Pier Terrace

The Pier Terrace in West Bay, Dorset, was designed by the English Arts and Crafts architect Edward Schroeder Prior in 1884–85. It is a Grade II listed building. Pier Terrace is one of Prior's most important early buildings. The influence of Norman Shaw, particularly his Sisters of Bethany Convent, is still apparent in the double pitched tiled roof, stepped rhythm, tile hanging and bay windows of the terrace. However the terrace's design had much derived from West Country vernacular architecture by comparison to Prior's initial, unfulfilled designs for cottages and a hotel at West Bay. Prior's interest in materials and his understanding of their use in combination with experiments in volume and massing came to the fore at West Bay, anticipating his later mature work. He used materials carefully, with bands of differing textures and materials emphasising the horizontal plain, breaking up the massive warehouse like volume of the building. The combination of experimentation with volumes, such as cutting the entrance arches out of the eastern facade and materials, the overhanging storeys, projecting eaves and bays demonstrate Prior's interest in the play of light and his understanding of shadow. The Great Western Railway reached Bridport in 1857 resulting in the decline of Bridport Harbour and its renaming as West Bay. Local businessmen, including the archaeologist Augustus Pitt-Rivers and the Earl of Ilchester, funded an extension of the line to the harbour, being the Bridport Railway which was completed by 1883. Subsequently, they established the West Bay Building Company to build villas and lodging houses for visitors. Two of Prior's cousins were on the board and it was as a consequence of this that Prior became involved, initially designing proposals for cottages, lodging houses a hotel and the “Lost Sailor” tap room, all in a Shavian idiom. However the scheme was blocked by General Pitt-Rivers who would not release the land on the East Cliff at a reasonable price.…