Sunny Blunts Pavilion (1969)
The Apollo Pavilion, as it is now known, was intended to provide a central focal point within the Sunny Blunts housing complex. It’s creator, the artist Victor Pasmore, described it as a “nonfunctional sub centre”, or more colourfully, as the secular equivalent of a church on the village green – “a free and anonymous monument which, because of its independence, can lift the activity and psychology of an urban housing community on to a universal plane.” To the art historian, Richard Cork, it stood as “a fascinating example of how contemporary artists can translate their concerns into wholly architectural terms, and how even the restricted budget of a new town is able, given the necessary degree of commitment, to yield funding for an entirely imaginative feat.” By contrast, many residents of Sunny Blunts were simply baffled by the Pavilion’s presence. For some, this turned into outright hostility when the Pavilion became a ‘monstrous eyesore’ scrawled with graffiti.
From 1980 onwards, a group of residents led by local councillor Joan Maslin mounted a campaign to remove Pasmore’s creation. In response, District of Easington Council approached the army about demolishing the structure in 1982, however the Falkland’s war then intervened, and the Pavilion survived. In 1985, the District Council removed the staircases on the Pavilion to prevent people from accessing the upper level. It was then filled with soil and shrubs. It remained in this state until 2001, when the shrubs and soil were removed to ascertain the structural integrity of the structure.
In 2002, the landscape in which the Pavilion sits was listed as a Grade II Registered Park and Garden. It would be a new group of residents who pushed for the Pavilion to be restored, motivated in part by the impasse reached over what should be done with it. Their goal was achieved in 2009, when District of Easington Council secured capital funding from the Heritage Lottery. The unveiling took place in the July, exactly 40 years after its original completion. In December 2011 the Apollo Pavilion became a Grade II* Listed Building. In 2019, a major cultural events programme was delivered by Durham County Council to mark the Pavilion’s 50th birthday. In 2021, the residents group originally formed in 2003 became a CIC, naming itself Apollo Pavilion Projects.
Apollo Pavilion, c.1973.
© The Pasmore Estate
The sculpture in the lake in front of the Pavilion was introduced in 1973. It is one of three sculptures in Peterlee produced by John Pasmore, the son of Victor. The other two sculpture were in the public realm space situated between the Hearts of Oak and the convenience store on Oakerside Drive, and on Yoden Way in town centre. The latter now resides at Old Shotton Hall.
L-R: [u], [u], Roy Bolsover (Structural Engineer), Theo Marsden (Chief Engineer), Victor Pasmore (Consulting Director of Urban Design), [u], [u].
© The Pasmore Estate
The sculpture in the lake in front of the Pavilion was introduced in 1973. It is one of three sculptures in Peterlee produced by John Pasmore, the son of Victor. The other two sculpture were in the public realm space situated between the Hearts of Oak and the convenience store on Oakerside Drive, and on Yoden Way in town centre. The latter now resides at Old Shotton Hall.