Very Art Deco building in the grand style in Blackpool – though actually I think it’s technically in Bispham.

The ground floor now houses Hart’s Amusements. The rest is, I think, holiday accommodation.

From southwest. Its eyes have been poked out, though:-

Full vista. Wonderful deco style. Great horizontals and verticals. Rule of three in columnar windows and the central portion above the rounded canopy. Flagpoles! Clock!:-

Clock and Sculptures, Queen’s Mansions, Blackpool. Fine Art Deco styling. 1936 date on roof half-roundel. The sculptures are reminiscent of the A A Gill ones on the Midland Hotel, Morecambe:-

I couldn’t stay in Morecambe without once more taking photos of the magnificent Midland Hotel.

This is the view of the building from the stone pier which juts out into the Irish Sea.

Here is a shot of the second set of pillars giving entry to the car park.

The staff were very accomodating and allowed me to take photos inside.

This is the very Deco carpet in front of the reception desk.

This is the lovely frieze behind reception. Not the best shot; the lighting conditions were low.

There is a 30s style map located in one of the function rooms

This photo of the hotel, presumably from its heyday as the seafront appearance is now substantially different, emblazons the wall on the first floor landing. There was a replica on the floor above too.

I caught the programme whose title was the same as this post on BBC4 on Monday night. It was about the cultural revolution of the 1920s and 30s and focused on Art Deco/Modernism. As a result many of the buildings I have mentioned in passing – the De La Warr Pavilion, the Hoover Building – or shown myself – the Midland Hotel – were highlighted, along with others such as Saltdean Lido and the New Victoria Cinema (not, I think, the one in Edinburgh but more probably this) and a whole host of 20s and 30s buildings from the 1925 Paris Exposition Des Arts Decoratifs (where the term originated) onwards.

The impact of Hollywood on the dissemination of Art Deco style was said to be crucial as was the impression of speed, streamlining being the original “go faster” stripes.

Where I took issue a bit was when it suggested that the perfection and optimism embodied in the form was intended to be extended to humans. Some people at the time did expound eugenics, for example, but that was surely more a distortion of social Darwinism than a consequence or expression of Art Deco.

Apart from the movies the most Deco thing about the era was, of course, the posters, whether of railways or holiday destinations or ships. Some of these are just fantastic. More than a few were displayed in the programme which is on the iPlayer if you want to take a look.

There’s a new series of programmes on Art Deco Icons starting tonight (Wed 22/10/09) on BBC4. The first features Claridge’s.

Leaving Haworth we headed back home through Lancashire, skirting Bolton and Blackburn (plenty signposts but nary a glimpse of it from the M65) on our way to the M6 and north. We came off at junction 33A to detour into Morecambe. Mistake. The road takes you through Lancaster and the traffic was a crawl, if that.

Our destination was Morecambe – we passed the local football ground in the way in. As a seaside town we expected it to be in something of a decline but it looked in good enough nick, thriving even.

The goal was of course the Midland Hotel: designed by Oliver Hill. Its vintage is 1933 and it’s one of Britain’s signature Art Deco buildings. It has of course been featured in the Poirot TV series.

More recently, starting in 2006, it has been restored. It reopened in 2008.

This photo was taken from a distance and shows the curvature of the frontage.

Here is a stitch of three I took from the car park. The stitching seems to have flattened the perspective.

The entrance pillars are nice, too. Could do with a bit of weeding, though.

Closer in to the cylindrical tower. You can see the Eric Gill sea horse sculptures adorning the top. The glazing seems okay on the tower but the room windows look wrong.

The view from the south. Eyes poked out on this side?

The view from the south west, (the promenade, essentially.) To my mind the restoration has put in too much glass here. No doubt it protects the patrons from bracing winds.

The north side. Lovely curved entranceway and canopy – plus the glazing on the doors looks right.

Friends of the Midland Hotel website is here.