The English Seaside and Its Architecture - Tapa dura

There is something about the seaside that brings out the beating heart of John Bull in the English: doggedly erecting our wind-breaks to capture every vestige of a watery sun; wrestling with deckchairs; wrapping up against the determined wind on the verandas of our beach huts; accepting that 'sand' in 'sandwich' means just that! And this is all reflected in the architecture of the seaside, as captured so evocatively in Peter Williams' photographs: brightly decorated beach huts, elaborate promenade benches, strange 1930s shelters, the facades of ice-cream parlours...there is something about all these buildings and details that tells you exactly where you are, that you couldn't be anywhere other than at one of England's myriad seaside resorts! Stuffed with hundreds of colour photographs, this wonderful book is a perfect celebration of the spirit of the English seaside. English Heritage's National Monuments Record is a unique collection of over ten million images, and is continually being augmented by new photography taken by our own photographers. These two books - one drawing on archive material, the other on new and recent work - are published during the Year of the Sea to celebrate the English seaside, both as a holiday destination and as the place where buildings, street furniture and embellishments often take different and surprising forms.