former Lifeboat Station, Blackpool

I see in the March 25th editon of the Blackpool Gazette the 1937 former lifeboat station on the Promenade has been demolished by the local Council. Apparantly it was in the way of their new sea defences and couldn't be saved.

I photographed it in 2001 when it appeared to be empty. By that stage the lifeboat crew had a new station further along the shore.

Since then, though, this building has been used as a beachside kiosk selling buckets and sapdes, ice creams and, no doubt, Blackpool Rock as can be seen in Mike Key's 2006 photo on flickr.

I had a glimpse inside through the dusty windows and to me it looked magical illuminated by shafts of sunlight.

The stepped decoration of the white tiles against the blue on the mezzazine level are pure deco and you can just make out more decoration with narrow orange tiles.

Anyway, it's all gone now.