22 C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 de heritage seaside tage Our seaside heritag Our seaside heritage Ou easide heritage Our itage Our seaside heritage seaside heritage Our seaside herita for use as a searchlight post, while the steamers were refitted for service as mine sweepers. The pier was left in poor repair at the end of hostilities and, with no compensation for remedial work, declared unsafe and closed. The loss of visitors so negatively affected the economy of Penarth that an initiative was undertaken by Penarth Urban District Council in 1924. Penarth Pier was purchased for £5,000 and the Penarth Pier Order enabled the reconstruction of the esplanade, the widening of the pier to accommodate a new pavilion and pierhead landing stage, all to be constructed in reinforced concrete. When the post-war depression saw high unemployment, the council sought 75 per cent government funding to mobilise the unemployed of Penarth to work on the plan. The wooden landing stage was replaced by three decks of reinforced-concrete stages. The art deco/Moorish style pavilion with pinnacled Mogul-style roofs was constructed between 1926 and 1929 by LG Mouchel and Partners, consulting engineers, using the Hennebique system for in situ concrete reinforcement, which had been patented in Belgium and France in 1892 (see ‘How the Hennebique crumbles’, Context 129, May 2013). The design is attributed to an otherwise unknown Mr Somerset. The cutting-edge technology of the reinforced concrete technology enabled the construction of a large uninterrupted space, where dances, music, theatre and cinema shows could be enjoyed.The dramatic external appearance of the pavilion was formed from cast-in-situ walls, with structural ribs and a barrel-vaulted roof, which achieved an enclosed space over 8.5m high, 25m in length, with a span of 13m.The concrete was painted with a patent water-proofing product in white, with turquoise roof and turrets. Flat-roofed areas over the entrance foyer and the seaward café area were finished with asphalt.The cast-iron windows and rainwater goods were painted to protect them against the hostile marine environment. Although the pavilion received aesthetic acclaim, it ‘was rarely filled to capacity and, when the winter months came, the lack of heating caused the repertory season to be cancelled’1. The art deco/Moorish style pavilion, Penarth The reinforced concrete sub-structure of Penarth Pavilion Far right:The Penarth Pavilion with its new silver-shingled pinnacled turrets in 2013
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