A bandstand is an open pavilion — a roof carried on columns, usually over a raised platform — built so that music can be performed outdoors. The building type belongs to the flourishing club and society culture of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, when almost every town had a brass or wind band that played in the park or on the square on Sundays.
Form and construction
The classic bandstand is round or polygonal, most often hexagonal or octagonal, with a tent roof rising to a finial. The build-up is nearly always the same:
- Substructure — a masonry or concrete platform floor, roughly 0.6 to 1.2 metres above ground level, so the audience can see the players
- Columns — slender cast iron or timber posts around the perimeter, often with decorative brackets or arches between the heads
- Balustrade — an open railing of cast iron or turned timber balusters
- Roof — a light timber structure covered with zinc, slate or tiles; the soffit is usually boarded with matchboarding
The roof has an acoustic function as well: it reflects sound towards the audience and keeps players and instruments dry.
Use and maintenance
- Parks and squares — as the focal point of a layout, often on an axis or in a circular garden
- Reuse — today also used for markets, ceremonies and catering
- Heritage status — many nineteenth-century bandstands are listed; alterations need consent
- Restoration — cast iron is brittle and cracks rather than bends; repair is specialist work, either by welding or by casting a replacement column from the original
Points to watch
- The foot of a timber column rots if rainwater cannot run freely off the platform — falls and a drip detail matter more than anything else
- Fixings between cast iron and timber should be stainless; corroding steel splits both materials
- Drainage around the substructure is the single most important maintenance item
Related terms
- Pavilion
- Cast iron
- Tent roof
- Balustrade
- Listed building
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