The Apollo Pavilion, also known as the Pasmore Pavilion, is a controversial piece of public art

Public art

The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...

 in the new town

New town

A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...

 of Peterlee

Peterlee

Peterlee is a new town in County Durham, England. Founded in 1948, Peterlee town originally mostly housed coal miners and their families.Peterlee has strong economic and community ties with Sunderland and Hartlepool.-Peterlee:...

 in County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

 in the North East of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, designed by British artist and architect Victor Pasmore

Victor Pasmore

Edwin John Victor Pasmore was a British artist and architect. He pioneered the development of abstract art in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s.-Biography:...

.

Design and construction

In 1955, Victor Pasmore was appointed Consulting Director of Architectural Design of the Peterlee development corporation. He chose to design the town around a central abstract artwork and pavilion, eventually naming it the Apollo Pavilion as a reference to the optimism of the Apollo Space Program

Project Apollo

The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...

.

The Pavilion is made of reinforced concrete

Concrete

Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...

 that was cast in situ. The design consists of large geometric planes of white concrete, the only decoration being two oval mural

Mural

A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...

s. The structure spans a small lake that frames a large geometric statue by Pasmore; in its original form, the Pavilion provided a pedestrian link between the two halves of the estate.

Victor Pasmore described it as "... an architecture and sculpture of purely abstract form through which to walk, in which to linger and on which to play, 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."

The work remains a rare UK example of a large scale experiment in the synthesis of art and architecture. "It stands today," says Richard Cork

Richard Cork

Dr Richard Cork is a British art historian, editor, critic, broadcaster and exhibition curator. He has been an art critic for the Evening Standard, The Listener, The Times and the New Statesman. Cork was also editor for Studio International. He is a past Turner Prize judge.-Life and work:Richard...

, "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 a purely imaginative feat."

Reception

The Pavilion was immediately the focus of local complaint, and a councillor, Joan Maslin, mounted a campaign against the work. It became a popular hangout for local youths and was victim of graffiti

Graffiti

Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....

 and vandalism

Vandalism

Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...

. When the Peterlee Development Corporation, which commissioned the £33,000 work, was disbanded the local council refused responsibility for cleaning and repair. As a result, the concrete turned grey and began to decay.

In 1982, Victor Pasmore met with residents at a public meeting at the pavilion. Pasmore suggested that, if anything, the graffiti had humanised the piece, and suggested that the solution would not be to remove the piece, but the disruptive families that were abusing it. It was agreed that the stair access would be blocked off and the structure used for planting.

Restoration

In opposition to the residents' campaign, a friends group was organised by regional artists and cultural leaders. In 1998, English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 recommended the structure be given listed status but this was declined by Tony Banks

Tony Banks, Baron Stratford

Anthony Louis Banks, Baron Stratford was a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament from 1983 to 2005, before being made a Member of the House of Lords. In government, he served for two years as Minister for Sport...

 in deference to the local political issue. In 2004, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead commissioned Jane and Louise Wilson

Jane and Louise Wilson

Jane Wilson and Louise Wilson are British artists who work together as a sibling duo. Jane and Louise Wilson's art work is based in video, film and photography...

 to make a video installation featuring the Pavilion. In the mid 2000s, there was a proposal to restore the structure and enlarge the lake, so that the Pavilion would be less accessible.

In 2006, road signs were installed for directions to the Apollo Pavilion at the Passfield Way and Oakerside Drive junction saying 'Oakerside Drive leading to Pasmore's Apollo Pavilion'. Further down Oakerside Drive next to the Hearts of Oak public house is a road sign for the car park to visit the Pavilion and another sign for the footpath leading to the Pavilion.

Following a meeting at the Pavilion in September 2008, it was agreed that the structure would be repaired with lottery funding. Sunday July 11th 2009 at 4pm saw the official unveiling of the Apollo Pavilion, after £400,000 was spent on its restoration. The stair access was restored, as well as feature lighting, and both murals. £336,000 of the funds came from the Heritage Lottery Fund

Heritage Lottery Fund

The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...

, while the remaining £65,000 was provided by Durham County Council.

Unveiling the commemorative plaque, John Pasmore, Victor's son, said, "I am delighted the pavilion has been restored to its original state and once again reflects my father's vision."

External links

• http://www.apollo.durham.gov.uk/Pages/default.aspx
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?xml=/property/2002/07/27/ppete27.xml
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/tees/content/image_galleries/apollo_pavillion_gallery.shtml