Twentieth Century Seaside Architecture: Pools, Piers and Pleasure around Britain’s Coast – Kathryn Ferry

12 October, 2025 at 6:00 pm

A nostalgic exploration of Britain’s distinctive and architecturally significant seafront buildings from the 1920s to the new millennium. This book takes the first look at how resort architecture around the UK coast kept pace with changing fashions and competition of foreign destinations.

Using vintage postcard images, Kathryn Ferry showcases seaside architecture as it evolved from interwar classicism, through art deco and international modernism, to Festival of Britain-inspired mid-century style, to seafront tower blocks and the artificial beaches of 1970s leisure centres. Featuring a wide range of building types, Twentieth Century Seaside Architecture explores everything from beach huts and bandstands to lidos, piers, theatres, hotels and amusement arcades.