Regency Square, Brighton
Encyclopedia
Regency Square is a large early 19th-century residential development on the seafront in Brighton
, part of the British city of Brighton and Hove. Conceived by speculative developer Joshua Hanson as Brighton underwent its rapid transformation from fishing village to fashionable resort, the three-sided "set piece" of around 70 houses and associated structures was designed and built over a ten-year period by Brighton's most important Regency-era architects: the partnership of Charles Busby
, Amon Wilds
and his son Amon Henry Wilds
. The site was originally Belle Vue Field—used at various times as a military camp (mentioned in Pride and Prejudice
), a showground and the location of a windmill
.
The square was a prestigious, high-class development, attracting the social elite. The square gradually lost its prestige status after the First World War as hotels started to move in. The square's central garden, originally private, has been council-owned since 1884 and is publicly accessible, and an underground car park was built beneath it in 1969.
English Heritage
has listed most buildings in and around the square for their architectural and historical importance: six blocks of houses are each listed at Grade II*, the second-highest designation, while five other residential buildings, a war memorial, a nearby inn and a set of bollards outside it have each been given the lower Grade II status. The house at the southwest corner is now numbered as part of King's Road but was built as part of Regency Square, and is also Grade II*-listed.
, and was a popular site for travelling shows, fairs, military parades and other gatherings. The field contained a windmill
known as West Mill. A windmill was owned by Matthew Bourne in 1744, but was not marked on Ogilby's
1762 map. A windmill is shown on Lambert's View of Brighthelmstone which is dated 1765. The windmill stood in the field until 28 March 1797, when 86 ox
en dragged it 2 miles (3.2 km) uphill on a sled to the nearby village of Preston
. It was re-erected there and renamed Preston Mill. After several more renamings, it was demolished in 1881. Its machinery was cannibalised
by the owners of nearby Waterhall Mill
. A watercolour painting, now displayed at Preston Manor
, shows crowds of people watching the mill's removal to Preston.
By the late 18th century, Brighton (as it was now known) had begun to develop into a popular and fashionable seaside resort. Belle Vue Field became more important to the growing town in 1793, when in response to the increased military threat from France, a 10,000-man military encampment (Brighton's first) was established there. The camp quickly gained a reputation as a place for women to find partners, and Jane Austen
used it as a setting in her novel Pride and Prejudice
(written in 1796 and published in 1813). The heroine Elizabeth Bennet
's sister is invited to Brighton and elopes with, and later marries, army officer George Wickham. The camp moved to another site in 1794; after returning to its former use as a fairground and showground, Belle Vue Field gradually lost popularity and was abandoned in 1807, when such entertainments moved to The Level, a large expanse of grass inland north of Old Steine.
was already thriving; Clarence Square, Russell Square, Marine Parade and New Steine were being developed, and work had started on Bedford Square. Hanson decided to follow the trend but take it in a new direction: he divided Belle Vue Field into 70 plots, lease
d them individually and put strict covenants in place, demanding that each house be built in a specific style in order to ensure architectural harmony. In return, the leaseholders (mostly private builders) would have the right to buy, and would end up with houses much larger than average for the town, with excellent sea views and with exclusive access to the large central garden. Most leaseholders bought the houses as soon as they could, which was to Hanson's advantage as he made money and had no ongoing responsibility for the buildings. Restrictions in the covenants included the requirement to erect a façade with an iron balcony, to clad the area below the balcony in stucco
, to paint the façade at least every three years, to repair any damage, and to pay towards maintenance of the central garden. No stucco was to be applied above the balcony line.
Although there is no documentary evidence confirming the architects, all sources attribute most of Regency Square's buildings to the father-and-son partnership of Amon
and Amon Henry Wilds
, who moved to Brighton from nearby Lewes
in 1815 and became two of Brighton's most important architects; they were extremely prolific, and were responsible for defining and developing the town's distinctive Regency style
. Although they worked extensively with fellow architect Charles Busby
during the 1820s, historians agree that he was not involved in the overall design of Regency Square, at least not in its early stages: the buildings "appear to lack his distinctive flair" and are not as impressive as those at the Kemp Town
estate to the east of Brighton, which all three men were involved with. Some of the later houses may have been the work of Wilds senior and Busby, however.
Building work started in 1818 and continued until 1830, although most of the square (except numbers 1 and 47–49) were complete by 1828. The long construction period affected the uniformity of design hoped for by Hanson, as did the fact that building plots were sold individually and at different times: even a strict covenant could not force the owners into designing identical houses. A passageway (Regency Colonnade) was built at the northeast corner to connect the square to the neighbouring development of Russell Square, which was built at the same time; the contemporary Regency Inn (now known as the Regency Tavern) faced both the passageway and Regency Square. St Margaret's Church, an Anglican
chapel of ease
designed in the Greek Revival
/Neoclassical
style in 1824 by Busby, was the local place of worship.
Bands often played in the square's central garden or on King's Road at the southern end of the square. Meanwhile, residents were upset in 1866 when the West Pier, designed by Eugenius Birch
, was built opposite the square's central garden: its entrance booths affected their sea views. Otherwise, there was little for residents to worry about until the 1880s, by which time Hanson's covenants were about to expire. Unusually, he had set a 71-year time limit on the covenants rather than granting them in perpetuity, and on 25 December 1889 they would expire. Residents would then lose their rights to use the gardens, among other things. Five residents, led by solicitor Somers Clarke (unrelated to the Brighton-born architect of that name
), attempted unsuccessfully to purchase the gardens and extend the covenants by an Act of Parliament
; two years later, though, the passing of the Brighton Improvement Act 1884 achieved the same aims. Brighton Corporation took ownership of the gardens, and householders signed new deeds confirming they wished for the covenants relating to their houses to be extended indefinitely.
's 334 feet (101.8 m), Modernist
24-storey residential block, Sussex Heights
, was built in 1968 on land immediately to the east of the square, and was criticised for affecting the character of the square because of its contrasting style and height. During the early 1970s the hotels sought permission from Brighton Corporation to erect neon sign
s advertising themselves; after negotiation with the Regency Society, a Brighton-wide conservation group formed in 1945, the Corporation made the square and the surrounding area into a conservation area
in 1973. Conservation area status gives the council firmer control over planning permission
and changes to buildings or street furniture, especially in respect of their effect on "the character and appearance of the area". The original conservation area has since been enlarged twice to its present size of 80 acres (32.4 ha).
The six Grade II* parts of the square, plus the former St Albans House, were listed by English Heritage
on 13 October 1952. The west side was listed in two parts: the three houses at numbers 2–4, and the sixteen houses from number 5 to number 20. The northern side's central section, numbers 26–37, forms another listing. On the east side, numbers 51–56, 57–59 and 60–66 are each listed at Grade II*. Apart from St Albans House, all of these listings include iron railings attached to the exterior. Grade II* listed buildings are defined as being "particularly important ... [and] of more than special interest". As of February 2001, the buildings made up seven of the 70 Grade II*-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove. Numbers 38–46 Regency Square were listed at Grade II on 20 August 1971, while the rest of the square's houses were listed at the same grade on 26 August 1999 in four separate listings: numbers 22–25, 46a, 46b and 47–49. All listings except numbers 46a and 46b include attached railings, and the listing for numbers 38–46 also includes a carriage arch. Grade II listed status is given to "nationally important buildings of special interest"; as of February 2001, there were 1,124 such buildings and structures in the city.
A small block of flats, Abbotts, stands at the southeast corner of the square. Built by architecture firm Fitzroy Robinson & Partners in 1961–62 to replace a hotel of the same name, it was considered "quite good" by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
.
These three four-storey houses (now the Beach Hotel) have double bow fronts, and were considered by Nikolaus Pevsner
to be more austere in their detailing than most Brighton houses of their era. Number 2, a former home of social reformer William King
(whose two-year stay is commemorated by a blue plaque
), is built of brick which has been painted over; the others are stucco
ed. Each house also has a basement and a dormer window. The ground floors are rusticated
and have arched doorways set into Classical-style
porches with both Ionic
and Doric
columns—the latter in the form of antae. The tripartite bay window
s are neither full-height nor continuous: only the first three storeys have them, and they are offset to the right on the first and second floors. The first-floor windows sit between a curved cast-iron balcony and a verandah
-style canopy supported on decorative brackets
. On each house, the third floor has three small flat-arched sash windows; the centre window sits below a small cornice
supported on corbel
s.
5–20 Regency Square
These sixteen houses form the greater part of the square's west side. Although there are differences in height and detail between individual houses, they were designed at the same time and maintain "the longstanding tradition of the terraced
townhouse
" which had been developed "by Henry Holland
[...] in his own speculative enterprises at Hans Town and Sloane Street
, London". Numbers 7, 8, 11 and 15 are entirely stuccoed; number 18 retains its original unpainted yellow-brick upper façade; and all other houses have painted brick to their upper storeys and stuccoed ground floors with rustication
. The roofs are mansard-style
and laid with slate
. Each house has dormer windows; numbers 5–13 inclusive rise to four storeys, while the other seven houses are one storey shorter. All houses except number 12 have a single bay window
, mostly in tripartite form. Number 12 has three windows to each floor. The entrance porches, reached via staircases, are either Doric
or Ionic
in form, with columns and entablature
s. They have arch-headed doorways set into them. Small cast-iron balconies run across the terrace at first-floor level (although number 5's has been lost), and some houses have canopy-style verandahs as well. A nearly continuous cornice
(absent on numbers 13 and 19) spans the terrace; some houses also have a second cornice above this. Several houses have fanlight
s with coloured glass, and other non-standard details include decorative stucco
panelling at number 5; paterae (circular motifs), triglyph
-decorated frieze
s and other Classical-style ornamentation in some of the porch entablatures; original window-guards of iron; a blocked doorway flanked by pilaster
s at number 20; and many original sash window
s.
26–37 Regency Square
These 12 houses, arranged along the sea-facing north side in the form of two wings flanking a four-house centrepiece, are the focal point of the square, forming "a kind of palace front" topped with a pediment
displaying in prominent black lettering. Pevsner described this feature as "not [being] enough of an accent to pull the square together". The terrace is a five-part composition: the end "wings" (formed by numbers 26–27 and 36–37) are of four storeys, stuccoed and with tall parapet
s pinched upwards to form small pediments; the central section (numbers 30–33), also of four storeys and built in yellow brick, and topped with the inscribed pediment; and numbers 28–29 and 34–35, rising to three storeys and forming a link between the central and outer sections. Numbers 30–33 have a two-window range, rather than the single window on each of the other houses, and have four pilaster
s running the full height of the façade and terminating at the parapet
in circular antefixae. The entrance porches are of the Ionic order
. Each house has a canopied cast-iron balcony at first-floor level. There is rusticated decoration at ground-floor level.
51–56 Regency Square
The east side of Regency Square is architecturally less consistent than the west side. Numbers 51–56 were designed as a symmetrical composition: the two houses at the centre stand forward slightly and have a more prominent pediment
. Each house has four storeys and a single bay window
on the ground and first floors; other common features include rustication on the ground floor and Ionic-style
porches with recessed flat-arched doorways and arched fanlight
s. There are cast-iron balconies at first-floor level; number 52's has a canopy above it. Some windows are sashes
, and numbers 52, 53, 54 and 56 have dormer windows in their slate roofs.
57–59 Regency Square
These three houses may also have been designed as a single composition, but this effect has been lost. Numbers 58 and 59 are of five storeys; number 57 has four storeys and dormer windows. The parapet
rises into an intricately decorated pediment
above number 58, with palmette
scrollwork and semicircular antefixae. Each house has an Ionic-columned
porch with a straight-headed door and semicircular fanlight
. Numbers 57 and 59 have canopies and first-floor balconies; number 58 has only a balcony. The three houses are the only ones on the east side to have full-height bows, and number 57 is unique on that side in retaining its original unpainted yellow-brick façade.
60–66 Regency Square
These seven houses are also a symmetrical composition: the three in the middle are set forward and have a tall parapet topped by a very shallow pediment. Like the rest of the east side, the houses have Ionic
porches with flat-arched doors and round-headed fanlight
s. The ground and first floors have three-part bay window
s topped with cornice
s. Except on number 63, a narrow canopy sits between the first-floor window and the cornice. Another cornice spans the full width of the terrace above third-floor level. The slightly recessed houses on each end (numbers 60–61 and 65–66) have pairs of dormer windows.
131 King's Road
The former St Albans House was designed in 1828 by Amon Henry Wilds
alone and was fitted out by William Izard. A shopfront was fitted in the early 20th century, and the ground floor has housed a restaurant since 1930. Contemporary with the shopfront was the round-headed entrance on the King's Road elevation, with an archway supported on fluted
columns, a dentil
-patterned cornice
and ornamentation including scrollwork and a panel inscribed . The building has five storeys, three windows facing King's Road and the sea, and a five-window range to Regency Square. It is stucco
ed and slate-roofed. The shopfront is topped by a thin cast-iron balcony. The right-hand (east) side of the King's Road façade has a full-height tripartite segmental bay window
with architrave
s to each window. The Regency Square elevation also has a three-light full-height bay window; all other windows are blocked.
Numbers 22–25 Regency Square—at the northwest corner of the square on a short road leading to Preston Street—include the building (number 67) on the corner of that street, which absorbed the house built as number 21 Regency Square. Attributed to Amon
and Amon Henry Wilds
, these bow-fronted terraced houses were built in about 1818. Number 67 Preston Street is of three storeys and has a shopfront facing west into that street; alongside that is a porch with rusticated
decoration and an arched doorway. The Regency Square (south) façade has blocked windows at first- and second-floor level. The four houses facing Regency Square are of three storeys, except number 25 which also has an attic storey. They are of brick faced with painted stucco
. Each house has a chimney on its slate
roof. Each has an entrance staircase with iron railings, a rusticated ground floor, a single bay window
to each storey, an iron balcony at first-floor level, a cornice
and a parapet
in front of the roof. At numbers 22 to 24, dormer windows cut through the parapet.
38–46 Regency Square
Numbers 38–46 Regency Square run alongside the northeast side, and are contemporary with the houses at the northwest corner. The Wildses are believed to have designed them. A carriage arch runs between numbers 42 and 43. Together with numbers 22–25 and the Grade II*-listed centrepiece of numbers 26–37, the houses form an approximately symmetrical three-part arrangement when viewed from the south. Each house is of stucco-clad brick, and all but number 40 have slate-covered roofs. All houses rise to three storeys and have dormer windows; number 43 has two bay window
s on each floor (except the ground floor, where the space is taken up by the carriage arch), but the other houses have only one. Each house also has a balcony, a cornice
and a parapet
(topped with a balustrade in some cases).
46a Regency Square
Number 46a Regency Square stands partly in the square and partly in the passageway opposite the Regency Tavern. It is a two-storey stucco
-faced cottage with three windows on the first floor and a fourth in a recessed wing on the east side. The flat roof sits behind a parapet
. The ground floor has a broad single window flanked by decorative panels. A cornice
runs between the two storeys, and projects forward over the right-aligned entrance.
46b Regency Square
Number 46b Regency Square is squeezed into a narrow corner between numbers 47–49 and the Regency Tavern. It has three storeys, a single-window range and much ornamentation. The ground floor, with its wide arched window and prominent cornice
, may be a 20th-century alteration. Above it, pilaster
s with banded rustication
rise to the level of the parapet
. They are broken at second-floor level by a small balcony with balustrades. The window above this has a round arch, a moulded
archivolt
, a keystone
with acanthus
decoration and thin pilasters topped with capitals
in the form of leaves.
47–49 Regency Square
Numbers 47–49 Regency Square are believed to be the last buildings completed; Charles Busby
was probably involved in their design, as they are noticeably different from the rest of the square. All three have a single canted
bay window
to each of three storeys, topped with an architrave
supported on pilaster
s with capitals
. Each house also has a cornice and parapet. Number 47's doorway is straight-headed, but the other two houses have round-arched entrances.
War memorial
A memorial
commemorating 152 members of the Royal Sussex Regiment
who died in the Second Boer War
stands at the south end of Regency Square's garden, facing King's Road and the sea. It was erected in 1904, and takes the form of a square pedestal topped by an entablature
and pediment
. Originally of Portland stone
with some bronze and stucco, the bronze parts have now been obscured. A bronze trumpeter
stands on top of the entablature. Local architect Sir John Simpson
designed the memorial and Charles Hartwell sculpted it. The memorial's unveiling ceremony, conducted by William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny
, was on 29 October 1904.
Regency Tavern
The Regency Tavern's main façade faces north into the passageway leading to Russell Square, and has a six-window range. The side wall, facing into Regency Square, has two windows to each of the three storeys. The frontage is mostly original but has been augmented by modern iron columns. All but one of the windows are original sashes
; those on the first floor of the Regency Square elevation have architrave
s which join the sill of the second-floor window directly above. There are stuccoed panels between these windows as well, and some of the north-facing windows also have panelling in their spandrel
s. A tall parapet
rises above the cornice
.
Bollards
Two cast-iron bollards in the passageway outside the Regency Tavern are also listed at Grade II. They were erected in the mid-19th century, and are fluted
along their length. One has the name of its local founder
at the bottom.
Number 1 Regency Square, later known as St Albans House and now numbered 131 King's Road, is "historically the most interesting house in the square". Amon Henry Wilds
designed it for the Duke
and Duchess
of St Albans
, and William Izard laid out the interior in 1829. The house was one of the most important social venues in Brighton between 1830 and the Duchess's death in 1837. She was born Harriet Mellon in 1777, became an actress, married banker Thomas Coutts
in 1815, and inherited his fortune when he died in 1822—thereby becoming England's richest woman. After being courted by many men, she met and married William Beauclerk, the 9th Duke of St Albans, and they became regular visitors to Brighton. In 1830, they moved permanently to 1 Regency Square and renamed it St Albans House. For the next seven years, it was the venue for lavish balls with hundreds of upper-class guests, extensive feasts and falconry
displays by the Duke, who was the Grand Falconer of England. St Albans House had an adjacent riding school which supposedly had the second largest unsupported interior space and the second largest dome in England, behind Westminster Abbey
and St Paul's Cathedral
respectively. (Part of the Bedford Hotel
now occupies the site.) Two other famous characters paid an unintentional visit to Regency Square at the end of the 19th century: Oscar Wilde
and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas
crashed their horse and carriage into the railings of the gardens. Local newspapers reported the story with interest, but Wilde dismissed it as "an accident of no importance"—possibly a punning allusion to one of his best-known plays
.
Since the 1930s, many of Regency Square's dwellings have been converted into hotels and guest houses, either individually or across more than one house. The Beach Hotel occupies numbers 2-4, the three dwellings north of St Albans House. Hotel Pelirocco occupies numbers 9 and 10; the Royal Pavilion Townhouse Hotel is at number 12; and the West Pier Hotel (at numbers 14-15) and Topps Hotel (numbers 16-18) also occupy the west side of the square. There are four hotels on the north side: the Regency at number 28, the Prince Regent at number 29, Artist Residence at number 33 and the George IV Guest House at number 34. The east side has Adelaide House (number 51), Brighton House (number 52), Hotel Una (numbers 55-56), Keehan's Hotel (number 57) and the Queensbury Hotel (number 58).
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 British city of Brighton and Hove. Conceived by speculative developer Joshua Hanson as Brighton underwent its rapid transformation from fishing village to fashionable resort, the three-sided "set piece" of around 70 houses and associated structures was designed and built over a ten-year period by Brighton's most important Regency-era architects: the partnership of Charles Busby
Charles Busby
Charles Augustin Busby was an English architect.He created many buildings in and around Brighton such as Brunswick Square and St Margarets Church. His style usually included Romanesque style pillars to his buildings....
, Amon Wilds
Amon Wilds
Amon Wilds was an English architect and builder. He formed an architectural partnership with his son Amon Henry WildsIn this article, Amon Wilds is referred to as Wilds senior and his son Amon Henry Wilds as Wilds junior. in 1806 and started working in the fashionable and growing seaside resort...
and his son Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds was an English architect. He was part of a team of three architects and builders who—working together or independently at different times—were almost solely responsible for a surge in residential construction and development in early 19th-century Brighton, which until then had...
. The site was originally Belle Vue Field—used at various times as a military camp (mentioned in Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
), a showground and the location of a windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
.
The square was a prestigious, high-class development, attracting the social elite. The square gradually lost its prestige status after the First World War as hotels started to move in. The square's central garden, originally private, has been council-owned since 1884 and is publicly accessible, and an underground car park was built beneath it in 1969.
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 most buildings in and around the square for their architectural and historical importance: six blocks of houses are each listed at Grade II*, the second-highest designation, while five other residential buildings, a war memorial, a nearby inn and a set of bollards outside it have each been given the lower Grade II status. The house at the southwest corner is now numbered as part of King's Road but was built as part of Regency Square, and is also Grade II*-listed.
Belle Vue Field
Regency Square was built on one of the fields surrounding the fishing village of Brighthelmstone, the predecessor of modern-day Brighton. The field was named Belle Vue Field—probably in connection with the long vanished Belle Vue House, and lay to the west of the village. The field ran down to the seafrontEnglish 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...
, and was a popular site for travelling shows, fairs, military parades and other gatherings. The field contained a windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
known as West Mill. A windmill was owned by Matthew Bourne in 1744, but was not marked on Ogilby's
John Ogilby
John Ogilby was a Scottish translator, impresario and cartographer. Best known for publishing the first British road atlas, he was also a successful translator, noted for publishing his work in handsome illustrated editions.-Life:Ogilby was born in or near Killemeare in November 1600...
1762 map. A windmill is shown on Lambert's View of Brighthelmstone which is dated 1765. The windmill stood in the field until 28 March 1797, when 86 ox
Ox
An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
en dragged it 2 miles (3.2 km) uphill on a sled to the nearby village of Preston
Preston Village, Brighton
Preston Village is a suburban area of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex to the north of the centre. Originally a village in its own right, it was eventually absorbed into Brighton with the development of the farmland owned by the local Stanford family, officially becoming a parish of the town in 1928...
. It was re-erected there and renamed Preston Mill. After several more renamings, it was demolished in 1881. Its machinery was cannibalised
Cannibalization of machine parts
Cannibalization of machine parts, in maintenance of mechanical or electronic systems with interchangeable parts, refers to the practice of removing parts or subsystems necessary for repair from another similar device, rather than from inventory, usually when resources become limited...
by the owners of nearby Waterhall Mill
Waterhall Mill, Patcham
Waterhall Mill is a grade II listed tower mill at Patcham, Sussex, England which has been converted to residential use.-History:Waterhall Mill was built in 1885 by James Holloway, the Shoreham millwright. It was the last windmill built in Sussex, and was working until 1924. The mill was converted...
. A watercolour painting, now displayed at Preston Manor
Preston Manor, Brighton
Preston Manor is the former manor house of the ancient Sussex village of Preston, now part of the coastal city of Brighton and Hove, England. The present building dates mostly from 1738, when Lord of the manor Thomas Western rebuilt the original 13th-century structure , and 1905 when Charles...
, shows crowds of people watching the mill's removal to Preston.
By the late 18th century, Brighton (as it was now known) had begun to develop into a popular and fashionable seaside resort. Belle Vue Field became more important to the growing town in 1793, when in response to the increased military threat from France, a 10,000-man military encampment (Brighton's first) was established there. The camp quickly gained a reputation as a place for women to find partners, and Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
used it as a setting in her novel Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
(written in 1796 and published in 1813). The heroine Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth Bennet, later Elizabeth Darcy, is the protagonist in the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She is often referred to as Eliza or Lizzy by her friends and family...
's sister is invited to Brighton and elopes with, and later marries, army officer George Wickham. The camp moved to another site in 1794; after returning to its former use as a fairground and showground, Belle Vue Field gradually lost popularity and was abandoned in 1807, when such entertainments moved to The Level, a large expanse of grass inland north of Old Steine.
Hanson builds the square
A few years later, the field (which had no common ownership) was acquired by Joshua Flesher Hanson, a businessman. By this time, Brighton's popularity was such that speculators were commissioning architects and builders to design and lay out large-scale sea-facing residential developments to attract wealthy long-term visitors or permanent residents. Royal CrescentRoyal Crescent, Brighton
Royal Crescent is a crescent-shaped terrace of houses on the seafront in Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in the late 18th and early 19th century as a speculative development on cliffs east of Brighton by a wealthy merchant, the 14 lodging houses formed the town's...
was already thriving; Clarence Square, Russell Square, Marine Parade and New Steine were being developed, and work had started on Bedford Square. Hanson decided to follow the trend but take it in a new direction: he divided Belle Vue Field into 70 plots, lease
Lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...
d them individually and put strict covenants in place, demanding that each house be built in a specific style in order to ensure architectural harmony. In return, the leaseholders (mostly private builders) would have the right to buy, and would end up with houses much larger than average for the town, with excellent sea views and with exclusive access to the large central garden. Most leaseholders bought the houses as soon as they could, which was to Hanson's advantage as he made money and had no ongoing responsibility for the buildings. Restrictions in the covenants included the requirement to erect a façade with an iron balcony, to clad the area below the balcony in 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...
, to paint the façade at least every three years, to repair any damage, and to pay towards maintenance of the central garden. No stucco was to be applied above the balcony line.
Although there is no documentary evidence confirming the architects, all sources attribute most of Regency Square's buildings to the father-and-son partnership of Amon
Amon Wilds
Amon Wilds was an English architect and builder. He formed an architectural partnership with his son Amon Henry WildsIn this article, Amon Wilds is referred to as Wilds senior and his son Amon Henry Wilds as Wilds junior. in 1806 and started working in the fashionable and growing seaside resort...
and Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds was an English architect. He was part of a team of three architects and builders who—working together or independently at different times—were almost solely responsible for a surge in residential construction and development in early 19th-century Brighton, which until then had...
, who moved to Brighton from nearby Lewes
Lewes
Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...
in 1815 and became two of Brighton's most important architects; they were extremely prolific, and were responsible for defining and developing the town's distinctive Regency style
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
. Although they worked extensively with fellow architect Charles Busby
Charles Busby
Charles Augustin Busby was an English architect.He created many buildings in and around Brighton such as Brunswick Square and St Margarets Church. His style usually included Romanesque style pillars to his buildings....
during the 1820s, historians agree that he was not involved in the overall design of Regency Square, at least not in its early stages: the buildings "appear to lack his distinctive flair" and are not as impressive as those at the 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 to the east of Brighton, which all three men were involved with. Some of the later houses may have been the work of Wilds senior and Busby, however.
Building work started in 1818 and continued until 1830, although most of the square (except numbers 1 and 47–49) were complete by 1828. The long construction period affected the uniformity of design hoped for by Hanson, as did the fact that building plots were sold individually and at different times: even a strict covenant could not force the owners into designing identical houses. A passageway (Regency Colonnade) was built at the northeast corner to connect the square to the neighbouring development of Russell Square, which was built at the same time; the contemporary Regency Inn (now known as the Regency Tavern) faced both the passageway and Regency Square. St Margaret's Church, an 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...
chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
designed in the 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...
/Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
style in 1824 by Busby, was the local place of worship.
Bands often played in the square's central garden or on King's Road at the southern end of the square. Meanwhile, residents were upset in 1866 when the West Pier, designed by Eugenius Birch
Eugenius Birch
Eugenius Birch was a 19th Century English naval architect, engineer and noted pier builder.-Biography:Both Eugenius and his brother were born in Gloucester Terrace, Shoreditch, to grain dealer John and wife Susanne...
, was built opposite the square's central garden: its entrance booths affected their sea views. Otherwise, there was little for residents to worry about until the 1880s, by which time Hanson's covenants were about to expire. Unusually, he had set a 71-year time limit on the covenants rather than granting them in perpetuity, and on 25 December 1889 they would expire. Residents would then lose their rights to use the gardens, among other things. Five residents, led by solicitor Somers Clarke (unrelated to the Brighton-born architect of that name
Somers Clarke
George Somers Clarke was an architect and English Egyptologist who worked at a number of sites throughout Egypt, notably in El Kab, where he built a house. He was born in Brighton and died in Egypt....
), attempted unsuccessfully to purchase the gardens and extend the covenants by an Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
; two years later, though, the passing of the Brighton Improvement Act 1884 achieved the same aims. Brighton Corporation took ownership of the gardens, and householders signed new deeds confirming they wished for the covenants relating to their houses to be extended indefinitely.
20th century
From the beginning, Regency Square was a prestigious, high-class development, and it is still considered to be "one of Brighton's best sea-facing squares". By the mid-20th century, most of the houses had become hotels, and in early 1969 a surface-level car park was planned for the Brighton Corporation owned central garden; this was changed to a 520-space underground car park which was created using the cut and cover method in which the garden was dug up, the car park with roof constructed, and the lawns and flowerbeds restored. Richard SeifertRichard Seifert
Reubin Seifert - normally known as Richard Seifert was a British architect, best known for designing the Centrepoint tower and Tower 42 , once the tallest building in the City of London...
's 334 feet (101.8 m), 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...
24-storey residential block, Sussex Heights
Sussex Heights
Sussex Heights is a residential tower block in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built between 1966 and 1968 on the site of a historic church, it rises to —making it the tallest building in the city and one of the tallest residential buildings on the south...
, was built in 1968 on land immediately to the east of the square, and was criticised for affecting the character of the square because of its contrasting style and height. During the early 1970s the hotels sought permission from Brighton Corporation to erect neon sign
Neon sign
Neon signs are made using electrified, luminous tube lights that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in December, 1910 by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show. While they are used worldwide, neon signs...
s advertising themselves; after negotiation with the Regency Society, a Brighton-wide conservation group formed in 1945, the Corporation made the square and the surrounding area into a conservation area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
in 1973. Conservation area status gives the council firmer control over 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...
and changes to buildings or street furniture, especially in respect of their effect on "the character and appearance of the area". The original conservation area has since been enlarged twice to its present size of 80 acres (32.4 ha).
Architecture
Almost all buildings in and around the square have been listed for their architectural and historical importance: six blocks of houses are each listed at Grade II*, while the other buildings, including a set of bollards, have each been given the lower Grade II status. The house at the south west corner is now numbered as part of King's Road but was built as part of Regency Square, and is also Grade II*-listed.The six Grade II* parts of the square, plus the former St Albans House, were listed 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 13 October 1952. The west side was listed in two parts: the three houses at numbers 2–4, and the sixteen houses from number 5 to number 20. The northern side's central section, numbers 26–37, forms another listing. On the east side, numbers 51–56, 57–59 and 60–66 are each listed at Grade II*. Apart from St Albans House, all of these listings include iron railings attached to the exterior. Grade II* listed buildings are defined as being "particularly important ... [and] of more than special interest". As of February 2001, the buildings made up seven of the 70 Grade II*-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove. Numbers 38–46 Regency Square were listed at Grade II on 20 August 1971, while the rest of the square's houses were listed at the same grade on 26 August 1999 in four separate listings: numbers 22–25, 46a, 46b and 47–49. All listings except numbers 46a and 46b include attached railings, and the listing for numbers 38–46 also includes a carriage arch. Grade II listed status is given to "nationally important buildings of special interest"; as of February 2001, there were 1,124 such buildings and structures in the city.
A small block of flats, Abbotts, stands at the southeast corner of the square. Built by architecture firm Fitzroy Robinson & Partners in 1961–62 to replace a hotel of the same name, it was considered "quite good" by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
.
Grade II* listings
2–4 Regency SquareThese three four-storey houses (now the Beach Hotel) have double bow fronts, and were considered by Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
to be more austere in their detailing than most Brighton houses of their era. Number 2, a former home of social reformer William King
William King (doctor)
Dr. William King was a British physician and philanthropist from Brighton. He is best known as an early supporter of the Cooperative Movement....
(whose two-year stay is commemorated by a blue plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
), is built of brick which has been painted over; the others are 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. Each house also has a basement and a dormer window. The ground floors are rusticated
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
and have arched doorways set into Classical-style
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
porches with both Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
and Doric
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:...
columns—the latter in the form of antae. The tripartite 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 are neither full-height nor continuous: only the first three storeys have them, and they are offset to the right on the first and second floors. The first-floor windows sit between a curved cast-iron balcony and a verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
-style canopy supported on decorative brackets
Bracket (architecture)
A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
. On each house, the third floor has three small flat-arched sash windows; the centre window sits below a small cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
supported on 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...
s.
5–20 Regency Square
These sixteen houses form the greater part of the square's west side. Although there are differences in height and detail between individual houses, they were designed at the same time and maintain "the longstanding tradition of the 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...
townhouse
Townhouse
A townhouse is the term historically used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries to describe a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city. Most such figures owned one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year...
" which had been developed "by Henry Holland
Henry Holland (architect)
Henry Holland was an architect to the English nobility. Born in Fulham, London, his father also Henry ran a building firm and he built several of Capability Brown's buildings, although Henry would have learnt a lot from his father about the practicalities of construction it was under Brown that he...
[...] in his own speculative enterprises at Hans Town and Sloane Street
Sloane Street
Sloane Street is a major London street which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about half way along, entirely in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Hans Sloane, who purchased the surrounding area in 1712...
, London". Numbers 7, 8, 11 and 15 are entirely stuccoed; number 18 retains its original unpainted yellow-brick upper façade; and all other houses have painted brick to their upper storeys and stuccoed ground floors with rustication
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
. The roofs are mansard-style
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
and laid with slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
. Each house has dormer windows; numbers 5–13 inclusive rise to four storeys, while the other seven houses are one storey shorter. All houses except number 12 have a single 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...
, mostly in tripartite form. Number 12 has three windows to each floor. The entrance porches, reached via staircases, are either Doric
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:...
or Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
in form, with columns and 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 ,...
s. They have arch-headed doorways set into them. Small cast-iron balconies run across the terrace at first-floor level (although number 5's has been lost), and some houses have canopy-style verandahs as well. A nearly continuous cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
(absent on numbers 13 and 19) spans the terrace; some houses also have a second cornice above this. Several houses have 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 with coloured glass, and other non-standard details include decorative 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...
panelling at number 5; paterae (circular motifs), 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...
-decorated 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...
s and other Classical-style ornamentation in some of the porch entablatures; original window-guards of iron; a blocked doorway flanked by 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 at number 20; and many original sash window
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
s.
26–37 Regency Square
These 12 houses, arranged along the sea-facing north side in the form of two wings flanking a four-house centrepiece, are the focal point of the square, forming "a kind of palace front" topped with a 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...
displaying in prominent black lettering. Pevsner described this feature as "not [being] enough of an accent to pull the square together". The terrace is a five-part composition: the end "wings" (formed by numbers 26–27 and 36–37) are of four storeys, stuccoed and with tall 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 pinched upwards to form small pediments; the central section (numbers 30–33), also of four storeys and built in yellow brick, and topped with the inscribed pediment; and numbers 28–29 and 34–35, rising to three storeys and forming a link between the central and outer sections. Numbers 30–33 have a two-window range, rather than the single window on each of the other houses, and have four 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 running the full height of the façade and terminating at the 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...
in circular antefixae. The entrance porches are of the Ionic order
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
. Each house has a canopied cast-iron balcony at first-floor level. There is rusticated decoration at ground-floor level.
51–56 Regency Square
The east side of Regency Square is architecturally less consistent than the west side. Numbers 51–56 were designed as a symmetrical composition: the two houses at the centre stand forward slightly and have a more prominent 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...
. Each house has four storeys and a single 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...
on the ground and first floors; other common features include rustication on the ground floor and Ionic-style
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
porches with recessed flat-arched doorways and arched 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. There are cast-iron balconies at first-floor level; number 52's has a canopy above it. Some windows are 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...
, and numbers 52, 53, 54 and 56 have dormer windows in their slate roofs.
57–59 Regency Square
These three houses may also have been designed as a single composition, but this effect has been lost. Numbers 58 and 59 are of five storeys; number 57 has four storeys and dormer windows. The 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...
rises into an intricately 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...
above number 58, with palmette
Palmette
The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It has an extremely long history, originating in Ancient Egypt with a subsequent development through the art of most of Eurasia, often in forms that bear...
scrollwork and semicircular antefixae. Each house has an Ionic-columned
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
porch with a straight-headed door and semicircular 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...
. Numbers 57 and 59 have canopies and first-floor balconies; number 58 has only a balcony. The three houses are the only ones on the east side to have full-height bows, and number 57 is unique on that side in retaining its original unpainted yellow-brick façade.
60–66 Regency Square
These seven houses are also a symmetrical composition: the three in the middle are set forward and have a tall parapet topped by a very shallow pediment. Like the rest of the east side, the houses have Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
porches with flat-arched doors and round-headed 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. The ground and first floors have three-part 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 topped with cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
s. Except on number 63, a narrow canopy sits between the first-floor window and the cornice. Another cornice spans the full width of the terrace above third-floor level. The slightly recessed houses on each end (numbers 60–61 and 65–66) have pairs of dormer windows.
131 King's Road
The former St Albans House was designed in 1828 by Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds was an English architect. He was part of a team of three architects and builders who—working together or independently at different times—were almost solely responsible for a surge in residential construction and development in early 19th-century Brighton, which until then had...
alone and was fitted out by William Izard. A shopfront was fitted in the early 20th century, and the ground floor has housed a restaurant since 1930. Contemporary with the shopfront was the round-headed entrance on the King's Road elevation, with an archway supported on fluted
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
columns, a dentil
Dentil
In classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...
-patterned cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
and ornamentation including scrollwork and a panel inscribed . The building has five storeys, three windows facing King's Road and the sea, and a five-window range to Regency Square. It is 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 slate-roofed. The shopfront is topped by a thin cast-iron balcony. The right-hand (east) side of the King's Road façade has a full-height tripartite segmental 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...
with architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
s to each window. The Regency Square elevation also has a three-light full-height bay window; all other windows are blocked.
Grade II listings
22–25 Regency SquareNumbers 22–25 Regency Square—at the northwest corner of the square on a short road leading to Preston Street—include the building (number 67) on the corner of that street, which absorbed the house built as number 21 Regency Square. Attributed to Amon
Amon Wilds
Amon Wilds was an English architect and builder. He formed an architectural partnership with his son Amon Henry WildsIn this article, Amon Wilds is referred to as Wilds senior and his son Amon Henry Wilds as Wilds junior. in 1806 and started working in the fashionable and growing seaside resort...
and Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds was an English architect. He was part of a team of three architects and builders who—working together or independently at different times—were almost solely responsible for a surge in residential construction and development in early 19th-century Brighton, which until then had...
, these bow-fronted terraced houses were built in about 1818. Number 67 Preston Street is of three storeys and has a shopfront facing west into that street; alongside that is a porch with rusticated
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
decoration and an arched doorway. The Regency Square (south) façade has blocked windows at first- and second-floor level. The four houses facing Regency Square are of three storeys, except number 25 which also has an attic storey. They are of brick faced with painted 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...
. Each house has a chimney on its slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roof. Each has an entrance staircase with iron railings, a rusticated ground floor, a single 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...
to each storey, an iron balcony at first-floor level, a cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
and a 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...
in front of the roof. At numbers 22 to 24, dormer windows cut through the parapet.
38–46 Regency Square
Numbers 38–46 Regency Square run alongside the northeast side, and are contemporary with the houses at the northwest corner. The Wildses are believed to have designed them. A carriage arch runs between numbers 42 and 43. Together with numbers 22–25 and the Grade II*-listed centrepiece of numbers 26–37, the houses form an approximately symmetrical three-part arrangement when viewed from the south. Each house is of stucco-clad brick, and all but number 40 have slate-covered roofs. All houses rise to three storeys and have dormer windows; number 43 has two 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 on each floor (except the ground floor, where the space is taken up by the carriage arch), but the other houses have only one. Each house also has a balcony, a cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
and a 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...
(topped with a balustrade in some cases).
46a Regency Square
Number 46a Regency Square stands partly in the square and partly in the passageway opposite the Regency Tavern. It is a two-storey 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...
-faced cottage with three windows on the first floor and a fourth in a recessed wing on the east side. The flat roof sits behind a 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...
. The ground floor has a broad single window flanked by decorative panels. A cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
runs between the two storeys, and projects forward over the right-aligned entrance.
46b Regency Square
Number 46b Regency Square is squeezed into a narrow corner between numbers 47–49 and the Regency Tavern. It has three storeys, a single-window range and much ornamentation. The ground floor, with its wide arched window and prominent cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
, may be a 20th-century alteration. Above it, 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 with banded rustication
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
rise to the level of the 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...
. They are broken at second-floor level by a small balcony with balustrades. The window above this has a round arch, a moulded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
archivolt
Archivolt
An archivolt is an ornamental molding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental moldings surrounding an arched opening, corresponding to the architrave in the case of a rectangular opening...
, 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...
with acanthus
Acanthus (ornament)
The acanthus is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration.-Architecture:In architecture, an ornament is carved into stone or wood to resemble leaves from the Mediterranean species of the Acanthus genus of plants, which have deeply cut leaves with some similarity to...
decoration and thin pilasters topped with capitals
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
in the form of leaves.
47–49 Regency Square
Numbers 47–49 Regency Square are believed to be the last buildings completed; Charles Busby
Charles Busby
Charles Augustin Busby was an English architect.He created many buildings in and around Brighton such as Brunswick Square and St Margarets Church. His style usually included Romanesque style pillars to his buildings....
was probably involved in their design, as they are noticeably different from the rest of the square. All three have a single canted
Cant (architecture)
Cant is the architectural term describing part, or segment, of a facade which is at an angle to another part of the same facade. The angle breaking the facade is less than a right angle thus enabling a canted facade to be viewed as, and remain, one composition.Canted facades are a typical of, but...
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...
to each of three storeys, topped with an architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
supported on 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 with capitals
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
. Each house also has a cornice and parapet. Number 47's doorway is straight-headed, but the other two houses have round-arched entrances.
War memorial
A memorial
War memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
commemorating 152 members of the Royal Sussex Regiment
Royal Sussex Regiment
The Royal Sussex Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed as part of the Childers reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th Regiment of Foot and the 107th Regiment of Foot...
who died in the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
stands at the south end of Regency Square's garden, facing King's Road and the sea. It was erected in 1904, and takes the form of a square pedestal 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 ,...
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...
. Originally of Portland stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
with some bronze and stucco, the bronze parts have now been obscured. A bronze trumpeter
Trumpeter (rank)
A Trumpeter is a regiment specific, descriptive name given to Privates in the British Army. It is used for trumpeters in the Household Cavalry and was formerly used in all other cavalry regiments.-See also:...
stands on top of the entablature. Local architect Sir John Simpson
John William Simpson (architect)
Sir John William Simpson KBE, FRIBA was an English architect and was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1919 to 1921.- Background and early life :...
designed the memorial and Charles Hartwell sculpted it. The memorial's unveiling ceremony, conducted by William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny
William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny
William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny KG, MVO , styled Viscount Neville between 1845 and 1868 and known as The Earl of Abergavenny between 1868 and 1876, was a British peer....
, was on 29 October 1904.
Regency Tavern
The Regency Tavern's main façade faces north into the passageway leading to Russell Square, and has a six-window range. The side wall, facing into Regency Square, has two windows to each of the three storeys. The frontage is mostly original but has been augmented by modern iron columns. All but one of the windows are 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...
; those on the first floor of the Regency Square elevation have architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
s which join the sill of the second-floor window directly above. There are stuccoed panels between these windows as well, and some of the north-facing windows also have panelling in their spandrel
Spandrel
A spandrel, less often spandril or splaundrel, is the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure....
s. A tall 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...
rises above the cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
.
Bollards
Two cast-iron bollards in the passageway outside the Regency Tavern are also listed at Grade II. They were erected in the mid-19th century, and are fluted
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
along their length. One has the name of its local founder
Foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
at the bottom.
Social aspects
Regency Square was a prestigious, high-class development, attracting the social elite. The square gradually lost its prestige status after the First World War as hotels started to move in, and by the mid-20th century, most of the houses had become hotels. During the Second World War air raid shelters were built on the square, and an underground car park was built beneath it in 1969.Number 1 Regency Square, later known as St Albans House and now numbered 131 King's Road, is "historically the most interesting house in the square". Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds was an English architect. He was part of a team of three architects and builders who—working together or independently at different times—were almost solely responsible for a surge in residential construction and development in early 19th-century Brighton, which until then had...
designed it for the Duke
William Beauclerk, 9th Duke of St Albans
William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 9th Duke of St. Albans was the son of William Beauclerk, 8th Duke of St Albans. He played a first-class cricket match for Hampshire in 1817....
and Duchess
Harriet Mellon
Harriot Mellon was a British actress who eventually starred at Drury Lane. She was successively the wife of banker Thomas Coutts and William Beauclerk, 9th Duke of St Albans....
of St Albans
Duke of St Albans
Duke of St Albans is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1684 for Charles Beauclerk, 1st Earl of Burford, then fourteen years old...
, and William Izard laid out the interior in 1829. The house was one of the most important social venues in Brighton between 1830 and the Duchess's death in 1837. She was born Harriet Mellon in 1777, became an actress, married banker Thomas Coutts
Thomas Coutts
Thomas Coutts was an Anglo-Scottish banker who was the founder of the banking house of Coutts & Co.He was the fourth son of John Coutts , who carried on business in Edinburgh as a corn factor and negotiator of bills of exchange, and who in 1742 was elected lord provost of the city...
in 1815, and inherited his fortune when he died in 1822—thereby becoming England's richest woman. After being courted by many men, she met and married William Beauclerk, the 9th Duke of St Albans, and they became regular visitors to Brighton. In 1830, they moved permanently to 1 Regency Square and renamed it St Albans House. For the next seven years, it was the venue for lavish balls with hundreds of upper-class guests, extensive feasts and falconry
Falconry
Falconry is "the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor". There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an austringer flies a hawk or an eagle...
displays by the Duke, who was the Grand Falconer of England. St Albans House had an adjacent riding school which supposedly had the second largest unsupported interior space and the second largest dome in England, behind Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
and St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
respectively. (Part of the Bedford Hotel
Bedford Hotel (Brighton)
The Bedford Hotel was a hotel on the seafront in Brighton, England which has subsequently been renamed the Holiday Inn Brighton after becoming a part of the Holiday Inn business.-History:...
now occupies the site.) Two other famous characters paid an unintentional visit to Regency Square at the end of the 19th century: Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas , nicknamed Bosie, was a British author, poet and translator, better known as the intimate friend and lover of the writer Oscar Wilde...
crashed their horse and carriage into the railings of the gardens. Local newspapers reported the story with interest, but Wilde dismissed it as "an accident of no importance"—possibly a punning allusion to one of his best-known plays
A Woman of No Importance
A Woman of No Importance is a play by Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. The play premièred on 19 April 1893 at London's Haymarket Theatre. It is a testimony of Wilde's wit and his brand of dark comedy...
.
Since the 1930s, many of Regency Square's dwellings have been converted into hotels and guest houses, either individually or across more than one house. The Beach Hotel occupies numbers 2-4, the three dwellings north of St Albans House. Hotel Pelirocco occupies numbers 9 and 10; the Royal Pavilion Townhouse Hotel is at number 12; and the West Pier Hotel (at numbers 14-15) and Topps Hotel (numbers 16-18) also occupy the west side of the square. There are four hotels on the north side: the Regency at number 28, the Prince Regent at number 29, Artist Residence at number 33 and the George IV Guest House at number 34. The east side has Adelaide House (number 51), Brighton House (number 52), Hotel Una (numbers 55-56), Keehan's Hotel (number 57) and the Queensbury Hotel (number 58).