Building record MDR23091 - Former Swiss Tea House, Belper River Gardens, Belper

Former Swiss Tea House, Belper River Gardens, Belper, built in 1906. The tea room was built immediately after the establishment of the Belper Boating Association in 1905, who created the Belper River Gardens as a privately funded venture that same year. The design of the gardens was to include an arboretum, a band stand (which still stands as a Listed Building), and a rock garden outside of the tea room, the former designed by Pulham and Sons, Landscape Architects (1890-1939). In 1966 the gardens came under public ownership. (1) 'The Tea House was designed by Strutt's local Estate architect Hunter and Woodhouse and constructed by the local building firm Wheeldon Bros being completed in 1906. The previous year, there had been criticism of the appearance of the Boathouse and a decision was made to construct the Tea House in an artistic manner. …the choice to construct in the "Swiss style" was unusual… Although "off the shelf" timber chalets had been available from builders merchants for a generation, the Tea House was a bespoke construction. It was basically T-shaped in plan and essentially of box-framed construction with a veranda covered by an overhanging roof. The roof was originally thatched in heather with thistle-shaped finials, reflecting the Strutt's Scottish estates, and had leaded lattice windows. To the west it had a pair of Diocletian eye-brow dormer windows. …In 1907 the Tea House was dismantled. Although the rustic charm of the building largely provided by the heather roof was evidently attractive, it leaked and the facilities were considered too small. It was re-erected slightly further west with wider veranda and roofed in plain clay tiles by Wheeldon Brothers. …It was last used as a tea room in the 1980s and has subsequently suffered increased deterioration by further neglect.' (1)