship and bring a gentle warmth to the promenades.
Improvements to their surroundings could replace tired paving and hard surfaces with fine, natural gravel finishes, creating generous, gently curving spaces around each shelter. A simple landscape treatment would reconnect the buildings with the lawns, mature trees and historic walks around them.
The first stage would involve documenting the surviving structures, researching their history and condition, and developing a coordinated conservation approach with North Yorkshire Council and local partners.
