The Van Alen Building is a modern apartment and

penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

block on the seafront in Brighton, part 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 named after

William Van Alen William Van Alen (August 10, 1883 – May 24, 1954) was an American architect, best known as the architect in charge of designing New York City's Chrysler Building (1928–30). Life William Van Alen was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1883 to ...

, the architect of New York City's

Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...

and is designed as a 21st-century interpretation of the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

and Streamline Moderne styles. It was completed in 2001.

History

Residential development along the north side of Marine Parade, a wide road leading eastwards along Brighton seafront across the top of East Cliff, began in about 1790 at the west end (nearest the old fishing village of Brighthelmston—the ancient heart of the city). The houses were large, well-appointed and benefited from superb direct sea views, so the area immediately became one of the highest-class areas of the growing town; in the 21st century it has been described as "the country's most impressive marine façade". Most of the area is protected by one of the 34 conservation areas in the city, and features one of its best and most consistent sets of

Regency architecture Regency architecture encompasses classical buildings built in the United Kingdom during the Regency era in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to earlier and later buildings following the same style. The period co ...

. One plot of land towards the western end was marred by a derelict

petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gaso ...

for many years. In the late 1990s, housebuilder Berkeley Group Holdings, under its ''Berkeley Homes'' brand, bought the brownfield site and sought to redevelop it with a high-density residential development. Its proposal was an apartment block with two- and three-bedroom flats, all with balconies and sea views and served by an underground car park. Because the prominent site was so visually sensitive—on a main road into and out of Brighton and surrounded by high-quality, architecturally harmonious stuccoed buildings of moderate height—the company and their chosen architect had to present their plans to several parties. Brighton and Hove Borough (later City) Council and two national government bodies,

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 ...

and the Royal Fine Arts Commission (now the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment), were involved. Berkeley Homes chose the London-based architecture firm PRC Fewster to design the building; the project's architect was Peter Rutter. The agreed design was 38 sea-facing apartments including two

s and accommodation for a concierge. The council required provision to be made for

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...

as part of the development, so six new

terraced house In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

s were built at the rear of the block as well. Work began in 1999, and the block was completed in 2001. It was named after

—architect of the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York City. The 38 flats went on sale in late May 2000, and within hours most had been sold; by 3 June 2000, it was reported that only eight were still available—despite an 18-month wait for completion, prices of up to £500,000 and only an artist's drawing to refer to. The flats were aimed at the top end of the market, for buyers interested in investment and luxury, and were priced accordingly. Former member of the Spice Girls

Emma Bunton Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English singer, songwriter, actress, and media personality. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Baby Spice. With over 100 million recor ...

bought one of the penthouses in 2001 for use as a weekend retreat; it was sold a year later for about £750,000. In the early hours of 11 August 2003, one of the penthouse flats was destroyed by fire. Firefighters spent five hours tackling flames which reached a height of . The flat was unoccupied at the time. Confused as to how the fire could have started—it worked its way into the flat from the wooden-floored balcony— fire investigators announced that a seagull may have picked up a smouldering cigarette in its beak and dropped it on the balcony when it found it was not edible. Two other theories, considered less likely, were that during the day, the glass balcony magnified and focused the sun's rays on to the wooden decking, causing it to smoulder and eventually catch fire; or that a

firework Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices in ...

lit on the beach flew on to the decking. The flat's market value at the time was about £750,000.

Architecture

The Van Alen Building consists of three linked blocks of equal width, of which the westernmost is recessed significantly from Marine Parade. The centre bay is set further forwards but still recessed, and the easternmost (corner) bay fronts the road. Curved lines and surfaces are used throughout; the building thereby represents a 21st-century interpretation of the

and Streamline Moderne styles which were popular themes in seaside resort architecture in the 1930s. In Brighton, this tradition was represented by the Embassy Court development of 1934–36 by

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

architect

Wells Coates Wells Wintemute Coates OBE (December 17, 1895 – June 17, 1958) was an architect, designer and writer. He was, for most of his life, an expatriate Canadian who is best known for his work in England, the most notable of which is the Modernist ...

—one of the city's most innovative and iconic modern buildings—and the Van Alen Building has been compared to it. The overall design has been praised as innovative by Brighton & Hove City Council and within the building industry. Local conservationists have also given their approval. The white-painted façade has some nautical-themed windows in the style of

porthole A porthole, sometimes called bull's-eye window or bull's-eye, is a generally circular window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Though the term is of maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehicle ...

s, long horizontal glazed areas facing the sea, and fully glazed balconies. These were installed instead of the intended opaque balconies at the request of the heritage bodies consulted, and are connected by Modernist-style "fins".

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{B&H Buildings Residential buildings completed in 2001 Streamline Moderne architecture in the United Kingdom Apartment buildings in England Modernist architecture in England Houses in Brighton and Hove Buildings and structures in Brighton and Hove Art Deco architecture in England 2001 establishments in England