Victor Pasmore and Apollo Pavilion
“The idea of a synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture in the form of a Pavilion at Peterlee came to Pasmore after he had taken part in an international competition for the design of a Museum of Science and Art to be dedicated as a memorial to the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi.”
Victor Pasmore's appointment as urban and architectural designer at Peterlee gave him the opportunity to work through and expand this concept, as a result of the great determination of the General Manager of the Peterlee Development Corporation, A. V. Williams, who saw the need to treat natural landscape as a major function of urban environment. He wanted roads, footpaths, open spaces, gardens, etc., to be treated as importantly as the housing lay-out with a positive architectural approach.
Sunny Blunts, in the south west area of the town, proved the ideal location for this concept. The stream that flowed through the area towards Castle Eden Dene provided a natural focal point to expand upon with the creation of the lake. The lake was then marked as a major focal point to join together housing communities by ‘crowning’ it with the sculpture.
Pasmore designed and built the Pavilion 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 it's independence, can lift the activity and psychology of an urban housing community on to a universal plane”.
From the late 1970’s, the Pavilion became a meeting place for many young people which drew many complaints from nearby residents. The Pavilion has been allowed to remain but the steps that lead up to it have been demolished, therefore preventing access and, hopefully, no further complaints.
Unfortunately, the Pavilion continues to court controversy, with people split with a ‘love it or hate it’ approach.
Further information is available at the Tourist Information Centre.