Sepia-tinted postcard of the gardens of the Kursaal, near the waterfront in Bexhill-on-Sea. Pencil: [personal message] [address in Devon supplied]. Bexhill-on-Sea was incorporated as a borough in 1902, and set about developing its waterfront as a tourist area. The colonnade, designed by J. B. Wall, was built for the coronation of George V in 1911, and public gardens were laid out to accompany it. The Kursaal, opened in 1896 and demolished in the 1930s, formed the eastern termination of the gardens. In 1935 the De La Warr Pavilion, designed by Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff, was opened within the precincts of the gardens