The Casino At Blackpool Pleasure Beach

The Casino at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

This pleasure beach and former casino building was constructed between 1937 and 1940 to the designs of Joseph Emberton for Leonard Thompson. It was restored and altered in 1972 and again from 1977 to 1979 by Keith Ingham. The building is executed in reinforced concrete in the International Modern style.

The structure has a circular plan with three principal projections marking the main entrance and foyer, the main exit, and the main public stairs. The design was centred on central kitchens located on the ground and first floors, which originally served a number of restaurants on the ground floor and a banqueting room on the first floor. The kitchens are now on the first floor only. This arrangement creates a sequence of intriguingly curved rooms. Originally, there was no public access to the inner core area or across the building directly, though this has since been provided. The basement contained stores, a billiard room, and sports facilities, now in mixed use. Between ground and first floor is a mezzanine office range with a private flat above. The top floor was originally built as a roof garden and provided with a glazed curtain wall around 1940 by Emberton. It was largely infilled as an extra floor in 1972.

The exterior now shows three floors and basement. It is dominated by the vertical accent of a thin spiral tower which, together with a lower rectangular plan tower housing a 1970s external lift, flanks the main entrance. This spiral tower is similar to but predates the one built for the 1940 Olympic Stadium in Helsinki. Long curved window bands extend either side of the entrance, stretching left to the projecting exit block and right to a glazed semi-circular-plan spiral cantilever stair. The fenestration to the remainder consists of individual window openings of varying sizes, some with metal casements. Various recessions at second-floor level add variety, and a tall chimney of ship-like appearance adds a nautical character.

The interior retains significant original detailing. The main bar and restaurant areas were designed for flexibility and have been considerably altered, though much remains in appropriate 1930s style, reflecting the building's form with wheel-like ceiling beams and occasional columns. The main semi-circular staircase features glazed metal balustrading. The offices retain panelling and built-in cabinets with doors of grained veneer and large vertical door handles. Above, the private manager's flat is unaltered, reached by a narrow curving stair lined with ply panelling and stepped balustrade of curved timber. The main living room features built-in burr maple bookshelves, seating, and drinks cabinet matching dado panelling. Bedrooms contain fitted wardrobes, cupboards, and drawers with matching dado panelling. The bathroom contains vitrolite cupboards and fixtures. The kitchen is a later addition. Figured burr maple veneer doors and matching linings are found in the narrow hall.

Joseph Emberton was the first British-born architect to design convincingly in the Modern Movement style and the only one included in Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson's groundbreaking 1932 New York exhibition, "The International Style". Emberton came to the Modern Movement through shop and exhibition design. This is the last of just three major works by him to survive; the others—Simpson's of Piccadilly, City of Westminster, and the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch, Maldon, Essex—are grade II*. Although more altered externally than those buildings, its basic elements survive remarkably well, with its thrusting stairtowers and sweep of glazing intact, and the finest interiors remain substantially unchanged. The building was designed to be altered according to entertainment needs and to be flexible; yet after sixty years, its principal parts demonstrate a resilience and style that defy changes in fashion. It is considered the north's answer to the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, which is grade I.

The building is included for both architectural and historic interest, particularly for its fine surviving manager's flat.