Pelham Institute
Encyclopedia
The Pelham Institute is a former working men's club
and multipurpose social venue in the Kemptown
area of Brighton
, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1877 by prolific local architect Thomas Lainson
on behalf of the Vicar of Brighton, the multicoloured brick and tile High Victorian Gothic
building catered for the social, educational and spiritual needs of the large working-class population in the east of Brighton. After its closure it hosted a judo
club, but is now in residential use as flats (under the name Montague Court) owned by a housing association
. English Heritage
has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
's Kemp Town
estate, "arguably the most famous district in Brighton", was developed as a carefully planned estate of about 100 grand houses for the rich people who were increasingly attracted to the fashionable resort. Kemp Town was isolated from the rest of the town, about 2 miles (3.2 km) away, and an old trackway running west–east along the inland side of the East Cliff developed into an important route—Eastern Road.
In the mid-19th century, the area around Eastern Road developed rapidly as a poor, mixed-use area, with institutional buildings, streets of small terraced house
s, light industry and a few larger houses. A Nonconformist
chapel had also been built in 1829, and the Anglican
All Souls Church (closed in 1967 and demolished the following year) served the area from 1834.
John Hannah became Vicar of Brighton in 1870, following the death of Reverend Henry Michell Wagner which ended his 46-year incumbency. Hannah was concerned about the social and physical welfare of Kemptown's large working-class population, whose poverty restricted their opportunities for education and recreation. He also felt that the many pubs in the area encouraged people to spend their money on alcohol. He was made archdeacon of Lewes in 1876 and in the same year founded a "slum mission"—similar to a church-sponsored working men's club
—on the site of the closed chapel of 1829, near the junction of Upper Bedford Street and Eastern Road. He commissioned local architect Thomas Lainson
, already responsible for the Middle Street Synagogue
, Bristol Road Methodist Church
and several housing developments, to design a building with space for all the required facilities. He carried out the work in 1877, and from 1879 the building bore the name Pelham Institute.
The institute attempted to cater for all needs with its extensive amenities. A large hall for religious services, concerts, lectures and other educational activities took up most of the first floor. A reading-room, eating area, kitchen, bar (which did not serve alcohol), a games room and a smoking room. The second (top) floor had single bedrooms on short-term lets: men were charged 1/–
(£ as of ) per night or 3/6d
(£ as of ) for a week.
Local slum clearance began in 1926 when the houses around the Pelham Institute were cleared and replaced with lower-density development. Demolition continued through the 1930s and resumed in the 1950s after World War II
. By 1959, the working-class population in the Eastern Road area was much lower, and the Pelham Institute closed. Ownership transferred to Brighton Borough Council. In the early 1970s, two local judo
clubs—one based elsewhere in Brighton and another from Balcombe, West Sussex
—merged under the latter's name (the Mid-Sussex Judo Club) and moved into Lainson's building, which they rented from the council. The club had to move to another building nearby in July 1994. Soon afterwards, the former institute was taken over by the Sanctuary Housing Association
, who converted it internally into a block of flats called Montague Court.
The Pelham Institute was listed at Grade II by English Heritage
on 23 June 1994. This defines it as a "nationally important" building of "special interest". As of February 2001, it was one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.
The building is not within any of Brighton and Hove's conservation areas
, but the council has considered extending the boundary of the East Cliff Conservation Area to include it.
style, which was used frequently for slum missions such as this. It is a three-storey building of purple brick laid in the English bond pattern and dressed with terracotta
and red bricks. There are also small areas of tile-hanging, and the roof is tiled and has dormer windows. Three faces are visible: one south to St George's Terrace with irregularly placed windows, the main (western) façade on Upper Bedford Street (with a regular four-window range), and a three-window range facing north on to Montague Street. Most windows are flat-headed.
The main entrance is to Upper Bedford Street. A doorway, with a 19th-century two-part wooden door with iron hinges, is recessed into an aedicula
with a corbel
led pointed arch and a gable
above. At second-floor level, a chimney-breast projects slightly and steps up to the gable of the roof, which is topped with a short chimneypot. A window is set into the base of this projection. On the floor below, the four windows are arranged as two narrow pairs below a semicircular tympanum
of red brick. The northwestern corner forms a gable-topped bay
, again with a stepped chimney-stack. A thin string course runs around the building above the windows, forming a continuous hood mould
.
The Montague Street (northern) elevation has single or paired windows under segmental arches; a large stone plaque sits in a recess above the centre windows. At ground-floor level there is another pale stone plaque, a broad segment-arched window, an original wooden entrance door and another wooden door leading to a storage bay.
The south façade, on St George's Terrace, has a segment-arched window in a red-brick surround at the southwest corner and a much wider and taller flat-arched window alongside. The string course diverts to go round a taller flat-arched window in the southwest corner at first-floor level. Diagonally above this are three narrow windows below a pointed arch with a red-brick tympanum
. A projecting chimney-breast starts immediately to the left and rises beyond the eaves
, terminating in a squat chimney-pot. Three small windows and a tall, narrow one light the second floor. The façade is very irregular and lacks symmetry.
Working men's club
Working men's clubs are a type of private social club founded in the 19th century in industrial areas of the United Kingdom, particularly the North of England, the Midlands and many parts of the South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class men and their families.-...
and multipurpose social venue in the Kemptown
Kemptown
Kemptown is a small community running along the King's Cliff to Black Rock in the east of Brighton, East Sussex, England.-History:The area takes its name from Thomas Read Kemp's Kemp Town residential estate of the early 19th Century, but the one-word name now refers to an area larger than the...
area 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...
, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1877 by prolific local architect Thomas Lainson
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...
on behalf of the Vicar of Brighton, the multicoloured brick and tile High Victorian Gothic
High Victorian Gothic
High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style unto its own right....
building catered for the social, educational and spiritual needs of the large working-class population in the east of Brighton. After its closure it hosted a judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
club, but is now in residential use as flats (under the name Montague Court) 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...
. 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.
History
Thomas Read KempThomas Read Kemp
Thomas Read Kemp was an English property developer and politician. He was the son of Sussex landowner Thomas Kemp, whose farmhouse in Brighton was rented by the Prince of Wales in 1786.-Biography:...
's 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....
estate, "arguably the most famous district in Brighton", was developed as a carefully planned estate of about 100 grand houses for the rich people who were increasingly attracted to the fashionable resort. Kemp Town was isolated from the rest of the town, about 2 miles (3.2 km) away, and an old trackway running west–east along the inland side of the East Cliff developed into an important route—Eastern Road.
In the mid-19th century, the area around Eastern Road developed rapidly as a poor, mixed-use area, with institutional buildings, streets of small terraced house
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...
s, light industry and a few larger houses. A Nonconformist
Nonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
chapel had also been built in 1829, and the Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
All Souls Church (closed in 1967 and demolished the following year) served the area from 1834.
John Hannah became Vicar of Brighton in 1870, following the death of Reverend Henry Michell Wagner which ended his 46-year incumbency. Hannah was concerned about the social and physical welfare of Kemptown's large working-class population, whose poverty restricted their opportunities for education and recreation. He also felt that the many pubs in the area encouraged people to spend their money on alcohol. He was made archdeacon of Lewes in 1876 and in the same year founded a "slum mission"—similar to a church-sponsored working men's club
Working men's club
Working men's clubs are a type of private social club founded in the 19th century in industrial areas of the United Kingdom, particularly the North of England, the Midlands and many parts of the South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class men and their families.-...
—on the site of the closed chapel of 1829, near the junction of Upper Bedford Street and Eastern Road. He commissioned local architect Thomas Lainson
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...
, already responsible for the Middle Street Synagogue
Middle Street Synagogue, Brighton
The Middle Street Synagogue is a synagogue in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It was the centre for Jewish worship in Brighton and Hove for more than a century, and has been called Brighton's second most important historic building...
, Bristol Road Methodist Church
Bristol Road Methodist Church
Bristol Road Methodist Church is a former Methodist place of worship in the Kemptown area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1873 to an Italian Romanesque Revival design, it served this part of eastern Brighton for more than a century until its closure in 1989,...
and several housing developments, to design a building with space for all the required facilities. He carried out the work in 1877, and from 1879 the building bore the name Pelham Institute.
The institute attempted to cater for all needs with its extensive amenities. A large hall for religious services, concerts, lectures and other educational activities took up most of the first floor. A reading-room, eating area, kitchen, bar (which did not serve alcohol), a games room and a smoking room. The second (top) floor had single bedrooms on short-term lets: men were charged 1/–
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
(£ as of ) per night or 3/6d
£sd
£sd was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies used in the Kingdom of England, later the United Kingdom, and ultimately in much of the British Empire...
(£ as of ) for a week.
Local slum clearance began in 1926 when the houses around the Pelham Institute were cleared and replaced with lower-density development. Demolition continued through the 1930s and resumed in the 1950s after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. By 1959, the working-class population in the Eastern Road area was much lower, and the Pelham Institute closed. Ownership transferred to Brighton Borough Council. In the early 1970s, two local judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
clubs—one based elsewhere in Brighton and another from Balcombe, West Sussex
Balcombe, West Sussex
Balcombe is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Crawley to the northwest and Haywards Heath to the south southeast...
—merged under the latter's name (the Mid-Sussex Judo Club) and moved into Lainson's building, which they rented from the council. The club had to move to another building nearby in July 1994. Soon afterwards, the former institute was taken over by the Sanctuary 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...
, who converted it internally into a block of flats called Montague Court.
The Pelham Institute 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 23 June 1994. This defines it as a "nationally important" building of "special interest". As of February 2001, it was one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.
The building is not within any of Brighton and Hove's conservation areas
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 ...
, but the council has considered extending the boundary of the East Cliff Conservation Area to include it.
Architecture
Thomas Lainson designed and built the Pelham Institute in the High Victorian GothicGothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
style, which was used frequently for slum missions such as this. It is a three-storey building of purple brick laid in the English bond pattern and dressed with terracotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
and red bricks. There are also small areas of tile-hanging, and the roof is tiled and has dormer windows. Three faces are visible: one south to St George's Terrace with irregularly placed windows, the main (western) façade on Upper Bedford Street (with a regular four-window range), and a three-window range facing north on to Montague Street. Most windows are flat-headed.
The main entrance is to Upper Bedford Street. A doorway, with a 19th-century two-part wooden door with iron hinges, is recessed into an aedicula
Aedicula
In religion in ancient Rome, an aedicula is a small shrine. The word aedicula is the diminutive of the Latin aedes, a temple building or house....
with a corbel
Corbel
In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
led pointed arch and a 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...
above. At second-floor level, a chimney-breast projects slightly and steps up to the gable of the roof, which is topped with a short chimneypot. A window is set into the base of this projection. On the floor below, the four windows are arranged as two narrow pairs below a semicircular tympanum
Tympanum (architecture)
In architecture, a tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculpture or other imagery or ornaments. Most architectural styles include this element....
of red brick. The northwestern corner forms a gable-topped 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:...
, again with a stepped chimney-stack. A thin string course runs around the building above the windows, forming a continuous hood mould
Hood mould
In architecture, a hood mould, also called a label mould or dripstone, is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater...
.
The Montague Street (northern) elevation has single or paired windows under segmental arches; a large stone plaque sits in a recess above the centre windows. At ground-floor level there is another pale stone plaque, a broad segment-arched window, an original wooden entrance door and another wooden door leading to a storage bay.
The south façade, on St George's Terrace, has a segment-arched window in a red-brick surround at the southwest corner and a much wider and taller flat-arched window alongside. The string course diverts to go round a taller flat-arched window in the southwest corner at first-floor level. Diagonally above this are three narrow windows below a pointed arch with a red-brick tympanum
Tympanum (architecture)
In architecture, a tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculpture or other imagery or ornaments. Most architectural styles include this element....
. A projecting chimney-breast starts immediately to the left and rises beyond the eaves
Eaves
The eaves of a roof are its lower edges. They usually project beyond the walls of the building to carry rain water away.-Etymology:"Eaves" is derived from Old English and is both the singular and plural form of the word.- Function :...
, terminating in a squat chimney-pot. Three small windows and a tall, narrow one light the second floor. The façade is very irregular and lacks symmetry.