The Torquay Pavilion is a grade II listed art nouveau theatre in Torquay. It is located in the Princess Gardens opposite the Princess Theatre, by the Torquay Harbour. Designed by architect Edward Rogers, the construction of the pavilion began in 1890 and was completed in 1912. The design featured an impressive central copper-covered dome topped with a life size figure of Britannia. Two smaller domes on each side of the entrance were surmounted by copper figures of Mercury and the rest of the structured was richly decorated with fine cast ironwork in Art Nouveau style. The pavilion was designed as a grand concert hall and over the years hosted many concerts by eminent conductors.
The pavilion was the centre of fashionable social life in Torquay during Agatha Christie's time and she would have attended concerts there frequently. On 4 Jan 1913, Archibald Christie and the young Agatha Miller attended a Wagner concert there. After the concert, Archie asked Agatha to marry him. Although she wanted to, she had to decline because she was then already engaged to Reggie Lucy. Moreover neither Archie nor Agatha had very much money and they were in no financial position to be married. It would be another two years before they finally tied the knot.
By the 1960s it was becoming more and more expensive to put up shows at the pavilion. The last show was held there in 1976. Thereafter the pavilion was repurposed for other uses, including as an ice rink and then as a shopping mall, uses which resulted in the interior being drastically altered. The pavilion features as a landmark on the "Agatha Christie Mile" but it has been closed since 2012 and is not accessible. The local authorities have plans to restore the pavilion but to date there have been no specifics.
The pavilion features in the Tommy and Tuppence short story The Unbreakable Alibi. In the story, a woman Una Drake has challenged a prospective marriage partner to "break" her unbrekable alibi--she appeared to have been at two places at the same time. Tommy and Tuppence travel to Torquay and speak to a waitress at a hotel. According to her, the woman in question had asked her what there was to do in town for the night. The waitress had suggested the pavilion.