Adelaide Mansions is a residential building on the seafront in
Hove
Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...
, part of the city of
Brighton and Hove
Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages.
Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
in
East Sussex,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The "handsome block", decorated with ornate details, was erected in 1873 to the design of local architect
Thomas Lainson.
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
has
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
Location
Adelaide Mansions is located at the junction of St John's Road and Kingsway in Hove. Kingsway is the seafront road in this part of Hove; renamed several times, it took its present name in February 1910 to commemorate
King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
(1841-1910).
St John's Road leads northwards from the seafront to
Palmeira Square
Palmeira Square () is a mid-19th-century residential development in Hove, part of the English city and seaside resort of Brighton and Hove. At the southern end it adjoins Adelaide Crescent, another architectural set-piece which leads down to the ...
and
St John the Baptist's Church, from which it took its name in 1907 (previously it was called Palmeira Mews Road).
Adelaide Crescent
Adelaide Crescent is a mid-19th-century residential development in Hove, part of the English city and seaside resort of Brighton and Hove. Conceived as an ambitious attempt to rival the large, high-class Kemp Town estate east of Brighton, the c ...
, an architectural set-piece dating from the mid-19th century, lies to the east; both the crescent and the mansions were named after
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
, house = Saxe-Meiningen
, father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
, mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy  ...
(1792–1849); landowner and developer
Isaac Lyon Goldsmid
Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, 1st Baronet (13 January 1778 – 27 April 1859) was a financier and one of the leading figures in the Jewish emancipation in the United Kingdom, who became the first British Jew to receive a hereditary title.
Biography
...
(1778–1859) asked
King William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...
(1765–1837) for permission to use his queen's name.
History
Prolific Brighton-based architect
Thomas Lainson (1825–1898) designed the block in 1873
on land that was part of the Wick
estate—a large area of agricultural land between the growing town of
Brighton and the village of Hove. This land was owned by Isaac Lyon Goldsmid by the 1830s, and he set about developing it with high-class housing. His Adelaide Crescent scheme, intended to be a rival to Brighton's
Kemp Town
Kemp Town Estate, also known as Kemp Town, is a 19th-century Regency architecture residential estate in the east of Brighton in East Sussex, England, UK. It consists of Arundel Terrace, Lewes Crescent, Sussex Square, Chichester Terrace, and ...
development, was built between the 1830s and 1860s. Financial problems and the spectacular destruction of the crescent's principal feature, the
Anthaeum indoor garden and conservatory, delayed the scheme's progress.
By 1873, there was still open land to the west fronting Kingsway, and it was on this site adjoining the southwest corner of the crescent that the mansions were built.
The builder was Jabez Reynolds senior who built about 1,000 houses in Brighton and Hove including other landmark and listed buildings such as Palmeira Mansions, Medina Terrace and the workhouse on Elm Grove, now Brighton General Hospital.
Until 1918, the building was in residential use.
In that year numbers 3 and 4 were turned into the Lawns Hotel, a luxury hotel "noted for its quiet comfort and excellent cuisine".
Rates were four
guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
per week at first.
By the 1970s its character had changed from a conventional hotel to more of a long-stay residence: there were 47 bedrooms, over half of which were occupied by (mostly elderly) residents.
Its fortunes declined in the 1980s: the building suffered £100,000 of damage in the
Great Storm of 1987, and months later a faulty heating system caused fumes to escape and led to the closure of part of the hotel.
In 1990 the Zipadeedoodah Bar and First Avenue Restaurant were established on the ground floor, but by 2001 all had closed down and numbers 3 and 4 were converted back into flats.
Adelaide Mansions was
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
at Grade II by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
on 2 November 1992.
This status is awarded to "nationally important" buildings of "special interest".
As of February 2001, it was one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of
Brighton and Hove
Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages.
Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
.
Notable residents
*
Hilton Philipson
Hilton Philipson (5 November 1892 – 12 April 1941), also known as Hylton Phillipson was a politician in the United Kingdom.
Biography
Standing as a National Liberal Party candidate, he was elected at the 1922 general election as Member of Pa ...
(1892-1941),
National Liberal Party Member of Parliament for
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census reco ...
in 1922, lived at 1 Adelaide Mansions in 1903.
*
Vere Fane Benett-Stanford
Vere Fane Benett-Stanford (1840–1894) was an English politician.
Early life
Vere Fane Benett-Stanford was born Vere Fane in 1840. His father was Reverend Arthur Fane of the Fane family and his mother, Anna Maria Benett, the daughter of John ...
,
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Member of Parliament for
Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a ...
from 1873 to 1880.
*
Woolf Barnato
Joel Woolf BarnatoPronounced Barnatoo – from Barnett too (27 September 1895 – 27 July 1948) was a British financier and racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. He achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the ...
(1895-1948), financier and racing driver.
[''Charterhouse Register, 1872-1910'', Chiswick Press, 1911, Volume 2, p. 83]
/ref>
Architecture
It has a terrace of four-storey, three- Bay (architecture), bay houses with Classical touches such as Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
-columned porches. There are ground-floor sash windows and iron balconies, and a parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...
with a balustrade runs along the top of the building.
See also
* Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove: A–B
*
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
{{Authority control
Houses completed in 1873
Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove