Sunday, September 09, 2007

de la warr pavilion


A wonderful weekend with good friends Felicity and Chris in East Sussex. As well as time spent eating, drinking and laughing, we visited the impressive Sissinghurst Castle Garden (rescued by Vita Sackville-West in the 1930s) and Battle Abbey (was Harold really killed by an arrow in the eye?!) in glorious sunshine. However, the true highlight of the weekend was our visit/architectural pilgrimage to the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea. Designed in 1935 by architects Erich Mendolsohn and Serge Chermayeff, it was the UK’s first public building built in the Modernist style and was re-opened in 2005 after extensive restoration and redevelopment.
Photos: sea terraces, stunning staircases and Aalto chairs at the De La Warr Pavilion.

3 comments:

Ellen Loudon said...

I have always wanted to go here. Great photies. xxx

bigdaddystevieB said...

Thanks for this bruv. Hadn't realised Mendelsohn left England so soon! Yes, I was imagining the pier as I stood on the roof terrace and looking out to sea - it would have been a stunning addition.

blue hands said...

the thing I loved about it is that it is a properly egalitarian public building (ok, there's an art gallery and auditorium, so that makes it "artsy" and not to everyone's taste) but I'd always heard of it as such an architectural icon that I thought it might be an intimidating and "reverential" experience.