Apollo Pavilion

Apollo Pavilion
Apollo Pavilion (aka Pasmore Pavilion) July 23rd 2012
Artist	Victor Pasmore

The Apollo Pavilion, also known as the Pasmore Pavilion, is a piece of public art in the new town of Peterlee in County Durham in the North East of England, designed by British artist and architect Victor Pasmore.

In December 2011 English Heritage gave the pavilion a Grade-II* listing.

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.

The Pavilion is made of reinforced concrete that was cast in situ. The design consists of large geometric planes of white concrete, the only decoration being two oval murals. 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, "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."

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 subject to graffiti and vandalism. 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.