C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 17 side heritage seaside ritage Our seaside her Our seaside heritag seaside heritage Our itage Our seaside her seaside heritage Our seaside he post-war period led to significant new designed seaside landscapes. Billy Butlin’s holiday camps are nowadays the best-known example, but by the late-1950s there were hundreds of camps spread around the coast. In established resorts, seafronts were often remodelled with new parks and gardens designed for pleasure, sport and children in mind. Most iconic of all, the inter-war open-air lido reflected both the coming of the sun and the flowering of swimming. In the decades immediately following the second world war, the British seaside boomed: holidaymakers flocked to the coast. But austerity and the post-war reconstruction of inland cities meant that most resorts received little investment in the built environment; for the most part, the seaside rested on its laurels. But holidaymakers’ continuing love of the sun ultimately explains the fate, over the last four decades, of many United Kingdom resorts and seaside architecture. Facilitated by cheap, fast and relatively comfortable air travel, British holidaymakers headed south in the search for the sun, leading to the decline of many British resorts, and the increasing dereliction and often the destruction of earlier forms of seaside architecture. In turn there were considerable conservation issues and concerns. Although there were exceptions, the vicious cycle of decline involved falling visitor numbers, declining revenue, lack of maintenance and increasing issues of dereliction and decay in both private and public sectors.The hostile natural coastal environment assisted in the havoc. Despite often intensive local support – people were passionate about the architecture of their seaside – architectural critics such as Pevsner often distained what they saw as inferior pastiches, political will and funding was lacking, and it was often unclear how remains of architecture designed for an era of mass tourism could be used in the future. Many piers were closed, some were destroyed by fire, others by storm, and demolition was the eventual result. The ring of interwar lidos and open-air pools was reduced to just a few restored structures including, on the English south coast, the Jubilee Pool in Penzance, Tinside Lido in Plymouth and Brighton’s Saltdean Lido.The problem with many modernist structures included the decay of concrete and steel, although three iconic buildings were restored within the past decade: the de laWarr Pavilion in Bexhill,Morecambe’s MidlandHotel and the Embassy Court flats on Brighton’s seafront.The band enclosures, seafront shelters, garden fountains and promenade railings, so often the product of theVictorian fascination with cast iron, also resulted in demanding conservation problems. The conservation audit is one of the decay or loss of a considerable part of Britain’s seaside architectural heritage amid a minority of stories of successful conservation. On the plus side, European regional aid and the Heritage Lottery Fund have been critical as funding sources. Heritage organisations, including English Heritage, have increasingly acknowledged the importance and popular appeal of much seaside architecture. Listing has been the saviour of some buildings that would otherwise have been lost. And, apart from the sun, 20th century western seaside holidaymakers found an increasing diversity of other ways to use nature. Sailing and surfing, the two seaside sports to become firmly established during the century, each contributed new original dimensions to the architecture of the seaside, including the marina, sailing club, surf shop and surfing school. The intriguing question is whether and how new ways of experiencing seaside nature, including extreme coastal sports such as wind surfing, kite surfing and coasteering, will produce new forms of seaside architecture or, alternatively, new uses for existing coastal buildings. Fred Gray is emeritus professor at the University of Sussex and author of Designing the Seaside: architecture, society and nature. Far left:The Grand Hotel, Scarborough Top:West Pier, Brighton, between the wars Bottom: Prestatyn Camp in the late 1930s
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