Bandstand

A bandstand is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier or indoor space and built for musical performances, with smaller versions resembling gazebos and larger, quarter sphere forms called bandshells. The design creates an ornamental focal point, helps project sound, and shelters performers from the weather outdoors, drawing on the ornamental garden gazebos of Europe, which were themselves modeled on open sided pavilions from Asia. Bandstands first became fashionable in the pleasure gardens of eighteenth and nineteenth century London and Paris, where musicians played for dining and dancing guests, before spreading to public parks worldwide. Many British bandstands date from the Victorian era and the rise of the brass band movement, and though many declined after the Second World War, Heritage Lottery funding has restored a number of them since the late 1990s.