The Connaught Theatre – Worthing

Time for an update on my Easter Art Deco adventures. Having four days off gives me plenty of time to play!

Last night I went to see The Unremarkable Death of Marilyn Munroe by Dyad Productions. To be honest what drew me to go and see the play was that it was being performed at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing and I had been looking for an excuse to go and have a nosy around the Art Deco building for a while. The outside of the building is certainly eye catching. It is built in the Streamline Moderne style and the outside has been maintained really well.

The theatre began life in 1914 as the Picturedrome Cinema and the original Connaught Theatre was situated next door to it. The Art Deco frontage seen today wasn’t built until 1935, with the purpose of extending the original Picture dome to create the New Connaught Theatre for the Worthing Repertory Company. It was designed by A. T. Goldsmith, who also designed a number of important Art Deco buildings in Worthing. During the war the building was used by the Home Guard and over the years the theatre has seen performances by a number of notable actors including Susannah York and Glenda Jackson. Harold Pinter has performed at the venue and it has even been visited by Winston Churchill. The theatre closed for a while in 1966 before being taken over and reopened by Worthing Council who own it to this day.

I love the outside of the building and spent a while taking photos of that. Inside there are some really lovely touches that add to the period feel of the place. The foyer carries through the outside theme and the staircases had some nice detailing. More could be done with the bar upstairs but thought has gone in to making sure the chairs follow the familiar Art Deco lines and both the lampshades and side lamps upstairs are true to the time period.

The play itself was also well worth going to see. It shows Marilyn Munroe in the hours before her death, reflecting on her life and the influences that have shaped who she is, both in creating the icon Marilyn and the effect on the girl Norma Jeane. I always find Marilyn Munroe an interesting and complex character and the themes of her life also tie in with one of my other favourite topics: the psychological effects of fame.

Art Deco and a bit of Marilyn? That was me entertained for the evening…

Manor Road Garage – East Preston, West Sussex

Yesterday after work I went to check out another of the Art Deco sights I had been meaning to visit – Manor Road Garage in East Preston. I had first seen the Grade II listed building by complete chance a while ago when I had to visit the area for work. At the time I thought it was pretty cool but when I started discovering my love of Art Deco, I connected the dots and wanted visit it again.

The quiet back streets of East Preston are the last place you would expect to find this island of retro brilliance. The garage was originally built in 1934 and remained open until 1973 before falling into a state of disrepair. In 2007 the garage was cleared (revealing a number of vintage Rolls Royces and MG’s inside!) and plans made to restore it to its former glory. The original petrol pumps have been revamped and the building painted back to a brilliant white with palm trees outside it giving a glamorous, tropical feel. Like I said, not exactly what you expect to find in the middle of East Preston!

The building has been converted into a number of luxury apartments so I felt a bit like a stalker standing around outside taking photos but I hope nobody minded. Don’t suppose anyone has a spare £300,000 kicking about and wants to buy me one?

 

       

Southern Pavilion – Worthing Pier

Driving home from work in the sunshine today I decided that rather than head home, I would go play on my new favourite pier. I wanted to go check out the Southern Pavilion. There are currently major refurbishments going on to restore the building back to its former Art Deco glory and from the pictures that have been put up on the Facebook group, it’s going to look amazing!

The Southern Pavilion in its current form was built in 1935 after a fire in 1933 destroyed the previous incarnation. The building has beautiful curved staircases and panoramic views over the sea and coast. When it was first built the Daily Mirror called it the “suntrap of the south” and it was used for dances and refreshments, and randomly to house a model railway, before becoming a nightclub in 2007.

The new version of the Southern Pavilion will be used for weddings, exhibitions and events as well as having a café and bar. Photos show new chandeliers being put in and the original mouldings and metal work being fixed up, to go alongside spiral staircases and oak wood floors. Have a look at the Facebook group here.

Today I had fun taking photographs of the outside of the building (and trying to sneak a few glances inside!) The combinations of straight lines and curves were lovely to photograph in the sunshine and the building has so many cool features. It also has incredible views from the sun deck and many windows, which are going to look even better while sipping a glass of wine in the beautifully restored Art Deco surroundings. It opens on Good Friday and I cannot wait to check it out.

 

                            

The Project Begins…

Hello world! My name is Abi and thank you for visiting my blog. The idea to write this came to me this morning as a way to document a project I have recently set for myself.

The project started one sunny Saturday a few weeks ago when I was in Worthing getting my hair cut. I will admit that Worthing is not a place that I have ever been particularly fond of but my awesome hairdresser moved to a salon there and so now I trundle off there every 10-12 weeks because he actually knows how to cut curly hair (a rare skill!). So with the sun shining, my new haircut looking great and possibly under the influence of a cheeky glass of wine, I decided to have a walk down to the pier.

My previous memories of Worthing Pier are mostly limited to amusing times spent sitting there on a Friday night with a young person I used to work with, laughing at the teenagers going to the under 18’s disco and counting how many of them were wearing the same ridiculous top or already carrying their skyscraper heels at the start of the evening. In short, memories centred around it being very very tacky!

This time I was armed with my brand new shiny phone and eager to test out the camera on it, I started taking a few snaps of the beach and the pier. Imagine my surprise when I looked at these photos and found myself seeing Worthing Pier in a totally new light. It was beautiful! How had I never noticed the elegant lines of the buildings, the stylish retro clock under the sign for the amusement arcade or the curved staircases of Southern Pavillion before? It was a revelation!

I vaguely recognised the style as Art Deco but I didn’t really know anything about it so when I got home I started researching and it all started falling into place. I had never thought about it before but some of my favourite buildings are actually built in an Art Deco style. I have loved the Hoover building off the A40 in London ever since I was a child going past it on family car journeys. It is totally Art Deco. The Chrysler and Empire State buildings in New York? Yup, they are Art Deco too. So this is how my new-found, or at least newly discovered, love of Art Deco was born.

It turns out that Sussex is great for Art Deco buildings. Worthing in particular has lots but there are also others dotted around the place. Also there are a couple of current projects to refurbish some of these buildings back to their former glory. Worthing’s Southern Pavilion is currently undergoing some amazing repairs ready for a Good Friday 2014 reopening and Saltdean Lido has just been saved from destruction with a 60-year lease granted and a £5 million regeneration program set to be completed by 2016.

So here is my project: I will find and photograph as many of these amazing buildings as I can. My project won’t just be limited to Art Deco architecture. I also love lots of the furniture and design of the time and I’m sure I’ll be incorporating that too. To be honest I don’t really know what its going to look like but I’m excited to find out…