Post by Dave on Dec 12, 2020 14:51:31 GMT
Torquay pavilion Now, Then, Future? 10th Dec 2020
I spend a lot of my time watching Utube videos of explores that have taken place in abandoned mansions and old buildings. Many trashed or just fallen into decay, but some just left with everything still inside as if the people living there has just popped out to the shops. Sadly when buildings are no longer used they end up in very poor condition and beyond being able to be saved.
In Torbay we have to very special buildings that have been left empty to rot and deteriorate which is nothing short of a crime in my book. Oldway mansions the jewel in Torbay’s crown is one of them and we only have Torbay Council to blame. There is hope for Oldway thanks to the Friends Of Oldway who are doing their best to save this wonderful building for us all to enjoy once again.
The other building is the Pavilion in Torquay, a building with so much history and one that also needs to be saved, The Pavilion was built on land reclaimed from the sea and opened in 1912. It was known to admirers in its heyday as Torquay's Palace of Pleasure and was listed to protect it in 1973.
Over the years it was used as a concert hall, hosting an orchestra, theatre and cinema, with its last stage show in 1976. It was then used as an ice-skating rink between 1979 and 1983, and reopened as a shopping arcade in 1987 after restoration. That stopped trading in January 2013.
The Torquay thriller writer Agatha Christie accepted a marriage proposal after attending a concert at the Pavilion in 1913. After her death in 1976 it was suggested the building should be renamed the Agatha Christie Memorial Theatre
In its heyday, the venue featured celebrated artistes including composer Sir Edward Elgar, pianist Rachmaninoff, singer Paul Robeson, ballerina Anna Pavlova, operatic soprano Dame Nellie Melba, actor Sir Donald Wolfit, entertainer George Formby and comedian George Robey to name just a few. In 1915, the reduced size of the wartime orchestra upset author George Bernard Shaw who complained he had been ‘swindled’ having ‘paid two shillings for Beethoven’.
Amongst the famous speakers who addressed audiences at the Pavilion were Lady Randolph Churchill, politician David Lloyd George, aviator Alan Cobham and polar explorer Roald Amundsen. In 1926, Laurence Olivier joined his first repertory company and appeared at the Pavilion in The Farmer’s Wife written by Torquay author Eden Phillpotts.
Its first opening evening was deemed a big success of the new venture and its future seemed assured as patrons filled the venue for the first concert performed by the twenty-five piece Torquay Municipal Orchestra. However, the Pavilion, known to its admirers as the ‘White Palace’, was soon dubbed a ‘White Elephant’ by its detractors. Utilised as a concert hall, theatre and cinema, it struggled financially for decades until the final stage performance in October 1976.
Concerts by small ensembles, summer shows, rock concerts and even bingo sessions followed but failed to save the theatre from proposed demolition. A campaign by the Friends of the Pavilion (now Torbay Civic Society) ensured that the building was listed as being of special architectural and historical interest in 1973.
From 1979 to 1983 the building was used as a skating rink ( not real ice) and much damage was done to the inside of the building, it was then empty until it was covered into a shopping mall in 1987 but twenty-five years later, Marina Developments Limited, who lease the building from Torbay Council, announced that the mall would cease trading in January 2013 and unveiled a proposal to convert the building into a four star hotel.
But sadly it was not just a hotel they wanted to build but also an 11-storey block of 43 flats. that would have put the harbour in darkness on a sunny day. Plus we were going to lose Cary Green as they wanted to turn it into a car park for the hotel. Once the plans were put it Torbay Council took out the pumps in the water feature at Cary Green and has left it in that state.
When I leaned the news about Cary Green I wrote a piece on line that was seen by a young man who became the voice and front of a group he then stated The Friends Of Cary Green. Over the years the group battled to stop the development and won in the end. I was with the group at the Pavilions Planning Meeting on the 11th March 2019 you can view my report on that day here.
davesworld.proboards.com/thread/743/paviions-planning-11th-march-2019
I remember as an 11 year old going to a gang show at the pavilion, also a number of comedy plays in my teens. I also went of the skating rink a few times and shopped at the mall when it was open. But since it closed it has suffered storm damage and also Marina Developments removed a very special stature from the roof .of Britannia, but they say it was only to protect it, but the question is just where is it?
So what now for the Pavilion ? it is known that the steel frame inside the walls is badly corroded, just what can the building be used for next, it can not be allowed to fall into disrepair as then we would lose it for ever. Below photos taken on the 10th December 2020 and below then some I found of the Pavilion when in use, the ones I found of the ice rink was rather small.
Pavilion Heydays
