Bandstands – Pavilions for music, entertainment and leisure

In 1833, the Select Committee for Public Walks was introduced so that “the provision of parks would lead to a better use of Sundays and the replacement of the debasing pleasures.” Being “the safest and surest method of popular culture,” music was seen as an important moral influence in this endeavor. And so the bandstand was born.
            The history and heritage of bandstands in England has largely been ignored. Yet in their heyday, there were more than 1500 bandstands in the country—in public parks, on piers, and at seaside promenades, often attracting crowds of thousands. In Bandstands, landscape architect Paul Rabbitts guides us from their evolution as “orchestras” in the early pleasure gardens, to their great decline after World War II, to their subsequent revival in the late 1990s. This beautifully illustrated book tells for the first time the story of these pavilions made for music, illuminating their history, architecture, and worldwide influence.