A Son of the Rock

The Rothesay Pavilion has just celebrated its 70th anniversary.

The style of this building, with its sweeping rounded frontage, irresistibly reminds me of the archetypal British Modernist seaside Pavilion – Mendelsohn and Chermayeff’s masterpiece, the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-On-Sea, Sussex. The main difference is of course that the Rothesay building is clad in stone while the De La Warr, apart from being much grander, is presumably concrete, painted strikingly white and shining with glass and steel.

I have been inside the refurbished De La Warr – attending an antique fair ten or so years ago – and its interior staircase is magnificent.

If I have entered the Rothesay Pavilion I do not remember it – despite childhood trips “doon the watter” on various Clyde steamers. Those were the days.

The Rothesay Pavilion’s design was probably influenced by the De La Warr as it was built in 1938 in the Modernist style – essentially Art Deco by another name. In itself it is a fine Grade A listed example of 1930s public architecture and a hub of social and leisure activity in Rothesay. A brief trawl through the www shows many concerts have taken place there.

However, despite being listed, the building is apparently in some jeopardy, needing substantial conservation and upgrading work to ensure its long-term survival. For the money which will be required it seems to be in competition with Campbeltown, Oban, Dunoon and Helensburgh.

Speaking for myself Helensburgh ought not to be in Argyll and Bute as it is really part of Dunbartonshire but it was gerrymandered away by the Tories in the dog days of their last spell in government in a forlorn effort to keep at least some local councils in Scotland under their control.

More views of the Rothesay Pavilion can be seen on this flickr site. Sadly there does not seem to be much in the way of deco in the interior from the photos I was able to find on the web.

There are close-ups of the Pavilion terrace here and here which do show some need for refurbishment.

This is still a striking building, however, and it would be sad to see the Rothesay Pavilion lost for any reason.