architecture, Chinoiserie, East Sussex, Folly

The House of Rock, Brighton, East Sussex

With the summer holidays in full swing, the Flâneuse is heading to the seaside for this week’s story. In the late 1960s Richard Attenborough filmed parts of Oh! What a Lovely War on the Brighton seafront. When filming was over, he donated a seaside kiosk that had featured in the film to the Brighton Festival. In May 1970 the architect Sir Hugh Casson transformed it into a ‘small folly built – or at least embellished  – in Brighton rock’.

architecture, bridge, eyecatcher, Folly, garden, London, public park, pyramid, Temple, Tower

The Pagoda and Chinese Bridge, St. James’s Park, London, 1814

1814 saw the centenary of the ascension of the House of Hanover to the British throne. Although it was only a few years since George III had celebrated a reign of 50 years, it was decided that a grand national fête would be held in August to mark the occasion, an event which would also commemorate ‘General Peace’ and the anniversary of the ‘Glorious Battle of the Nile’.