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by Will Scott (Photographer), Edwin Heathcote (Introduction by)
A dazzling catalog of architecturally diverse British seaside shelters, left to ruin
A testament to the heyday of British summer holidays in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (and the country's notoriously fickle weather), seaside shelters provided a spot for British beachgoers to get out of the sun or the rain. Seaside towns, competing to attract visitors, installed these colorful structures on their beaches in a dizzying array of architectural styles, from Victorian to Art Deco to Bauhaus-inspired. The shelters started to fall into disrepair as low-cost air travel lured British holidaymakers away from the seaside; most of the shelters now stand deserted.
In Seaside Shelters, photographer Will Scott celebrates the wide variety of shelters dotting the British coastline, documenting this disappearing vernacular architecture at iconic resorts and lesser-known coastal gems alike, including Blackpool, Great Yarmouth, the Isle of Wight, Clacton-on-Sea, Portsmouth, Aberystwyth, Swanage and Cromer.
Will Scott is a photographer and filmmaker specializing in architectural subjects. Ongoing photographic projects include Seaside Shelters and The Architecture of the Underground. Scott's photography has been featured in the Financial Times and on the BBC website. He is based in London and Edinburgh.
