Seaside Architecture Sussex Piers Pavilions Lido Regency Period Art Deco Style Sussex UK

John Nash, Brighton Royal Pavilion & Regency Brighton & Hove

When you think of the Regency period and architecture in England, Jane Austen and Bath immediately come to mind. However, it is Brighton alongside Cheltenham which contain some of the most striking examples of Regency architecture in England. Brighton's famous Kemp Town Royal Crescent (1798-1807) was the first terrace Crescent to face the sea, and despite numerous escapes from destruction, Brighton's Royal Pavilion stands today as a work of genius by John Nash who worked on it between 1815 and 1823. The Royal Pavilion Brighton caught the eye of the famous caricaturist of the day George Cruikshank who depicted it as a giant teapot in an illustration accompanied by the verse, "The queerest of all the queer sights I've set sight on - is, the what d'ye-call-t thing, here, The Folly at Brighton The outside - huge teapots.... The inside - all tea-things, and dragons, and bells". Little did Cruikshank realise that the Royal Pavilion was the birth of a seaside architectural style that would be replicated in the piers and pavilions across Britain for years to come!

The Royal Pavilion's Picturesque Regency style is skillfully set in landscape by John Nash. Here Nash excelled, other examples include his laying out of Regent's Park and Buckingham Palace in London, and the Royal Pavilion is a landmark Regency building signifying the change of architecture towards ostentation. The Regency period of 1790 to 1840 is one of Britain's most elegant architectural periods, and Brighton and Hove's long list of Regency historic buildings is one of the richest in the country. Nash's London work particularly was a key influence for the Brighton architects C.A.Busby and the Wilds, a father and son team who created the elegant Sussex Square and Lewes Crescent in Kemptown.

Alongside Brighton's famous Royal Pavilion and Royal Crescent, other Regency architectural highlights are at Kemp Town and the great Busby creations between 1823-50 such as Sussex Square, Lewes Crescent, Arundel Terrace and Chichester Terrace. West of the city centre on the Hove border you'll find the magnificent Regency architecture of Brunswick Town including Brunswick Square, Place and Terrace as well as Lansdowne Place and Square. By the 1820s Brighton's population growth rate was expanding at a faster rate than any other British town and it was from the 1820s that numerous Regency Squares and Terrace building projects really began to pick up speed (see John Walton's 'The English Seaside Resort. A Social History 1750-1915) Leicester Uni Press, 1983 for more details).

Famous Regency architects featuring in Brighton alongside Nash include Amon Henry Wilds and you'll find his creations dating from between 1825-9 at Oriental Place and Terrace, Sillwood Place, Western Terrace, Hanover Crescent, Park Crescent and the 1843-7 Montpelier Crescent. Don't miss too D. Burton's Adelaide Crescent dating from 1830-4 and you'll find work by Charles Barry in Brighton including St Peter, Victoria Gardens and St Andrews on Waterloo Road Hove. For more information on Regency Brighton see Brighton and Hove's Regency Society webguide right as well as the Brighton Architecture Guide and Regency Town House Tours based in the Brunswick area of Hove.

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Brunswick Town Regency Architecture & History Hove

Hove's rise as a seaside resort may have initially been as a subsiduary to Brighton's rise on the seaside resort stage in the early Regency period, however it soon became a major UK resort in its own right. By 1881 and the Victorian era Hove had the twelth largest population size of the seaside resorts in England and Wales. Much attention is being focused on Hove today for its spectacular array of architecture, particularly its magnificently elegant Regency terraces around Brunswick Town including Brunswick Square, Place and Terrace, Lansdowne Place and Square and the slightly later Adelaide Crescent.

Brunswick Square in Hove and similar Regency grand projects in nearby Kemp Town took several years to construct and large injections of funding were needed for such projects. Such large investments were only made possible alongside Brighton and Hove's huge population growth and increasing popularity as seaside resorts close to London from the 1820s. Local Brighton architects Busby and Wilds, who were heavily influenced by John Nash's London West End creations, were responsible for the spectacular Brunswick Town Regency developments. The birth of Regency architecture may have been in Bath, but in Brighton and Hove the crescents and terraces look to the sea with their own particular character.

The Grade I listed Regency Town House on Brunswick Square in the heart of Hove's finest Regency district is being developed as a heritage centre and museum focusing on both the architecture and social history of the period between the 1780s and 1840s, a time period which broadly defines the Regency period in Britain. Heritage Tours are available as well as courses and talks. See the Town House website for details and an outline of Regency history in Brighton and Hove. The Brighton Architecture weblink right also details the history of Brighton and Hove's architecture from Regency through to the present. This website includes some stunning photography.

The Regency Town House for Regency Tours & Heritage Centre, 13 Brunswick Square, Hove, East Sussex BN3 1EH. Tel. 01273 206306. (see the Regency Town House's webguide right for more details on visiting and tours). See also the mighty Victorian creation Palmeira Mansions at Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2GB.

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Saltdean & Saltdean Lido, The Art Deco Brighton Resort

Saltdean really began to boom in the 1930s when Brighton looked to the east for areas to expand. The building boom fortunately coincided with one of seaside architecture's best decades - the Art Deco Modern Style of the 1930s. Two particular structures in Saltdean, still in good use today, are the Saltdean Lido and Ocean Hotel.

Grade II Listed and constructed in 1935, the Saltdean Lido is one of the British Seaside's great lidos and not to be missed on any trip to Brighton. This is the mother of all the 1930s Lidos and mimics other famous seaside deco buildings with its graceful curves like the Midland Hotel on Morecambe's seafront. Other highlights in the Saltdean area constructed during the 1930s boom include the spectacular undercliff walk between Rottingdean and Saltdean running for just over 3 miles. Dramatic coastal walking doesn't come much better than the Undercliff Walk!

Saltdean has its own quiet, attractive beach area accessed off the A259. A ramp leads down to the undercliff or via steps from the cafe and subway access from the car park. Lifeguards are present during the summer season and toilets are situated adjacent to the Whitecliffs Cafe. For more information on Saltdean see the Saltdean Independent webguide right.

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De La Warr Pavilion Bexhill-on-Sea

The leading light again for the regeneration of Bexhill is Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff's 1935 modernist marvel the De La Warr Pavilion. A recent eight million pound investment has seen this magnificent structure restored to its original function to serve as an accessible centre for art and culture. This was the reason why the building was commissioned initially in 1935 by the 9th Earl De La Warr.

The building's architect Erich Mendelsohn (1887-1953) is credited not just with spearheading the style of expressionism but also as a major influence on art deco and streamline moderne. A German Jew, Mendelsohn left Germany and a successful career there in 1933 for England after witnessing the rise of anti-semitism. He was later struck off the German Architects Union and his money was seized by the nazis. In later life from 1941 he emigrated to the US where he taught at Berkeley University. Alongside the De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill, other famous buildings by Mendelsohn include the Einstein Tower in Potsdam.

The De La Warr Pavilion was Britain's first public building built in the modernist style and since its regeneration and reopening in 2005 has served as a hub meeting place for the town with on-site cafe and restaurant. The building is also today one of the South's top contemporary art galleries, hosting ever changing prestigious art exhibitions. The De La Warr is one of the largest contemporary art galleries in the South East with recent artists featuring including Ben Nicholson and Nathan Coley. As well as art, the Pavilion is also a centre for events, workshops and performance including music and comedy. Outdoor concerts are frequently hosted in the vast space in front of the pavilion. Twice monthly on Sundays guided tours of the building start from 3pm at the information desk. See the De La Warr Pavilion's webguide for forthcoming tour dates. Sitting alfresco style on the De La Warr balconies gazing out to sea and sipping one of the finest coffees you'll find in the South is a special experience not to be missed!

De La Warr Pavilion, Marina, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex TN40 1DP. For Booking and Information Tel.01424 229 111.

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James Burton & Decimus Burton Regency Architecture St Leonards

Regency architectural gems are on the East Coast of Sussex as well as the West at Brighton, Hove and elsewhere. St Leonards or Burtons St Leonards, aptly named after its famous New Town Regency architects, is a glorious centre for Regency architecture and a unique example of a Regency New Town in Britain.

The names of the architects James Burton (1761-1837) and Decimus Burton (1800-81), father and son, are synonymous with St Leonards-on-Sea. James Burton had already worked on projects such as Regent's Park alongside John Nash in London when he decided in later life to develop the Regency New Town project at St Leonards on the western edge of Hastings. After his death his son Decimus expanded the project.

Lodges, Baths, the Clock House and Villas all by James Burton feature in St Leonards. Burton's influence for many of the structures was John Nash and you can see the resemblance in design of St Leonards Gardens with with Regent's Park - the villas here at St Leonards also sit in and around the park. Burton had set to work on St Leonards from 1828. The Ionic terraces situated along the seafront are his work as well as the striking St Leonards Hotel which later become the Royal Victoria. The Greek Doric Assembly rooms now the Masonic Hall and the splendid St Leonards Gardens are also Burton's work.

A detailed guide and map to all the architectural buildings of interest in St Leonards is via the Visit 1066 webguide and the Hastings Museum & Art Gallery holds an extensive archive of architectural drawings by the Burtons.

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Edwardian Dome Cinema Worthing

Worthing's seafront jewel is the Dome Cinema, first opened as an Edwardian Kursaal in 1911 with dance hall, roller-skating, a tearoom and billiards. From 1921 the Dome was a cinema and stands today as one of the great cinema survival stories (read more on the history pages via the Dome's weblink). Beautifully renovated and retaining numerous original features including the spectacular foyer, ticket booth and tiled entrance, taking in a film showing at the Dome is not to be missed on any trip to Worthing.

The Dome has stared in cinema itself, notably along with the town of Worthing in the 1987 film 'Wish You Were Here' staring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell. Owned by a Charitable Trust, The Dome opened its doors again in July 2007 after a thorough two year makeover. Grade II Listed, The Dome's auditorium foyer remains as it was with new additional function rooms. The upstairs cafe has a large outdoor terrace with panoramic views of the Worthing seafront and also on-site is the Projectionist's Bar. The Dome is suitable for wheelchair access with on-site disabled toilets and wheelchair space within the Electric Theatre.

Book tickets on-line via the Dome's weblink or in person at the box office. Film screening times are listed on the website.

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Sussex Heritage Piers & Architecture

The Sussex coast is one of the richest in Britain for heritage Victorian and Edwardian Piers. First opened in 1899, Grade II listed Brighton Pier was proclaimed on postcards in the early 20th century as 'The finest pier in the World'. Brighton's Palace Pier (now simply Brighton Pier) represented the finest architectural example of seaside architecture - the ultimate traditional British seaside pier with a popular theatre by 1911. The Palace Pier was (and is) a centre for entertainment, strolling and a mecca for holiday visitors unlike its predecesor the Chain Pier with its function as docking site. The Palace Pier, widely considered as the finest of the pleasure piers and built during the golden age of British Piers, was ornate and wonderfully eccentric in its architectural style, with creative use of cast-iron snakes on lamp posts. Brighton Pier has been consistently added to and between the wars its popularity continued to grow. What was once a winter garden is now an amusement palace and today the Pier is open daily and a modern bustling family attraction in Brighton.

Seaside architecture in Worthing is spectacular with a number of historic character hotels lining the seafront and stunning long esplanade as well as around Steyne Gardens. Oscar Wilde thought Worthing a charming town when he visited in the Summer of 1894. Seaside heritage buildings in Worthing include Worthing Pier, much of which dates from the late 1930s, the seafront Worthing Lido and you'll find early examples of Regency architecture similar to Brighton here in Worthing including Liverpool Terrace (c.1830) and the glorious seafront facing Park Crescent dating from 1829.

Grade II listed Bognor Pier is actually the oldest pier in Britain dating originally from 1865. The seaward end and pavilion unfortunately were lost in the mid-1960s and in 2008 the famous Bognor Birdman competition had to be moved to Worthing. The promenade end however houses a choice of seaside amusements.

Hastings Pier is another creation of seaside architect Eugenius Birch who modeled the design at Hastings on Brighton's West Pier, the latter of which is sadly now almost lost. Hastings Pier first opened in August 1872 and today is a hub for craft shops and amusements. The Victorian seaside architect Eugenius Birch's West Pier at Brighton may sadly now have almost disappeared into the sea, but here at Eastbourne Birch's glorious pier still stands. The pier first opened in 1870 with final completion following two years later. Birch's innovative use of cups to sit the piles which supported Eastbourne Pier meant that it could shift and move in poor weather. Hence its survival almost completely unchanged give or take pier top improvements, since Birch's day. Eastbourne Pier stretches 1000 feet out to sea and with its wide promenade proved perfect strolling ground for the upper classes arriving at Eastbourne and the Devonshire Hotels through the Victorian and Edwardian era.

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