Sussex Modernism

Sussex became the home of a remarkable range of artists, architects and thinkers during the 1920s and 1930s.  These take in Eric Gill (Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft), Bloomsbury Group (Charleston), Edward James and Salvador Dali (West Dean College), Roland Penrose and Lee Miller and Picasso (Farley Arts Trust), Edward Burra, Eric Ravilious, Paul Nash, Vanessa Bell, David Jones and Edward Wadsworth (Towner Art Gallery, Pallant House Gallery and Jerwood Gallery).

The De La Warr Pavilion built in 1935 in Bexhill-on-Sea and designed by Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayoff.  Guests on our tours will get ample time to take in the fantastic modernist ambiance of the Pavilion not to mention the glorious food and views across the Channel.

Grand Ocean and Saltdean have a marvelous collection of modernist buildings which take in private dwellings, lido and the Grand Ocean hotel.  The latter building was designed by R.W.H. Jones and completed in 1938 as a luxury hotel and now private apartments. 

Marine Court in St Leonards-on-Sea dominates the skyline and embodies a classical art deco liner on the land.  Designed by Kenneth Dalgleish and Roger K. Pullen for a commission by Southern Railways completed in 1938.  The town includes a number of fascinating architectural styles from arts and crafts through Scottish gothic castles and French chateaus, with Hastings close at hand there is plenty to see and do.

Gatwick Airport began in 1935 and the original terminal building illustrated above was known as the Beehive.  Designed by Hoar, Marlow and Lovett to a design concept brief made by the owner Morris Jackaman who wanted to maximise space efficiency and improve safety of aircraft and passenger movements.  The interior was divided into concentric circles of offices and rooms with corridors in between to separate arriving and departing passengers.  Externally there were six telescopic covered corridors led from the main concourse to awaiting aircraft and a subway to the railway station so passengers were entirely shielded from the elements during their journey.  The innermost ring of the building contained the control tower and weather station which is on the third storey with good visibility all around.  The middle ring on the second storey contained the main passenger concourse and baggage handling.   The outer ring on the ground floor included a restaurant and offices.  The design is certainly influenced by Gropius' Employment Office in Dessau and rightly listed as Britain's first terminal building that contained all the relevant functions and fully intergrated with a railway station.