Bath, London and Brighton

The Arrival of a New Concept

The late eighteenth century saw the start of a remarkable development in architecure and town planning. The demands of the burgeoning minor aristocracy and the "new money" of the day demanded a new way of life, and of course it was provided for them.

In 1767 work commenced on the Royal Crescent in Bath, built to the design of John Wood the Younger, followed by the other grand terraces and streets of Bath. This and the later developments incorporated elements from classical architecture incorporated into the design of town houses.

In 1811, work began on Regents Park in London designed by John Nash and Decimus Burton. It is no coincidence that both Bath and Regents Park owe much to the patronage of the sons of George III, in the case of Regents Park this was the Prince Regent.

These were speculative developments designed to allow individual grand houses to be part of an architecural setting that resembled a royal palace and Versailles is often cited as the inspiration. They were "town planning" because such large and grand establishments demanded an infrastructure of artisans, tradesmen, shopkeepers, and they in turn needed homes or lodgings and workshops, to make the enterprise viable.

Neo-classicism comes to Brighton

As we all know, the Prince Regent visited Brighton in 1783 and decided to set up a home here. With unfettered access to the public purse on account of the incapacity of his father George III, he converted a modest villa into the Royal Pavilion that we see today. And of course the court and hangers-on came with him and required homes fit for their station. Brighton became a fashionable place to live or visit.

The first developments to satisfy this need were in Kemp Town to the east, Sussex Square and Lewes Crescent and others. A few years later Brunswick Town was built to satisfy increasing demand.

Brunswick Town was built on the Wick Farm Estate, which was largely owned by a Reverend Scutt. Brunswick was of course the royal family name at that time. The estate lay in the parish of Hove, but since Hove in the early 1800's was a tiny fishing and farming village of about 100 people almost a mile west of Brunswick Town, the new development was considered as "West Brighton" and had no real connection with Hove.

As in Bath and Regents Park, although the houses were designed in a uniform style, interiors were custom designed to the individual requirements of wealthy purchasers. Quite often houses were sold with the facade and party walls complete, leaving purchasers to complete the basic shell. Craftsmen were responsible for the interior decoration, using designs to the taste of the buyer of the property, and often selected from pattern books.

The Building of Brunswick Town

The Brunswick Town development was started in 1824 and by 1828 the grand square and terraces were complete. However, work continued for over forty years until the development extended up the hill as far as Lansdowne Road and from beyond Lansdowne Place in the west to Little Western Street in the east.

The design of the estate is generally credited to Amon Wilds and Charles Busby. Amon Wilds (1762-1833) was already 63 when work started and retired shortly afterward. Most sources credit Charles Busby (1788-1834) with the greater part of the work. Busby was a "purist" and the neo-classical style finds its finest expression here. Both men had been involved in other developments in Brighton and in fact when Brunswick Town was started, some of those projects were still underway.

Wills and Busby were primarily designers and planners and many builders were involved in the construction of the estate. Many of them introduced variations in design, and sadly all too often in quality. Buildings erected at that time were not always built to last, the expectation was that they would not outlive leases of the usual 99 years.

The worst feature of some buildings was the use of "bungaroush" as material for walls. If you own a house with bungaroush walls, look away now! Bungaroush, a local term, is a mixture of broken brick, flint pebbles and even pottery fragments held together with lime mortar. It is inherently fragile and builders would incorporate wood into the surface so that attachments to the wall could be made without fracturing it! Needless to say, if bungaroush becomes damp it loses any strength it once had.

A Room with a View

The Brunswick Town development has a unique feature compared with the developments of Bath and London. In front of the Royal Crescent in Bath is parkland that once ran all the way down to the River Avon. Originally it was populated by cattle and sheep, maintained entirely for the delight of the residents. Regents Park had the same feature, idyllic countryside in the town, although the common townsfolk were of course excluded.

In Brunswick Square there is a formal garden and then Brunswick Lawns and the magnificent vista of the sea. It is difficult to imagine today, but being set in open farmland not only did the sea dominate the scene, but the downs formed a spectacular backdrop.

The settings in which these grand mansions were placed served the same purpose however, the delight and amusement of the rich
and privileged residents.

The Beginning of Local Government

Brunswick Town was one of the first areas in the UK to have "local government". No such thing existed at the time although some cities had corporations to administer their affairs. The Brunswick Town Act of 1830 enabled the proprietors and residents to run the estate through the Brunswick Square Commissioners, later incorporated into the Borough of Hove.

The office of the Commission was built in 1856 in Brunswick Street West and it became Hove Town Hall in 1873 when the borough was incorporated and was in use until 1882 when a new Town Hall was built in Church Road. The original building later burned down and no trace of it remains.

East Brunswick

What is remarkable about Brunswick Town is the close integration in both space and style of the secondary streets with the great square and terrace to an extent that goes beyond the developments of Bath and London where fine architecture is limited to the grand houses themselves. It is these secondary streets, full of interest and stylish and charming buildngs that make up East Brunswick.

This of course is delghtful Waterloo Street. Although the houses lack the elaborate decoration of columns and pediments of the grand mansions they retain the elegant and regular style that underlies Regency architecture.

Wilds and Busby

Amon Wilds, his son Amon Henry Wilds and Charles Busby were provincial architects, almost unknown outside Brighton. Their output was however prodigious, literally hundreds of buildings in a style that was both unique and elegant. In both quantity and architectural merit they stand comparison with the work of Wood in Bath and Nash in London, both justly famous architects. They changed Brighton & Hove forever and left us a legacy of which we must be proud.

Amon Wilds died in 1833 and his tomb is in St Nicholas' churchyard. The epitaph describes him as "a man of considerable genius who rescued Brighton from antiquated simplicity and rusticity". Busby died a year later leaving considerable debts. Amon Henry Wilds, the son and partner of the great man and an architect of similar talent carried on his father's work until he died in 1857..