The Pavilion
Plans for a Pavilion near the seafront go back to the
formative days of Bournemouth’s history. In 1836 there was a scheme to include
a Pagoda in early plans for the developing holiday settlement. Two years after
Bournemouth became a Borough in 1890, authorisation was received to construct a
Pavilion. Five designs were submitted before the scheme was abandoned in 1894.
During the 1900s there were again hopes that a Pavilion would
be constructed, but the First World War intervened and nothing got built. In
1922 a new Pavilion scheme was approved by the Council and after a competition,
the design chosen was by a virtually unknown team of architects; Messrs G
Wyville Home and Shirley Knight of London. A local building firm, Messrs James
and Seward, were contracted to clear the site and build the Pavilion.
The Pavilion was opened by HRH the Duke of Gloucester on 19th
March 1929. The venue became the home of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra
until it moved to the Winter Gardens in 1947. The first concert included music
by Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Max Bruch. Stanley Holloway starred in the first
show in the theatre.
Various refurbishments have been carried out over the years
and in 1998 the Pavilion was made a Grade II listed building. More recently,
renovation of a previously disused part of the building has led to the
establishment of Pavilion Dance, a centre for dance both locally and wider
afield.
Peter Kazmierczak,
Senior Heritage Librarian, Bournemouth Libraries
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