The Pepper Pot, also known as the Pepperpot, the Pepper Box or simply The Tower, is a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in the Queen's Park area of the English 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 ...

. It was designed and built in 1830 by architect Charles Barry in the grounds of a villa, which was built for the owner of Queen's Park. It survived the villa's demolition and is now one of its only surviving remnants. Its original purpose is unknown, but several possible explanations have been given for its construction. It has had a wide variety of uses in the 20th century, and is now owned by Brighton and Hove City Council, protected as a Grade II

History

Queen's Park was designed and laid out in 1824 in the east of Brighton, which had developed as a fashionable resort over the previous century as it developed a reputation as a healthy

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He ...

patronised by the Prince Regent, other members of the British Royal Family and

high society High society, sometimes simply society, is the behavior and lifestyle of people with the highest levels of wealth and social status. It includes their related affiliations, social events and practices. Upscale social clubs were open to men based ...

in general. In 1825, Thomas Attree—a property owner and developer in this part of Brighton—bought the park (at that stage known as Brighton Park) from its first owner, and employed architect Charles Barry to design a villa for him on the edge of the park. The Attree Villa, as it became known, stood in substantial grounds north of the park and was one of the earliest

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

buildings in England. Barry designed the square building in the

Quattrocento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...

style; it was intended to be one of several around the park, but no more were built. Between 1909 and 1966 it was a Xaverian Roman Catholic college, but it fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1972 despite being a Grade II* listed building. Few structural elements of the villa remain, but the Pepper Pot—which originally stood in the western part of the grounds—remains intact. It was built at the same time as the villa, but its original function is uncertain: theories include a water tower for the villa, a

vent Vent or vents may refer to: Science and technology Biology *Vent, the cloaca region of an animal * Vent DNA polymerase, a thermostable DNA polymerase Geology *Hydrothermal vent, a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated wate ...

for the network of large Victorian sewers beneath Brighton, an observatory or even a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

. Research in 2011, based on a record in the ''Arcana of Science and Art'' (published in 1836), suggested that the tower stood above a well and housed a steam engine which drew the water out. Its name was given in the ''Arcana'' as "Belvedere Tower." Its present name, which has historically been used locally and has now been adopted more generally, makes reference to its shape. Since it passed out of Attree's ownership, the structure has had a remarkable variety of uses. George Duddell bought Attree's estate in 1863, and used the Pepper Pot to print and publish his local newspaper, the ''Brighton Daily Mail''. Three years later, it (along with the park, the villa and all associated buildings) had passed to the Brighton Corporation, the municipal forerunner of the present city council. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the military used the structure as an observation post. Later uses included the headquarters of a

Scout troop A Scout troop is a term adopted into use with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and the Scout Movement to describe their basic units. The term troop echoes a group of mounted scouts in the military or an expedition and follows the terms cavalry, mounted inf ...

, an artist's studio and—after an extension was built in the base in the 1960s—a public toilet. The Pepper Pot was designated a Grade II listed building on 13 October 1952.

Architecture

The Pepper Pot is a ten-sided, cylindrical structure, tall and standing on an octagonal base. It is topped by a cupola and a green metal urn. There are 11 Corinthian columns around the exterior. The tower rises in four stages. The lowest is the octagonal

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

which was extended to the north in the 1960s when toilets were installed. The short second stage is circular; its upper boundary is defined by a cornice. The columns extend all the way up the third stage; at the top of this section, between each column, is a small window. An entablature and cornice rest on top of the column and marks the division with the uppermost stage, which has 11 pilasters directly above the columns. Another entablature sits between the pilasters and the circular cupola. The design is based on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, which was widely copied by British neoclassical architects. The main building material was said to be cement by English Heritage in its listing description, but research undertaken during the 2011 restoration work discovered that the core of the Pepper Pot is made of a pioneering type of concrete known as "Ranger's Artificial Stone" or "Ranger's Lime Concrete"—making it one of the oldest buildings in England to use this material. William Ranger, a builder from the nearby village of

Ringmer Ringmer is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. The village is east of ...

, invented this in the early 19th century.

Restoration plans

The Friends of the Pepperpot group was formed in January 2010 to promote the conservation of the Pepperpot and try to get it back into use. In May 2011, Brighton and Hove City Council undertook a £50,000 restoration of the exterior. In the same month, the Friends of the Pepperpot announced that three new uses were being considered for the building—conversion into a

bed and breakfast Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...

, a community centre or a café—and that they were in negotiations with the city council about the possibility of taking over the ownership of the building. In September 2011, it was stated that more structural work was needed and that the final cost could be £100,000, or even more if the interior was restored. Heritage bodies such as English Heritage, The Georgian Group, The Regency Society and The Landmark Trust consulted with the Friends of the Pepperpot and the city council to decide what should happen.

References

Notes

Bibliography