Carlton Hill, Brighton
Encyclopedia
Carlton Hill is an inner-city area of Brighton
, part of the English city and seaside resort
of Brighton and Hove. First developed in the early and mid-19th century on steeply sloping farmland east of central Brighton, it grew rapidly as the town became a fashionable, high-class destination. Carlton Hill's population was always poor, though, and by the early 20th century the area was Brighton's worst slum: overcrowding, crime and disease were rife. Extensive slum clearance
in the mid-20th century introduced high-density tower block
s, but some old buildings remain: in 2008, Brighton and Hove City Council designated part of Carlton Hill as the city's 34th conservation area
. The area now has housing of various styles and ages, large offices and small-scale industry; there are also churches, a school and some open space.
Carlton Hill's pattern of development was defined by the long-established structure of land ownership around Brighton, whereby land was divided into long, narrow strips with many different owners. This encouraged the development of terraced housing—the predominant housing pattern until the council undertook large-scale demolition and high-density rebuilding in the mid-20th century. This work introduced more open space and varied land uses: Brighton Art College was able to expand into the area, and American Express
opened a large, visually dominant headquarters.
Buildings lost during the 20th century include schools and several chapels serving various Christian denomination
s. The former St John the Evangelist's Anglican church was declared redundant
and sold to Brighton's Greek Orthodox
community; meanwhile, a distinctive Modernist
church was built in the 1960s for Spiritualists
. A cluster of historic early 19th-century houses and other structures survived the redevelopment, and several were awarded listed status by English Heritage
. These buildings and their surroundings were afforded further protection in 2008 when the city council designated the Carlton Hill conservation area.
; Edward Street, a major road leading towards Kemp Town
and the eastbound coast road
, forms the southern boundary; the Queen's Park
residential area is to the east; and the densely populated terraced housing
of Hanover
lies to the north. The main road through the area runs from west to east and is also called Carlton Hill. Albion Hill, another steeply sloping west–east road, forms the northern boundary between Hanover and Carlton Hill; the area north of Sussex Street is sometimes referred to as Albion Hill. The high ground of the area reaches a summit of 230 feet (70.1 m) at Windmill Terrace, between Albion Hill and Richmond Street. The latter was Brighton's steepest road until redevelopment in the 1960s severed it: its 1:5 gradient necessitated a full-width wall halfway along, to intercept runaway handcarts and other vehicles.
The area is not prominent on Brighton's skyline, but good views are possible from its streets, especially westwards and southwestwards towards the sea and across the valley floor in which Old Steine
and the old town are situated. Tarner Park, an open space in the centre of the conservation area, offers long views through nearly 180°.
fishing and agricultural village of Bristelmestune. The English Channel
formed its southern limit, but on all other sides was farmland divided into open fields called laines. These were further subdivided into furlongs—wide parallel strips—and paul-pieces, which were much narrower strips. Despite their small size, neighbouring paul-pieces often had different owners. Wide paths (leakways) ran at right-angles to the furlongs, separating them. This ancient land-use pattern, which survived until the 18th century despite its unsuitability for contemporary farming methods, significantly influenced the pattern of urban development in 18th- and 19th-century Brighton.
Hilly Laine was one of Brighton's five laines. It was northeast of the Steine (later called Old Steine), the centre of fashionable society in the 18th century, and rose steeply eastwards from an area of sheltered flatter land close to the Steine. Some fields were used for small-scale activities such as limeburning
and market garden
ing, but most were farmed by individuals. The laine had several furlongs; the second of these, which now forms the heart of the conservation area, was separated from its neighbours by leakways which became Carlton Hill (the road) and Sussex Street. Much of the land in this area was owned by Dr Benjamin Scutt, whose landholdings extended into the neighbouring village of Hove
(the Brunswick estate
was built on land he sold in the 1820s). Starting around 1800, the land was gradually sold to developers; Edward Street was laid out in 1804 and quickly experienced a "mini building boom" with inns, stables and small workshops. John Street, on the first (westernmost) furlong of Hilly Laine, was built up by 1810: its developer, John Hall, laid out plots for 11 by 15 ft (3.4 by 4.6 m) houses and started building and selling them in 1805. Carlton Street, by another developer, followed by 1807. Meanwhile, development continued slowly on the second furlong: four paul-pieces were occupied with buildings by 1819.
Scutt's land sales helped him fund the development of Carlton Place, an architectural set-piece consisting of a 20-house terrace surrounding a riding school, the Royal Circus; the development took place between 1806 and 1808. Named after Carlton House, the Prince Regent's
London home, the development was on a larger scale than the rest of Carlton Hill's houses: each plot measured 17 by 60 ft (5.2 by 18.3 m). Each cost about £410 (£ as of ) to build, and proved to be profitable: one sold for £700 (£ as of ) in 1806 to a local vicar, who later bought two more to rent out. A survey of the town's housing by the Brighton Town Commissioners in 1814 valued Carlton Place within the top 25% of all houses in Brighton. Scutt laid out three more streets nearby at the same time: Carlton Mews, Carlton Row and Woburn Place were narrow roads crowded with small houses, stables and workshops. Meanwhile, a farmhouse was built at an unknown time in the early 19th century on nearby Mighell Street; it may have moved from agricultural to residential and commercial use later that century, and has an obscure early history.
Built as Patriot Place in the mid-1810s, Tilbury Place (renamed in the 1860s) and its five houses stood next to the farm and formed a pocket of high-class residential development in a mostly working-class area of small houses. Number 1, also called St John's Lodge, was the largest, and was built for Edward Tarner (a merchant) and his wife Laetitia, whose maiden name
was Tilbury. It passed through the family until 1933, when Laetitia Tilbury Tarner, a descendant, left it to Brighton Corporation for charitable purposes. It was converted into Tarner Home, a nursing and care institute for poor people, and later became a hostel
.
Apart from some land north of Sussex Street that remained agricultural until the 20th century, the whole hillside was covered with (mostly terraced
) houses, small workshops and industrial structures, inns and other modest buildings by the mid-19th century. As early as 1840, the area was considered to be affected by poverty and its high population density. Brighton Corporation undertook some slum clearance
in the 1880s, when White and Blaker Streets were laid out between Carlton Hill and Edward Street. By this time, Carlton Hill was known as Brighton's "foreign quarter", where many Italian and French street vendors—who sold food of various types on Brighton beach, in the town centre and from door to door—settled. Brighton's fishing industry still thrived into the early 20th century, and many fishermen lived in Carlton Hill and used its workshops and warehouses to cure and smoke their herring
catches. A contemporary writer, quoted by Brighton historian Clifford Musgrave, observed that "an aromatic and appetising pall would envelop the entire neighbourhood, kipper
ing both fish and residents alike".
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Carlton Hill's notoriety as a slum
increased. Poverty, drunkenness, disease and low living standards were rife. Brighton's reputation was damaged by a disparaging article in The Lancet
in 1882: making reference to Carlton Hill, it criticised the town's poor standards of health. Assisted by government funding, Brighton Corporation undertook extensive slum clearance from 1928 until the start of World War II, transforming the area's appearance. Two large blocks of flats—Brighton Corporation's first council flats
—were built to rehouse many of the displaced residents. The Milner Flats, a long four-storey block, stand on the site of Woburn Place, and were completed in 1934. Alderman Hugh Milner Black, a Corporation member who campaigned for housing improvements in Brighton, was commemorated in the naming. Kingswood Flats, on the site of Nelson Place and a Primitive Methodist
chapel, were built in 1938. The name refers to Minister for Health
Kingsley Wood
. Some displaced residents were moved out of the area: the new council estates of Whitehawk
and Moulsecoomb
, built in the 1920s and early 1930s on the fringe of Brighton, accommodated many former Carlton Hill residents. An earlier low-rise development took place in 1931, when the small Tarnerland council estate was built on empty land near Tilbury Place.
The Corporation also provided non-residential buildings on the cleared land. The Circus Street Municipal Market, on a wide street built behind Scutt's Royal Circus riding school, opened in January 1937 and became one of Brighton's main markets. A former chapel and many terraced houses had stood on the site, whose redevelopment cost £75,000 (£ as of ). A fish market, moved from a site near the beach, was added in 1960. The building closed in 2005 and has been empty since then, apart from its use as a temporary exhibition centre during the 2009 Brighton Festival
—when sculptor Anish Kapoor
showed a new work there. Two clinics, specialising in chest complaints and child welfare, opened on the north side of Sussex Street, opposite the market, in 1936 and 1938 respectively. The chest clinic closed in 1989. The lower part of Sussex Street was renamed Morley Street at this time. Brighton Corporation compulsorily purchased
Carlton Place in about 1955 and demolished the houses and former riding school in favour of new housing. John Street became the site of two important civic buildings in the mid-1960s: Brighton's central police station was opened in 1965, followed by the new county court building two years later.
Clearances around Albion Hill began in the 1950s. From 1959, the narrow, densely populated terraces between Albion Hill and Morley Street were cleared and replaced with landscaped open space and seven tower block
s—Brighton's first such buildings. The first, Highleigh, opened on 11 May 1961. Like its later neighbours, it has 11 storeys. The steep Richmond Street was severed as part of this redevelopment; its lower section was replaced by a zig-zag path down the hillside and a short road called Richmond Parade, and new roads (Grove Hill and Ashton Rise) were built between the tower blocks and across the slope of the hill. Similarly, the lowest section of Carlton Hill was renamed Kingswood Street when it was redeveloped in the 1960s: Brighton Art College (now part of the University of Brighton
) was extended in 1967 by Brighton borough architect Percy Billington, taking up a large corner plot.
In the mid-1970s, American Express
sought land in Brighton to build a new European headquarters. The company had a long association with Sussex, and opened a mechanical accounting centre in a building on Edward Street in 1968. Most of Mighell Street and all of its buildings—except the old farmhouse—and some neighbouring streets were demolished and replaced by the 300000 square foot Amex House
, a nine-storey office building designed by American architecture firm Gollins, Melvin, Ward and Partners. In September 2008, American Express announced plans to demolish and replace the building. The new office will be set slightly further back, closer to Carlton Hill (the road), and better road access will be provided by means of a new entrance from John Street. The city council granted planning permission
in November 2009, and preliminary building work started in early 2010.
Early in its development, Carlton Hill was provided with an Anglican church. St John the Evangelist's Church, opposite the junction of Carlton Hill and White Street, was designed by George Cheesman junior in a "strangely bleak" Greek Revival
/Neo-Georgian style in 1838, with Doric columns
and a stucco
ed and pediment
ed façade. Never successful in attracting large congregations, it was declared redundant by the Diocese of Chichester
in 1980. Proposals for its conversion into a drug detoxification
centre were opposed, and in March 1986 the Greek Orthodox community
, which had been worshipping elsewhere in Brighton, bought the church and rededicated it as the Church of the Holy Trinity
. The building was severely damaged by fire in July 2010.
The Ebenezer Reformed Baptist Church has occupied three buildings on two different sites in Carlton Hill. It was founded in 1825, and the first service was held on 13 April of that year in a stucco
ed Renaissance-style building on the north side of Richmond Street. The chapel, with prominently displayed on its entablature
, was locally nicknamed "The Lemon Squeezer". It was demolished in 1966 during the redevelopment of the Richmond Street area. Architect C.J. Wood built a new church in the Vernacular style
on the opposite side of Richmond Parade, backing on to Ivory Place, in the same year. It was in turn demolished in 2007, and a six-storey block of flats with a new church on the ground floor was built in its place. This opened in August 2010.
Five other chapels were demolished during the area's 20th-century redevelopment. The Sussex Street Strict Baptist Chapel stood on the section of that road which is now named Morley Street. It had lancet window
s and a stuccoed exterior, and opened in 1867. The congregation moved out in 1895, and St Margaret's Church in Cannon Place established a mission hall in the building. The Circus Street market was built on the site after its demolition in 1937. Also on Sussex Street, a Primitive Methodist
chapel was founded in 1836. The Kingswood Flats now occupy the site of the building, which closed in about 1950. Mighell Street Hall, demolished in 1965, stood on land now covered by Amex House. It was used by Baptists from 1878, then as the church hall of St John the Evangelist's, and finally by Spiritualists
. When the new Brighton National Spiritualist Church, a figure-of-eight concrete building, opened on Edward Street in 1965, the hall closed for good. The Carlton Hill Apostolic Church stood for 99 years until 1964, although its Catholic Apostolic
congregation moved out in 1954. Latterly it was used as student housing for the adjacent Brighton Art College, which extended its premises onto the site when the building was demolished. The Salvation Army
had a citadel at the junction of Edward Street and the now vanished Riding School Lane (near Mighell Street) from 1884 until 1965, when it was demolished for road widening.
in 1963. It is on the boundary of the conservation area, between Sussex Street and Carlton Hill (the road) on the west side of Tilbury Place, and is well screened by trees. It has a tall wooden fence that, according to the council's Conservation Area Character Statement, "visually intrudes on the approach to the conservation area and harms its setting". It recommends replacing the fence with a flint
wall. The school adjoins the site that is being redeveloped for the new American Express headquarters: the company paid the school £300,000 (a condition of the council's approval of the planning application) to compensate for the effect on its playground, which will be overlooked by the building, and the building contractor Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd has paid for a school crossing patrol officer
to help children cross Carlton Hill safely during the construction period.
Several schools were founded in the mid-19th century. A Ragged Schools Union
school stood on Carlton Street from the mid-1850s, and St John the Evangelist's Church established its own school in 1870 on Carlton Hill. This was rebuilt in 1914, and now houses the American Express social club. Board schools were set up in 1873 on Richmond Street and 1883 on Circus Street. The Richmond Street school was the first in Brighton to offer school meals. The two Board schools merged in 1926 and took the name Sussex Street School, after which the Circus Street building closed. It was later sold to Brighton Polytechnic (now the University of Brighton). The Richmond Street school ran along the west side of Claremont Row between Richmond and Sussex Streets; playgrounds separated the boys' and girls' sections. In October 1930, a nursery section was added. The school was compulsorily purchased in 1959 and demolished for redevelopment; Carlton Hill Primary School was built to replace it.
The Margaret Macmillan Open Air Nursery was built on part of the grounds of number 1 Tilbury Place in the 1930s, partly funded by Laetitia Tilbury Tarner (who had bequeathed the house and its grounds to Brighton Corporation). A nursery school now stands on the site.
"dominates the sweep of Carlton Hill" and is visible on the skyline from much of Brighton. Designed by American architecture firm Gollins Melvin and Ward, the building has prominent white horizontal bands of glass-reinforced plastic
and blue-tinted glazing, and its corners are chamfer
ed to give it a more rounded appearance. It is nicknamed "The Wedding Cake", and its clean, futuristic design has been said to evoke Thunderbirds
. The building is generally considered to be one of the better postwar additions to Brighton's building stock, although it affects views into and out of the neighbouring conservation area. About 3,000 people work at the building, making American Express the largest private employer
in Brighton and Hove.
Prior House, at the north end of Tilbury Place, was built in 1936 for the Brighton Girl's Club. This institution was founded in 1928 at Nelson Row, and was displaced from its original premises in 1934 when the Kingswood Flats were built on the site. In 1970, Prior House became a centre for unemployed people, offering education and other social facilities; it is now a base for voluntary and charitable groups under the aegis of the Resource Centre, a local organisation formed in 1975. Architecturally, it is a plain red-brick building with a large stucco
ed extension on the second floor, affecting the ambience of Tilbury Place and the neighbouring listed buildings.
The former vicarage of St John the Evangelist's Church, opposite the church on the south side of Carlton Hill, has been converted into an office. It dates from 1899 and is domestic in character, with bay window
s containing original sashes
, red-brick walls and a steeply pitched roof. It is within the conservation area and is considered to make a "positive contribution" to its character.
Another building formerly associated with the church is the Edward Riley Memorial Hall, now the Sussex Deaf Centre. It has a steep clay-tiled roof and brown brickwork. The high flint walls around it are described as a positive feature of the conservation area, although the building itself has a "neutral effect" according to the council's character statement. The building was used as the church hall until the church closed in 1980; the Chichester Diocesan
Centre for the Deaf was then established in it.
, a Government department, in accordance with the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
. English Heritage
, a non-departmental public body
, acts as an agency of this department to administer the process and advise the department on relevant issues.
As of February 2001, there were 24 listed buildings with Grade I status, 70 Grade II*-listed and 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings in Brighton and Hove. Grade I-listed buildings are defined as being of "exceptional interest" and greater than national importance; Grade II*, the next highest status, is used for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest"; and the lowest grade, Grade II, is used for "nationally important buildings of special interest".
Carlton Hill has nine listed buildings (covered by five separate listings), all of which have Grade II status and lie within the conservation area. Number 1 Tilbury Place (St John's Lodge) is listed together with its surrounding railings, garden wall and garden porch. The four neighbouring and contemporary houses at 2–5 Tilbury Place are also listed together under a single Grade II designation. Described by the council as an "impressive warm brick terrace" of "elegant townhouses", they were much larger than the surrounding houses—especially number 1, which also had extensive gardens. Number 5 is also slightly larger than the others, and originally had stables adjacent. They are in the Georgian style
, built of pale yellow brick laid in the Flemish bond pattern. The roofs are slate-tiled, but some are hidden behind parapet
s. The entrance doors have decorated fanlight
s and original windows with ogee
-shaped cast-iron miniature balconies. All five houses are now owned by a housing association
and have been divided into flats.
The former St John the Evangelist's Church was listed at Grade II on 20 August 1971. It is a Greek Revival
-style stucco
-clad building of stone and brick with a partly hipped roof
. The three-bay
façade has four Tuscan
pilaster
s beneath a substantial entablature
and pediment
. The frieze
between them has metopes
and triglyph
s. Work by L.A. Mackintosh in 1957 altered the exterior; the architect added his personal monogram
and an eagle emblem (representing John the Evangelist
) above the left and right entrances respectively.
Numbers 34 and 35 Mighell Street (the former Mighell Farmhouse) were jointly listed on 13 October 1952. Described as a "surprising survival", the now semi-detached house is a two-storey cobble-fronted building with a prominent porch framed by Tuscan columns
and topped by an entablature
with a frieze
and triglyph
and a decorated pediment
. An arched doorway with a keystone
has a 19th-century panelled door set into it, and the sash window
s are also original and have similar arched surrounds made of bricks. The roof is tiled and has chimneys at each end. The farmhouse's origins are unknown, although a Philip Mighell was a major landowner on Hilly Laine in the late 18th century, when some of the paul-pieces bore his name. The building was apparently at least partly in commercial use by 1865.
In Tarner Park, an area of open space formed from part of number 1 Tilbury Place's grounds, there is a circular tower which is believed to have been built by Edward Tilbury Tarner (son of the original occupants Edward and Laetitia Tarner) as an observation tower so he could see ships in the English Channel
. The mid-19th-century structure has two storeys and about 70 steps; the upper level is recessed and has a walkway around it. The walls are of knapped flint with some brick and stonework. Part of an iron weather vane
remains at the top. Both storeys have segmental-arched entrances, but these are now closed. The structure is in good condition but has some missing flints.
is a principally urban area "of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance". Such areas are identified by local authorities according to criteria defined by Sections 69 and 70 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
.
On 4 July 2008, 4.05 acres (1.6 ha) at the heart of Carlton Hill was designated as the city of Brighton and Hove's 34th conservation area. Its boundaries are (clockwise from north) Sussex Street, St John's Place, Carlton Hill (including the stub of Mighell Street) and Tilbury Place, with the open space of Tarner Park at the centre. All of Carlton Hill's listed buildings are within the designated area; these, combined with the sheltered open space of Tarner Park, substantial tree cover, the survival of old street patterns and boundary walls, and the distinctive lie of the land, contribute to the area's "special character", as defined by Brighton and Hove City Council.
The area does not have a unified appearance or structure, owing to the large-scale redevelopment carried out in the 20th century. Instead, a "disparate group of individually interesting buildings" and small spaces define the area; together, they form "a fragment of early 19th-century Brighton".
Flint and brown or yellow brick is used extensively, both for buildings within the conservation area and in associated structures such as boundary walls and pavements. Some kerbs are of granite
, limestone
and flint, while some high-quality Yorkstone
paving slabs survive, along with some red-brick pavements.
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, part of the English city and 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 :...
of Brighton and Hove. First developed in the early and mid-19th century on steeply sloping farmland east of central Brighton, it grew rapidly as the town became a fashionable, high-class destination. Carlton Hill's population was always poor, though, and by the early 20th century the area was Brighton's worst slum: overcrowding, crime and disease were rife. Extensive slum clearance
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
in the mid-20th century introduced high-density tower block
Tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...
s, but some old buildings remain: in 2008, Brighton and Hove City Council designated part of Carlton Hill as the city's 34th conservation area
Conservation Area (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, the term Conservation Area nearly always applies to an area considered worthy of preservation or enhancement because of its special architectural or historic interest, "the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance," as required by the Planning ...
. The area now has housing of various styles and ages, large offices and small-scale industry; there are also churches, a school and some open space.
Carlton Hill's pattern of development was defined by the long-established structure of land ownership around Brighton, whereby land was divided into long, narrow strips with many different owners. This encouraged the development of terraced housing—the predominant housing pattern until the council undertook large-scale demolition and high-density rebuilding in the mid-20th century. This work introduced more open space and varied land uses: Brighton Art College was able to expand into the area, and American Express
American Express
American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
opened a large, visually dominant headquarters.
Buildings lost during the 20th century include schools and several chapels serving various Christian denomination
Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...
s. The former St John the Evangelist's Anglican church was declared redundant
Redundant church
A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...
and sold to Brighton's Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
community; meanwhile, a distinctive Modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
church was built in the 1960s for Spiritualists
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
. A cluster of historic early 19th-century houses and other structures survived the redevelopment, and several were awarded listed status 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...
. These buildings and their surroundings were afforded further protection in 2008 when the city council designated the Carlton Hill conservation area.
Location
Carlton Hill stands on high ground immediately east of the centre of Brighton. Its western boundary, Grand Parade, is part of the main road to LondonA23 road
The A23 road is a major road in the United Kingdom between London and Brighton, East Sussex. It became an arterial route following the construction of Westminster Bridge in 1750 and the consequent improvement of roads leading to the bridge south of the river by the Turnpike Trusts...
; Edward Street, a major road leading towards Kemp Town
Kemp Town
Kemp Town is a 19th Century residential estate in the east of Brighton in East Sussex, England, UK. Kemp Town was conceived and financed by Thomas Read Kemp. It has given its name to the larger Kemptown region of Brighton....
and the eastbound coast road
A259 road
The A259 is a busy road on the south coast of England passing through Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex and part of Kent. Part of the road was named "the most dangerous road in South East England" in 2008.-Description:...
, forms the southern boundary; the Queen's Park
Queen's Park, Brighton
Queen's Park is an administrative ward and a public park in Brighton, England.The area lies to the east of the centre of Brighton, north of Kemptown and south-east of Hanover. It is largely made up of Victorian terraced houses, with a smaller number of detached and semi-detached houses...
residential area is to the east; and the densely populated terraced housing
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
of Hanover
Hanover, Brighton
thumb|right|Hanover Day 2007.Hanover is an area within the city of Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom. It is part of the electoral ward of Hanover & Elm Grove....
lies to the north. The main road through the area runs from west to east and is also called Carlton Hill. Albion Hill, another steeply sloping west–east road, forms the northern boundary between Hanover and Carlton Hill; the area north of Sussex Street is sometimes referred to as Albion Hill. The high ground of the area reaches a summit of 230 feet (70.1 m) at Windmill Terrace, between Albion Hill and Richmond Street. The latter was Brighton's steepest road until redevelopment in the 1960s severed it: its 1:5 gradient necessitated a full-width wall halfway along, to intercept runaway handcarts and other vehicles.
The area is not prominent on Brighton's skyline, but good views are possible from its streets, especially westwards and southwestwards towards the sea and across the valley floor in which Old Steine
Old Steine
The Old Steine is a thoroughfare in central Brighton, East Sussex, and is the southern terminus of the A23. The southern end leads to Marine Parade, the Brighton seafront and the Palace Pier. The Old Steine is also the site of a number of City Centre bus stops for Brighton buses...
and the old town are situated. Tarner Park, an open space in the centre of the conservation area, offers long views through nearly 180°.
History
Brighton's origins lie in the SaxonAnglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
fishing and agricultural village of Bristelmestune. 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...
formed its southern limit, but on all other sides was farmland divided into open fields called laines. These were further subdivided into furlongs—wide parallel strips—and paul-pieces, which were much narrower strips. Despite their small size, neighbouring paul-pieces often had different owners. Wide paths (leakways) ran at right-angles to the furlongs, separating them. This ancient land-use pattern, which survived until the 18th century despite its unsuitability for contemporary farming methods, significantly influenced the pattern of urban development in 18th- and 19th-century Brighton.
Hilly Laine was one of Brighton's five laines. It was northeast of the Steine (later called Old Steine), the centre of fashionable society in the 18th century, and rose steeply eastwards from an area of sheltered flatter land close to the Steine. Some fields were used for small-scale activities such as limeburning
Calcium oxide
Calcium oxide , commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature....
and market garden
Market garden
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. It is distinguishable from other types of farming by the diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically, from under one acre ...
ing, but most were farmed by individuals. The laine had several furlongs; the second of these, which now forms the heart of the conservation area, was separated from its neighbours by leakways which became Carlton Hill (the road) and Sussex Street. Much of the land in this area was owned by Dr Benjamin Scutt, whose landholdings extended into the neighbouring village of 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...
(the Brunswick estate
Brunswick (Hove)
Brunswick Town is an area in Hove, in the city of Brighton and Hove, England. It is best known for the Regency architecture of the Brunswick estate.-History:...
was built on land he sold in the 1820s). Starting around 1800, the land was gradually sold to developers; Edward Street was laid out in 1804 and quickly experienced a "mini building boom" with inns, stables and small workshops. John Street, on the first (westernmost) furlong of Hilly Laine, was built up by 1810: its developer, John Hall, laid out plots for 11 by 15 ft (3.4 by 4.6 m) houses and started building and selling them in 1805. Carlton Street, by another developer, followed by 1807. Meanwhile, development continued slowly on the second furlong: four paul-pieces were occupied with buildings by 1819.
Scutt's land sales helped him fund the development of Carlton Place, an architectural set-piece consisting of a 20-house terrace surrounding a riding school, the Royal Circus; the development took place between 1806 and 1808. Named after Carlton House, the Prince Regent's
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
London home, the development was on a larger scale than the rest of Carlton Hill's houses: each plot measured 17 by 60 ft (5.2 by 18.3 m). Each cost about £410 (£ as of ) to build, and proved to be profitable: one sold for £700 (£ as of ) in 1806 to a local vicar, who later bought two more to rent out. A survey of the town's housing by the Brighton Town Commissioners in 1814 valued Carlton Place within the top 25% of all houses in Brighton. Scutt laid out three more streets nearby at the same time: Carlton Mews, Carlton Row and Woburn Place were narrow roads crowded with small houses, stables and workshops. Meanwhile, a farmhouse was built at an unknown time in the early 19th century on nearby Mighell Street; it may have moved from agricultural to residential and commercial use later that century, and has an obscure early history.
Built as Patriot Place in the mid-1810s, Tilbury Place (renamed in the 1860s) and its five houses stood next to the farm and formed a pocket of high-class residential development in a mostly working-class area of small houses. Number 1, also called St John's Lodge, was the largest, and was built for Edward Tarner (a merchant) and his wife Laetitia, whose maiden name
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
was Tilbury. It passed through the family until 1933, when Laetitia Tilbury Tarner, a descendant, left it to Brighton Corporation for charitable purposes. It was converted into Tarner Home, a nursing and care institute for poor people, and later became a hostel
Hostel
Hostels provide budget oriented, sociable accommodation where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed, in a dormitory and share a bathroom, lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex, although private rooms may also be available...
.
Apart from some land north of Sussex Street that remained agricultural until the 20th century, the whole hillside was covered with (mostly terraced
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
) houses, small workshops and industrial structures, inns and other modest buildings by the mid-19th century. As early as 1840, the area was considered to be affected by poverty and its high population density. Brighton Corporation undertook some slum clearance
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
in the 1880s, when White and Blaker Streets were laid out between Carlton Hill and Edward Street. By this time, Carlton Hill was known as Brighton's "foreign quarter", where many Italian and French street vendors—who sold food of various types on Brighton beach, in the town centre and from door to door—settled. Brighton's fishing industry still thrived into the early 20th century, and many fishermen lived in Carlton Hill and used its workshops and warehouses to cure and smoke their herring
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
catches. A contemporary writer, quoted by Brighton historian Clifford Musgrave, observed that "an aromatic and appetising pall would envelop the entire neighbourhood, kipper
Kipper
A kipper is a whole herring, a small, oily fish, that has been split from tail to head, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold smoked.In the United Kingdom, in Japan, and in some North American regions they are often eaten for breakfast...
ing both fish and residents alike".
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Carlton Hill's notoriety as a slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
increased. Poverty, drunkenness, disease and low living standards were rife. Brighton's reputation was damaged by a disparaging article in The Lancet
The Lancet
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
in 1882: making reference to Carlton Hill, it criticised the town's poor standards of health. Assisted by government funding, Brighton Corporation undertook extensive slum clearance from 1928 until the start of World War II, transforming the area's appearance. Two large blocks of flats—Brighton Corporation's first council flats
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
—were built to rehouse many of the displaced residents. The Milner Flats, a long four-storey block, stand on the site of Woburn Place, and were completed in 1934. Alderman Hugh Milner Black, a Corporation member who campaigned for housing improvements in Brighton, was commemorated in the naming. Kingswood Flats, on the site of Nelson Place and a Primitive Methodist
Primitive Methodism
Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932. The Primitive Methodist Church still exists in the United States.-Origins:...
chapel, were built in 1938. The name refers to Minister for Health
Secretary of State for Health
Secretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and...
Kingsley Wood
Kingsley Wood
Sir Howard Kingsley Wood was an English Conservative politician. The son of a Wesleyan Methodist minister, he qualified as a solicitor, and successfully specialised in industrial insurance...
. Some displaced residents were moved out of the area: the new council estates of Whitehawk
Whitehawk
Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove.The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originally developed by the local authority between 1933 and 1937 and...
and Moulsecoomb
Moulsecoomb
Moulsecoomb is a large suburb of Brighton, part of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is located on the northeastern side of Brighton, around the A270 Lewes Road, between the areas of Coldean and Bevendean and approximately 2¼ miles north of the seafront. The eastern edges of the built-up area...
, built in the 1920s and early 1930s on the fringe of Brighton, accommodated many former Carlton Hill residents. An earlier low-rise development took place in 1931, when the small Tarnerland council estate was built on empty land near Tilbury Place.
The Corporation also provided non-residential buildings on the cleared land. The Circus Street Municipal Market, on a wide street built behind Scutt's Royal Circus riding school, opened in January 1937 and became one of Brighton's main markets. A former chapel and many terraced houses had stood on the site, whose redevelopment cost £75,000 (£ as of ). A fish market, moved from a site near the beach, was added in 1960. The building closed in 2005 and has been empty since then, apart from its use as a temporary exhibition centre during the 2009 Brighton Festival
Brighton Festival
The Brighton Festival is an annual arts festival which takes place in the city of Brighton and Hove in England each May. It was founded in 1966, and is the largest multi-art form festival in England...
—when sculptor Anish Kapoor
Anish Kapoor
Anish Kapoor CBE RA is a British sculptor of Indian birth. Born in Mumbai , Kapoor has lived and worked in London since the early 1970s when he moved to study art, first at the Hornsey College of Art and later at the Chelsea School of Art and Design.He represented Britain in the XLIV Venice...
showed a new work there. Two clinics, specialising in chest complaints and child welfare, opened on the north side of Sussex Street, opposite the market, in 1936 and 1938 respectively. The chest clinic closed in 1989. The lower part of Sussex Street was renamed Morley Street at this time. Brighton Corporation compulsorily purchased
Compulsory purchase order
A compulsory purchase order is a legal function in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland that allows certain bodies which need to obtain land or property to do so without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for public betterment - for...
Carlton Place in about 1955 and demolished the houses and former riding school in favour of new housing. John Street became the site of two important civic buildings in the mid-1960s: Brighton's central police station was opened in 1965, followed by the new county court building two years later.
Clearances around Albion Hill began in the 1950s. From 1959, the narrow, densely populated terraces between Albion Hill and Morley Street were cleared and replaced with landscaped open space and seven tower block
Tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...
s—Brighton's first such buildings. The first, Highleigh, opened on 11 May 1961. Like its later neighbours, it has 11 storeys. The steep Richmond Street was severed as part of this redevelopment; its lower section was replaced by a zig-zag path down the hillside and a short road called Richmond Parade, and new roads (Grove Hill and Ashton Rise) were built between the tower blocks and across the slope of the hill. Similarly, the lowest section of Carlton Hill was renamed Kingswood Street when it was redeveloped in the 1960s: Brighton Art College (now part of the University of Brighton
University of Brighton
The University of Brighton is an English university of the United Kingdom, with a community of over 23,000 students and 2,600 staff based on campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. It has one of the best teaching quality ratings in the UK and a strong research record, factors which...
) was extended in 1967 by Brighton borough architect Percy Billington, taking up a large corner plot.
In the mid-1970s, American Express
American Express
American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
sought land in Brighton to build a new European headquarters. The company had a long association with Sussex, and opened a mechanical accounting centre in a building on Edward Street in 1968. Most of Mighell Street and all of its buildings—except the old farmhouse—and some neighbouring streets were demolished and replaced by the 300000 square foot Amex House
Amex House
Amex House, popularly nicknamed The Wedding Cake, is the European headquarters of American Express, the multinational financial services company. It is located in the Carlton Hill area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove...
, a nine-storey office building designed by American architecture firm Gollins, Melvin, Ward and Partners. In September 2008, American Express announced plans to demolish and replace the building. The new office will be set slightly further back, closer to Carlton Hill (the road), and better road access will be provided by means of a new entrance from John Street. The city council granted planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
in November 2009, and preliminary building work started in early 2010.
Churches
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
/Neo-Georgian style in 1838, with Doric columns
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
and a stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
ed and pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
ed façade. Never successful in attracting large congregations, it was declared redundant by the Diocese of Chichester
Diocese of Chichester
The Diocese of Chichester is a Church of England diocese based in Chichester, covering Sussex. It was created in 1075 to replace the old Diocese of Selsey, which was based at Selsey Abbey from 681. The cathedral is Chichester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Chichester...
in 1980. Proposals for its conversion into a drug detoxification
Drug detoxification
Drug detoxification is a collective of interventions directed at controlling acute drug intoxication and drug withdrawal. It refers to a purging from the body of the substances to which a patient is addicted and acutely under the influence...
centre were opposed, and in March 1986 the Greek Orthodox community
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
, which had been worshipping elsewhere in Brighton, bought the church and rededicated it as the Church of the Holy Trinity
Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity, Brighton
The Church of the Holy Trinity is a Greek Orthodox church in Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1838 in one of Brighton's most notorious slum districts, Carlton Hill, it was an Anglican church for most of its life: dedicated to St John the Evangelist, it was used by...
. The building was severely damaged by fire in July 2010.
The Ebenezer Reformed Baptist Church has occupied three buildings on two different sites in Carlton Hill. It was founded in 1825, and the first service was held on 13 April of that year in a stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
ed Renaissance-style building on the north side of Richmond Street. The chapel, with prominently displayed on its entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
, was locally nicknamed "The Lemon Squeezer". It was demolished in 1966 during the redevelopment of the Richmond Street area. Architect C.J. Wood built a new church in the Vernacular style
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
on the opposite side of Richmond Parade, backing on to Ivory Place, in the same year. It was in turn demolished in 2007, and a six-storey block of flats with a new church on the ground floor was built in its place. This opened in August 2010.
Five other chapels were demolished during the area's 20th-century redevelopment. The Sussex Street Strict Baptist Chapel stood on the section of that road which is now named Morley Street. It had lancet window
Lancet window
A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...
s and a stuccoed exterior, and opened in 1867. The congregation moved out in 1895, and St Margaret's Church in Cannon Place established a mission hall in the building. The Circus Street market was built on the site after its demolition in 1937. Also on Sussex Street, a Primitive Methodist
Primitive Methodism
Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932. The Primitive Methodist Church still exists in the United States.-Origins:...
chapel was founded in 1836. The Kingswood Flats now occupy the site of the building, which closed in about 1950. Mighell Street Hall, demolished in 1965, stood on land now covered by Amex House. It was used by Baptists from 1878, then as the church hall of St John the Evangelist's, and finally by Spiritualists
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
. When the new Brighton National Spiritualist Church, a figure-of-eight concrete building, opened on Edward Street in 1965, the hall closed for good. The Carlton Hill Apostolic Church stood for 99 years until 1964, although its Catholic Apostolic
Catholic Apostolic Church
The Catholic Apostolic Church was a religious movement which originated in England around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States. While often referred to as Irvingism, it was neither actually founded nor anticipated by Edward Irving. The Catholic Apostolic Church was organised in...
congregation moved out in 1954. Latterly it was used as student housing for the adjacent Brighton Art College, which extended its premises onto the site when the building was demolished. The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
had a citadel at the junction of Edward Street and the now vanished Riding School Lane (near Mighell Street) from 1884 until 1965, when it was demolished for road widening.
Schools
Carlton Hill Primary School was built by the Local Education AuthorityLocal Education Authority
A local education authority is a local authority in England and Wales that has responsibility for education within its jurisdiction...
in 1963. It is on the boundary of the conservation area, between Sussex Street and Carlton Hill (the road) on the west side of Tilbury Place, and is well screened by trees. It has a tall wooden fence that, according to the council's Conservation Area Character Statement, "visually intrudes on the approach to the conservation area and harms its setting". It recommends replacing the fence with a flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
wall. The school adjoins the site that is being redeveloped for the new American Express headquarters: the company paid the school £300,000 (a condition of the council's approval of the planning application) to compensate for the effect on its playground, which will be overlooked by the building, and the building contractor Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd has paid for a school crossing patrol officer
Crossing guard
A crossing guard , a school crossing patrol officer , school crossing supervisor or school road patrol is a traffic management specialist who is normally stationed on busy roadways to aid pedestrians...
to help children cross Carlton Hill safely during the construction period.
Several schools were founded in the mid-19th century. A Ragged Schools Union
Ragged school
Ragged Schools were charitable schools dedicated to the free education of destitute children in 19th century England. The schools were developed in working class districts of the rapidly expanding industrial towns...
school stood on Carlton Street from the mid-1850s, and St John the Evangelist's Church established its own school in 1870 on Carlton Hill. This was rebuilt in 1914, and now houses the American Express social club. Board schools were set up in 1873 on Richmond Street and 1883 on Circus Street. The Richmond Street school was the first in Brighton to offer school meals. The two Board schools merged in 1926 and took the name Sussex Street School, after which the Circus Street building closed. It was later sold to Brighton Polytechnic (now the University of Brighton). The Richmond Street school ran along the west side of Claremont Row between Richmond and Sussex Streets; playgrounds separated the boys' and girls' sections. In October 1930, a nursery section was added. The school was compulsorily purchased in 1959 and demolished for redevelopment; Carlton Hill Primary School was built to replace it.
The Margaret Macmillan Open Air Nursery was built on part of the grounds of number 1 Tilbury Place in the 1930s, partly funded by Laetitia Tilbury Tarner (who had bequeathed the house and its grounds to Brighton Corporation). A nursery school now stands on the site.
Civic, commercial and public buildings
Amex HouseAmex House
Amex House, popularly nicknamed The Wedding Cake, is the European headquarters of American Express, the multinational financial services company. It is located in the Carlton Hill area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove...
"dominates the sweep of Carlton Hill" and is visible on the skyline from much of Brighton. Designed by American architecture firm Gollins Melvin and Ward, the building has prominent white horizontal bands of glass-reinforced plastic
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
and blue-tinted glazing, and its corners are chamfer
Chamfer
A chamfer is a beveled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. A fillet is the rounding off of an interior corner. A rounding of an exterior corner is called a "round" or a "radius"."Chamfer" is a term commonly...
ed to give it a more rounded appearance. It is nicknamed "The Wedding Cake", and its clean, futuristic design has been said to evoke Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
. The building is generally considered to be one of the better postwar additions to Brighton's building stock, although it affects views into and out of the neighbouring conservation area. About 3,000 people work at the building, making American Express the largest private employer
Private sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...
in Brighton and Hove.
Prior House, at the north end of Tilbury Place, was built in 1936 for the Brighton Girl's Club. This institution was founded in 1928 at Nelson Row, and was displaced from its original premises in 1934 when the Kingswood Flats were built on the site. In 1970, Prior House became a centre for unemployed people, offering education and other social facilities; it is now a base for voluntary and charitable groups under the aegis of the Resource Centre, a local organisation formed in 1975. Architecturally, it is a plain red-brick building with a large stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
ed extension on the second floor, affecting the ambience of Tilbury Place and the neighbouring listed buildings.
The former vicarage of St John the Evangelist's Church, opposite the church on the south side of Carlton Hill, has been converted into an office. It dates from 1899 and is domestic in character, with bay window
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
s containing original sashes
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...
, red-brick walls and a steeply pitched roof. It is within the conservation area and is considered to make a "positive contribution" to its character.
Another building formerly associated with the church is the Edward Riley Memorial Hall, now the Sussex Deaf Centre. It has a steep clay-tiled roof and brown brickwork. The high flint walls around it are described as a positive feature of the conservation area, although the building itself has a "neutral effect" according to the council's character statement. The building was used as the church hall until the church closed in 1980; the Chichester Diocesan
Diocese of Chichester
The Diocese of Chichester is a Church of England diocese based in Chichester, covering Sussex. It was created in 1075 to replace the old Diocese of Selsey, which was based at Selsey Abbey from 681. The cathedral is Chichester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Chichester...
Centre for the Deaf was then established in it.
Listed buildings
A building or structure is defined as "listed" when it is placed on a statutory register of buildings of "special architectural or historic interest" by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and SportDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....
, a Government department, in accordance with the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
The Planning Act 1990 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the laws on granting of planning permission for building works, notably including those of the listed building system in England and Wales....
. 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...
, a non-departmental public body
Non-departmental public body
In the United Kingdom, a non-departmental public body —often referred to as a quango—is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to certain types of public bodies...
, acts as an agency of this department to administer the process and advise the department on relevant issues.
As of February 2001, there were 24 listed buildings with Grade I status, 70 Grade II*-listed and 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings in Brighton and Hove. Grade I-listed buildings are defined as being of "exceptional interest" and greater than national importance; Grade II*, the next highest status, is used for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest"; and the lowest grade, Grade II, is used for "nationally important buildings of special interest".
Carlton Hill has nine listed buildings (covered by five separate listings), all of which have Grade II status and lie within the conservation area. Number 1 Tilbury Place (St John's Lodge) is listed together with its surrounding railings, garden wall and garden porch. The four neighbouring and contemporary houses at 2–5 Tilbury Place are also listed together under a single Grade II designation. Described by the council as an "impressive warm brick terrace" of "elegant townhouses", they were much larger than the surrounding houses—especially number 1, which also had extensive gardens. Number 5 is also slightly larger than the others, and originally had stables adjacent. They are in the Georgian style
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
, built of pale yellow brick laid in the Flemish bond pattern. The roofs are slate-tiled, but some are hidden behind parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
s. The entrance doors have decorated fanlight
Fanlight
A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...
s and original windows with ogee
Ogee
An ogee is a curve , shaped somewhat like an S, consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite senses, so that the ends are parallel....
-shaped cast-iron miniature balconies. All five houses are now owned by a housing association
Housing association
Housing associations in the United Kingdom are independent not-for-profit bodies that provide low-cost "social housing" for people in housing need. Any trading surplus is used to maintain existing homes and to help finance new ones...
and have been divided into flats.
The former St John the Evangelist's Church was listed at Grade II on 20 August 1971. It is a Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
-style stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
-clad building of stone and brick with a partly 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...
. The three-bay
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:...
façade has four Tuscan
Tuscan order
Among canon of classical orders of classical architecture, the Tuscan order's place is due to the influence of the Italian Sebastiano Serlio, who meticulously described the five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generalii di...
pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s beneath a substantial entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
and pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
. The frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
between them has metopes
Metope (architecture)
In classical architecture, a metope is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze, which is a decorative band of alternating triglyphs and metopes above the architrave of a building of the Doric order...
and triglyph
Triglyph
Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one. The square recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric...
s. Work by L.A. Mackintosh in 1957 altered the exterior; the architect added his personal monogram
Monogram
A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series of uncombined initials is properly referred to as a...
and an eagle emblem (representing John the Evangelist
John the Evangelist
Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...
) above the left and right entrances respectively.
Numbers 34 and 35 Mighell Street (the former Mighell Farmhouse) were jointly listed on 13 October 1952. Described as a "surprising survival", the now semi-detached house is a two-storey cobble-fronted building with a prominent porch framed by Tuscan columns
Tuscan order
Among canon of classical orders of classical architecture, the Tuscan order's place is due to the influence of the Italian Sebastiano Serlio, who meticulously described the five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generalii di...
and topped by an entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
with a frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
and triglyph
Triglyph
Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one. The square recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric...
and a decorated pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
. An arched doorway with a keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
has a 19th-century panelled door set into it, and the 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 are also original and have similar arched surrounds made of bricks. The roof is tiled and has chimneys at each end. The farmhouse's origins are unknown, although a Philip Mighell was a major landowner on Hilly Laine in the late 18th century, when some of the paul-pieces bore his name. The building was apparently at least partly in commercial use by 1865.
In Tarner Park, an area of open space formed from part of number 1 Tilbury Place's grounds, there is a circular tower which is believed to have been built by Edward Tilbury Tarner (son of the original occupants Edward and Laetitia Tarner) as an observation tower so he could see ships in 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...
. The mid-19th-century structure has two storeys and about 70 steps; the upper level is recessed and has a walkway around it. The walls are of knapped flint with some brick and stonework. Part of an iron weather vane
Weather vane
A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....
remains at the top. Both storeys have segmental-arched entrances, but these are now closed. The structure is in good condition but has some missing flints.
Conservation area
In the United Kingdom, a conservation areaConservation Area (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, the term Conservation Area nearly always applies to an area considered worthy of preservation or enhancement because of its special architectural or historic interest, "the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance," as required by the Planning ...
is a principally urban area "of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance". Such areas are identified by local authorities according to criteria defined by Sections 69 and 70 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
The Planning Act 1990 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the laws on granting of planning permission for building works, notably including those of the listed building system in England and Wales....
.
On 4 July 2008, 4.05 acres (1.6 ha) at the heart of Carlton Hill was designated as the city of Brighton and Hove's 34th conservation area. Its boundaries are (clockwise from north) Sussex Street, St John's Place, Carlton Hill (including the stub of Mighell Street) and Tilbury Place, with the open space of Tarner Park at the centre. All of Carlton Hill's listed buildings are within the designated area; these, combined with the sheltered open space of Tarner Park, substantial tree cover, the survival of old street patterns and boundary walls, and the distinctive lie of the land, contribute to the area's "special character", as defined by Brighton and Hove City Council.
The area does not have a unified appearance or structure, owing to the large-scale redevelopment carried out in the 20th century. Instead, a "disparate group of individually interesting buildings" and small spaces define the area; together, they form "a fragment of early 19th-century Brighton".
Flint and brown or yellow brick is used extensively, both for buildings within the conservation area and in associated structures such as boundary walls and pavements. Some kerbs are 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...
, limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
and flint, while some high-quality Yorkstone
Yorkstone
Yorkstone is a term for a variety of sandstone, specifically from quarries in Yorkshire that have been worked since medieval times, but now applied generally. Yorkstone is a tight grained, Carboniferous sedimentary rock...
paving slabs survive, along with some red-brick pavements.
See also
- List of conservation areas in Brighton and Hove
- List of demolished places of worship in Brighton and Hove
- List of places of worship in Brighton and Hove