Barford Court, Hove
Encyclopedia
Barford Court is a care home
operated by the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution
and situated on the seafront in Hove
, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The building has had this function only since 1996; it was constructed by renowned cinema architect Robert Cromie as a private house for Ian Stuart Millar, an eccentric iron industry tycoon, who occupied it for only nine years. The large building later accommodated the Brighton and Hove School of Nursing, which for the first time brought together training provision for all local hospitals' staff on one site. When the school moved away in 1989, the house spent several years on the market awaiting a buyer—and in steadily deteriorating structural condition—before being refurbished, extended, renamed and converted to its present use.
The building is distinctive and idiosyncratic in its layout, positioning, materials and architectural style. Many interior touches are reminiscent of interwar Art Deco
cinema architecture, contrasting with the "austere" Neo-Georgian exterior. Handmade, specially commissioned bricks in an unusual purplish grey colour were used to build the house, which is surrounded by a high wall of the same material. The layout was designed to accommodate the motor-car at a time when they were uncommon, with garaging space integrated into the design of the ground floor. Several design motifs recur throughout, and high-quality internal fittings such as built-in furniture and an unusual staircase have been preserved. English Heritage
has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance. The surrounding wall is also listed separately at Grade II.
on the English Channel
coast west of the more important settlement of Brighton
. It was surrounded by farmland used for grazing sheep. In response to Brighton's rapid 18th- and 19th-century growth into one of England's largest and most popular seaside resort
s, Hove (whose population in 1825 was only 300, compared to more than 25,000 in Brighton) developed into a genteel, characterful residential town with spacious streets of large houses. The streets around Pembroke Crescent and Prince's Crescent, just north of the seafront, were typical examples: developed in the 1890s by prolific local architects Lainson & Sons
and Clayton & Black in the Domestic Revival/Queen Anne style
.
A site at the south end of Princes Crescent, facing the seafront road (Kingsway) and the sea, remained vacant until the 1930s. Ian Stuart Millar, an eccentric business magnate
and occasional film director whose investments in the Tyneside
steel and iron industries made him a millionaire in the early 20th century, moved to Hove and lived at Pembroke Crescent from 1923. In 1934, seeking a larger, custom-built house, he commissioned architect Robert Cromie to design one to his specifications. Cromie was in the middle of a prolific spell of cinema designing: he was responsible for nearly 40 in England during the 1920s and 1930s, including one at Denmark Villas in Hove.
Hove Council, the local governing body at the time, approved Cromie's plans on 8 March 1934, and building work started that year. The bricks used to build the walls were specially commissioned and handmade to order in Italy; their colour has been described as silver-grey or purple-grey, giving a "drab" effect. Too many were ordered: the excess bricks were apparently buried near Hove railway station
rather than reused, although the site has never been confirmed. The house was completed in 1937.
Cromie designed the house for the convenience of visitors arriving by car. The entrance faced north on to a courtyard; visitors would drive straight into it through a wide covered driveway from Princes Crescent (on the east side), and could park in multiple-occupancy garages separated by small brick columns. The roof of this approach was decorated with geometric patterns. Moreover, lights would come on automatically at night when a car arrived, and a fountain in the grounds would be activated. Such attention to motorists' needs was uncommon so early in the history of motoring. Millar himself had his own chauffeur, who lived in a flat in the grounds.
In 1946, Millar sold the house to Hove Hospital for £40,000 (£ as of ). This institution was established in 1859 and moved to a larger site on Sackville Road in 1885. Its nurses had previously lived onsite, but Millar's former home was converted into living quarters (under the name Hove General Hospital Annexe) and the newly vacant rooms at Sackville Road were converted into extra wards, nearly doubling the hospital's capacity. Another change of use came in 1963, when the area's three main hospitals—Brighton General, the Royal Sussex County
and the Royal Alexandra
—established a joint training school in the building. Until then, nurses had been trained in separate facilities at each hospital. The conversion cost £27,000 (£ as of ).
The Brighton and Hove School of Nursing, as it was known, stayed at the Kingsway site until 1989, when a larger facility was opened at the University of Sussex
campus. Brighton Health Authority, the owners at the time, tried to sell the building, but it stood empty and in a deteriorating state for more than four years. Proposals included moving Hove Museum
into the building from its site at Brooker Hall, but only when the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution
submitted a planning application (jointly with the Department of Health
) for a care home
was there any progress. Their plans were approved in December 1993, restoration work started almost immediately, and a well-supported public open day in 1994 preceded the building's reopening as a 40-bed care home in 1996. The Duke of Kent conducted the opening ceremony on behalf of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution on 3 December 1996.
Under its street address of 157 Kingsway, Barford Court was listed at Grade II by English Heritage
on 14 October 1986. The perimeter wall and its wooden gates were listed separately on the same date, also at Grade II. This status is given to "nationally important buildings of special interest". As of February 2001, they were two of the 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.
style in which he usually worked.
The outside walls are built of thin handmade bricks imported from Italy, supported on a base of granite
. They are laid in the Flemish bond pattern and are greyish-purple in colour. The hipped roof
is laid with handmade tiles. The building was originally U-shaped with an open north side, although design firm Peter Currie Architects' renovation work in 1994–96 added a single-storey range to form an enclosed courtyard. Other additions have hidden some of the original features, especially in the east (entrance) wing. Decorative elements and motifs on the exterior include geometric patterning on the driveway roof, two-tone brick courses
in the courtyard walls, wooden doors with vertical ear-of-wheat carvings, gable
ends and arched chimney-stacks. The two-storey house is set slightly below road level, which together with the high perimeter wall means that sea views are only possible from the top floor.
The south (garden) front has four bays
with ranges of four, three, four and two windows respectively. These are the original sash window
s with wooden frames, installed in the 1930s. There are also three dormer windows above. The second and fourth bays project slightly, forming first-floor balconies. On the north side, the front door (with a wheat-ear design, and again with a balcony above) faces the courtyard and some brick-bordered flowerbeds with automatic electric lights. Short columns (five on the west side and more, now hidden, on the east wing) separate the parking garages.
Cromie gave the interior up-to-date features such as inlaid lighting and underfloor heating
, and themes such as two-tone colour schemes and wooden fixtures are found throughout. The ground floor has extensive areas of tiling in contrasting colours; most light fittings are partly of wood, and some have multiple branches; the doors are panelled with two-tone wood; some walls have hardwood panels; and pargeting
, fluting
and decorative mouldings
are also visible. The staircase has an ornate chandelier
, but its main point of interest is the unusual design of the baluster
s: a series of right-angled stepped blocks linked by four concentric quarter-circles of bronze. There are other bronze fixtures as well, and some marblework on the ground floor. A variety of built-in furniture also survives, despite the reordering of the interior to cater for the building's present use.
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
operated by the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution
Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution
The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution is one of the four Masonic Charities in England and Wales. The RMBI operates 17 care homes providing residential care, nursing care and dementia care...
and situated on the seafront in Hove
Hove
Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...
, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The building has had this function only since 1996; it was constructed by renowned cinema architect Robert Cromie as a private house for Ian Stuart Millar, an eccentric iron industry tycoon, who occupied it for only nine years. The large building later accommodated the Brighton and Hove School of Nursing, which for the first time brought together training provision for all local hospitals' staff on one site. When the school moved away in 1989, the house spent several years on the market awaiting a buyer—and in steadily deteriorating structural condition—before being refurbished, extended, renamed and converted to its present use.
The building is distinctive and idiosyncratic in its layout, positioning, materials and architectural style. Many interior touches are reminiscent of interwar Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
cinema architecture, contrasting with the "austere" Neo-Georgian exterior. Handmade, specially commissioned bricks in an unusual purplish grey colour were used to build the house, which is surrounded by a high wall of the same material. The layout was designed to accommodate the motor-car at a time when they were uncommon, with garaging space integrated into the design of the ground floor. Several design motifs recur throughout, and high-quality internal fittings such as built-in furniture and an unusual staircase have been preserved. English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance. The surrounding wall is also listed separately at Grade II.
History
Hove originated as an agricultural hamletHamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
on the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
coast west of the more important settlement of Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
. It was surrounded by farmland used for grazing sheep. In response to Brighton's rapid 18th- and 19th-century growth into one of England's largest and most popular seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
s, Hove (whose population in 1825 was only 300, compared to more than 25,000 in Brighton) developed into a genteel, characterful residential town with spacious streets of large houses. The streets around Pembroke Crescent and Prince's Crescent, just north of the seafront, were typical examples: developed in the 1890s by prolific local architects Lainson & Sons
Thomas Lainson
Thomas Lainson was a British architect. He is best known for his work in the East Sussex coastal towns of Brighton and Hove , where several of his eclectic range of residential, commercial and religious buildings have been awarded listed status by English Heritage...
and Clayton & Black in the Domestic Revival/Queen Anne style
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
.
A site at the south end of Princes Crescent, facing the seafront road (Kingsway) and the sea, remained vacant until the 1930s. Ian Stuart Millar, an eccentric business magnate
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...
and occasional film director whose investments in the Tyneside
Tyneside
Tyneside is a conurbation in North East England, defined by the Office of National Statistics, which is home to over 80% of the population of Tyne and Wear. It includes the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Metropolitan Boroughs of Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside — all settlements on...
steel and iron industries made him a millionaire in the early 20th century, moved to Hove and lived at Pembroke Crescent from 1923. In 1934, seeking a larger, custom-built house, he commissioned architect Robert Cromie to design one to his specifications. Cromie was in the middle of a prolific spell of cinema designing: he was responsible for nearly 40 in England during the 1920s and 1930s, including one at Denmark Villas in Hove.
Hove Council, the local governing body at the time, approved Cromie's plans on 8 March 1934, and building work started that year. The bricks used to build the walls were specially commissioned and handmade to order in Italy; their colour has been described as silver-grey or purple-grey, giving a "drab" effect. Too many were ordered: the excess bricks were apparently buried near Hove railway station
Hove railway station
Hove railway station is in Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. The station and the majority of trains serving it are operated by Southern. The only other operator is First Great Western, who provide a limited number of services each day to Wales and the West Country. However Gatwick Express...
rather than reused, although the site has never been confirmed. The house was completed in 1937.
Cromie designed the house for the convenience of visitors arriving by car. The entrance faced north on to a courtyard; visitors would drive straight into it through a wide covered driveway from Princes Crescent (on the east side), and could park in multiple-occupancy garages separated by small brick columns. The roof of this approach was decorated with geometric patterns. Moreover, lights would come on automatically at night when a car arrived, and a fountain in the grounds would be activated. Such attention to motorists' needs was uncommon so early in the history of motoring. Millar himself had his own chauffeur, who lived in a flat in the grounds.
In 1946, Millar sold the house to Hove Hospital for £40,000 (£ as of ). This institution was established in 1859 and moved to a larger site on Sackville Road in 1885. Its nurses had previously lived onsite, but Millar's former home was converted into living quarters (under the name Hove General Hospital Annexe) and the newly vacant rooms at Sackville Road were converted into extra wards, nearly doubling the hospital's capacity. Another change of use came in 1963, when the area's three main hospitals—Brighton General, the Royal Sussex County
Royal Sussex County Hospital
The Royal Sussex County Hospital is an acute teaching hospital in Brighton, England. Together with the Princess Royal Hospital , it is administered by the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust...
and the Royal Alexandra
Royal Alexandra Hospital, Brighton
The Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children is a children's hospital located within the grounds of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton in the English county of East Sussex...
—established a joint training school in the building. Until then, nurses had been trained in separate facilities at each hospital. The conversion cost £27,000 (£ as of ).
The Brighton and Hove School of Nursing, as it was known, stayed at the Kingsway site until 1989, when a larger facility was opened at the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
campus. Brighton Health Authority, the owners at the time, tried to sell the building, but it stood empty and in a deteriorating state for more than four years. Proposals included moving Hove Museum
Hove Museum and Art Gallery
Hove Museum and Art Gallery is a municipally-owned museum in the town of Hove, which is part of the larger city of Brighton and Hove in the South East of England. The museum is part of "Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton and Hove", and admission is free...
into the building from its site at Brooker Hall, but only when the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution
Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution
The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution is one of the four Masonic Charities in England and Wales. The RMBI operates 17 care homes providing residential care, nursing care and dementia care...
submitted a planning application (jointly with the Department of Health
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...
) for a care home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
was there any progress. Their plans were approved in December 1993, restoration work started almost immediately, and a well-supported public open day in 1994 preceded the building's reopening as a 40-bed care home in 1996. The Duke of Kent conducted the opening ceremony on behalf of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution on 3 December 1996.
Under its street address of 157 Kingsway, Barford Court was listed at Grade II by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
on 14 October 1986. The perimeter wall and its wooden gates were listed separately on the same date, also at Grade II. This status is given to "nationally important buildings of special interest". As of February 2001, they were two of the 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.
Architecture
Robert Cromie was Britain's foremost cinema and theatre architect, and his design for Ian Stuart Millar's house (variously described as "interesting", "sophisticated" and "curious") was influenced by his work on such buildings. In particular, the interior—whose elaborate flourishes and modern features contrast with the "austere" Neo-Georgian exterior—has much in common with the Art DecoArt Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style in which he usually worked.
The outside walls are built of thin handmade bricks imported from Italy, supported on a base of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
. They are laid in the Flemish bond pattern and are greyish-purple in colour. The hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
is laid with handmade tiles. The building was originally U-shaped with an open north side, although design firm Peter Currie Architects' renovation work in 1994–96 added a single-storey range to form an enclosed courtyard. Other additions have hidden some of the original features, especially in the east (entrance) wing. Decorative elements and motifs on the exterior include geometric patterning on the driveway roof, two-tone brick courses
Course (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...
in the courtyard walls, wooden doors with vertical ear-of-wheat carvings, gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
ends and arched chimney-stacks. The two-storey house is set slightly below road level, which together with the high perimeter wall means that sea views are only possible from the top floor.
The south (garden) front has four bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
with ranges of four, three, four and two windows respectively. These are the original sash window
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
s with wooden frames, installed in the 1930s. There are also three dormer windows above. The second and fourth bays project slightly, forming first-floor balconies. On the north side, the front door (with a wheat-ear design, and again with a balcony above) faces the courtyard and some brick-bordered flowerbeds with automatic electric lights. Short columns (five on the west side and more, now hidden, on the east wing) separate the parking garages.
Cromie gave the interior up-to-date features such as inlaid lighting and underfloor heating
Underfloor heating
Underfloor heating and cooling is a form of central heating and cooling which achieves indoor climate control for thermal comfort using conduction, radiation and convection...
, and themes such as two-tone colour schemes and wooden fixtures are found throughout. The ground floor has extensive areas of tiling in contrasting colours; most light fittings are partly of wood, and some have multiple branches; the doors are panelled with two-tone wood; some walls have hardwood panels; and pargeting
Pargeting
Pargeting is a decorative plastering applied to building walls.Pargeting derives from the word 'parget', a Middle English term that is probably derived from the Old French 'pargeter' / 'parjeter', to throw about, or 'porgeter', to roughcast a wall...
, fluting
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
and decorative mouldings
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
are also visible. The staircase has an ornate chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
, but its main point of interest is the unusual design of the baluster
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
s: a series of right-angled stepped blocks linked by four concentric quarter-circles of bronze. There are other bronze fixtures as well, and some marblework on the ground floor. A variety of built-in furniture also survives, despite the reordering of the interior to cater for the building's present use.