Piers and Other Seaside Architecture

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Description

Originally constructed as landing stages for trippers by boat in the nineteenth century, piers later developed into attractions in themselves, with ornate pavilions, delicate ironwork and exotic lighting. Lynn F. Pearson, an architectural historian, outlines the fascinating history of pier and pavilion construction, using colour illustrations and photographs to show the development of these attractions from simple wooden structures to complex entertainment venues. This book explores the allure of seaside developments from the Victorian charm of Weston-super-Mare's grand pier to the seaside developments of the twenty-first century, such as Ilfracombe's Landmark Theatre, which continues to impress and entertain to this day.

Author Bio

Lynn F. Pearson is an architectural historian and photographer specialising in research on unheralded structures, from seaside architecture and slot machines to multi-storey car parks and mausoleums. She was brought up beside the sea, at Lowestoft in Suffolk. She has published fourteen books including The People's Palaces: Seaside Pleasure Buildings (Barracuda, 1991), British Breweries: An Architectural History (Hambledon Press, 2000), and Amusement Machines (1992), Lighthouses (1995) and Mausoleums (2002) for Shire. She is a research fellow at the University of Wolverhampton, where she is writing and editing the Titles and Architectural Ceramics Society's gazetteer of British ceramic sites. Her website at www.gosforth3.demon.co.uk is largely devoted to seaside architecture.