R S JOURNAL2 016

BRIGHTON HIPPODROME PAST - AND FUTURE?

INNOVATION ON DIFFICULT SITES FOR COUNCIL HOMES

THE STORY OF MADEIRA DRIVE IN THIS ISSUE

Wel com e to the R S Jour nal , produced built her e is of the best quality to meet by the Regency Society of Br ighton and our City?s changing needs. Like much of Hove. We hope you enjoy it. A fir st issue the South East, Br ighton and Hove has appear ed in 2011. We hope to publish an acute housing shor tage, especially for r ather mor e fr equently from now on. social housing. Schemes like the RIBA The Jour nal plans to put a bit of flesh on competition as par t of the Council?s New the bones of our monthly new s updates Homes for Neighbour hoods Progr amme to member s, and to provide in depth (page 6) ar e an inter esting attempt by cover age of cur r ent issues of inter est to our City to br ing innovative design to the Society. difficult sites to help meet this need. Under standing the histor ical The R S is a char ity; no member has significance of places w e ar e concer ned been paid for their contr ibution to this about enr iches our ability to think about issue and no member pays to r eceive it. them and to imagine their futur es. This We want the R S Jour nal to belong to issue contains tw o histor ical pieces by member s. If you have an idea for an member s of the RS committee w ith a ar ticle or w ould like to contr ibute to a passion for their subject. David Fisher futur e issue, or if you w ould like to talk tells the stor y of the Hippodrome?s to us mor e gener ally about the Jour nal colour ful chequer ed past (page 4), and contact me at new s@r egencysociety.org. Rober t Edwar ds' stor y of Madeir a Dr ive The R S Jour nal is not just for member s. (page 3) tr aces the significant role this It show cases our inter ests and w e hope ar ea has played in Br ighton?s it w ill encour age new member s. If you development as the unique place it now w ould like to become a member or lear n is. Both of these sites ar e ver y much in mor e about us, contact Suzanne Hinton the new s at the moment, and both ar e (details below ). We w ould ver y much ver y much at r isk. like to hear from you. The R S is not just concer ned about the Mar y McKean, Editor. past. We want to contr ibute to the futur e too and help ensur e that w hatever is

Views expressed by individual authors are their own and do not necessarily The R S Jour nal is published by the Regency Soci ety of reflect the view of the Society. Br i ghton and Hove fr ee of charge to member s.If you car e about our her itage and if our city?s futur e matter s to you, you Images in this issue of R S Journal are ar e w elcome at Regency Society lectur es, discussions, tour s reproduced with kind permission as follows: and social events, w hich ar e open to the public and most ar e fr ee of charge. To find out mor e see our w ebsite: Front cover: The Theatres Trust w w w.r egencysociety.org. Page 3: The Society of Prints If you w ould like to join, dow nload a member ship for m from Collectors our w ebsite or contact Suzanne Hinton: [email protected] a.net. Page 4: Frontage image : Frank For new s enquir ies contact Mar y McKean on Matcham Society, theatre box: Ian new s@r egencysociety.org. If you w ould pr efer to send a letter Grundy/the Theatres Trust w r ite to The Regency Society at 12 Abbotts, 129 Kings Road, Page 6: John McKean and the Regency Br ighton BN1 2FA. Society's photographic archive, the The Regency Society is the oldest amenity and conser vation James Gray Collection society in Br ighton and Hove and a r egister ed char ity: no (www.regencysociety-jamesgray.com) 210194. Page 7: City Council. w w w.r egencysoci ety.or g

2 RS J 2016 I?m very pleased to welcome you to this issue of the Regency Society Journal. From now on it will appear in addition to our monthly news update for members. It will give us a chance to publish fuller discussions of issues that the Society has taken an interest in. Many thanks to all those who have contributed, and particularly to Mary McKean who has taken on the job of editor. Please let me know what you think of the first issue, or any other views you have about the society?s activities (email: [email protected]). Roger Hinton, Chair of the Regency Society

MADEIRA DRIVE

Madeir a Dr ive and the Easter n seaside in Br ighton ar e set to change consider ably if cur r ent proposals by Br ighton and by Robert Edwards Hove City Council ar e r ealised. This account of its past demonstr ates its key role in the development of the City over 200 year s.

Brighton and Pier from Kemptown, aquatint by Dean Wolstonholme Jnr (1830s) and Marine Parade , aquatint by George Jones, c.1827

The seaside east of the tow n is pictur ed in 1785 groynes, the fir st in 1723, gave r ise to the as a gr ass bank sloping from undeveloped land pr esence of shingle beaches along the str aight to a broad pale car r iageway and nar row gr ass mile. In the 1830s the major ity of the cliff was cliff edge dropping str aight to the sea. tr ansfor med, fabr icated into an angled flat Br ighthelmstone was not favour ed as cement wall. Kemp?s adaptation of slopes pictur esque mater ial by author ities like fur ther east (see page 7)) overlooked the William Gilpin, w ho in 1774 complained that adjacent bar e gr een mound and the bathing the sea was ?ador ned w ith no rocky shor e, no huts and fishing boats at the spacious shor e. At w inding coast ... Natur e, contr ar y to her usual the w ester n end, the Chain Pier constr uction in pr actice, has her e laid out the coast by a 1823 involved a shor t broad cur ved lane from str aight line.? the Steine for access and ser vices. Follow ing Tur ner and Constable, imager y of the east In an 1820s image, the easter n cliff face seafront in ar t then photogr aphy is dominated appear s concave and uneven. To alleviate by the Chain Pier for most of the nineteenth stor m depletion of the for eshor e, timber centur y.

continued on page 6 3 R S J 2016 BRIGHTON HIPPODROME 'One of the most handsome places of amusement'

The Brighton Hippodrome is very much in the news recently as plans for its rescue as a performance venue have caught the public imagination. David Fisher recounts its history

In 1900 R Ellis and Humphrey Bramall had to find a new use for the large building they owned in Middle Street, Brighton. The Real Ice Skating Rink, that architect Lewis Karslake had designed for them in 1897, had closed in March. The reality was that indoor ice skating no longer appealed. Ellis and Bramall thought a 98ft (30 m) diameter circular arena would make a good indoor circus, so they commissioned another architect, , to reconfigure the building.

Frank Matcham (1854-1920) was already far and away the leading theatre architect of his era. He had already built two theatres in Brighton: the Alhambra Opera House and on King?s Road (1888), which later became the Palladium Cinema, and the Grand Theatre in North Road (1894). He also designed circuses, the first being Hengler?s Grand Cirque in (1885) and at the time of Bramall?s commission his Hippodrome was newly built.

Matcham retained the tent-like structure of the auditorium: a segmented dome supported on 16 pillars, beneath which two tiers of seats formed a horseshoe shape around a 42ft (13m) diameter performance ring opposite the foyer, with a stage framed by a proscenium on the side. On either side of the proscenium were curtained animal entrances. An name HIPPODROME in large relief letters between the equestrian ramp (still there) led in from the stables to the two towers. north of the site. Kerslake?s façade remained largely unaltered? Matcham?s principal interest was in creating The Brighton Hippodrome Theatre and Circus opened on 28 August 1901. However, the circus business survived for only one week short of a year and the mortgagees foreclosed. ?One of the most handsome places of amusement? was offered at auction on 7 October 1902. The lot also included a ?commodious double-fronted residence ' at no.52 Middle Street and a small cottage at no 50. The buyer was Thomas Barrasford, a Jarrow man who had built up a chain of music halls in the north of England, pioneering twice-nightly variety. He brought Matcham back to turn the circus into a theatre by widening the proscenium, replacing the circus ring with a raked floor and seats in the stalls area, stage boxes where the animal entrances had been and an orchestra pit. The Hippodrome Theatre of Varieties re-opened on 22 December 1902. Tom Barrasford and his wife Maud moved into the 'commodious residence?. Maud was in business in her own right. in 1902 the Barrasfords bought magnificent interiors? apart from the addition of the new 4 R S J 2016 the Empire Theatre of Varieties in New Road, Brighton, only events in the once busy hall. The curtain finally came which became the Court Cinema under Maud?s down at the end of Chuck Berry?s performance on Sunday BRIGHTON HIPPODROME management. In 1906 she bought the Devil?s Dyke 22 November 1964. pleasure grounds. Tom Barrasford became seriously ill Brighton County Borough Council considered buying up and died on 1 February 1910. Soon after, the Hippodrome the Hippodrome to save it (or, according to one account, 'One of the most handsome places of amusement' was acquired by Variety Theatres Controlling Company to replace it with a multi-storey car park). That would (VTCC), a company set up by two theatrical have been a far-sighted and pioneering move if it had been entrepreneurs, Sir Alfred Butt and , for carried out. But it wasn?t and in 1965 E M Lawson was this purpose. brought back to convert the auditorium into a film and television studio with a flat floor installed over the stalls. Little use seems to have been made of it and in 1967 the Mecca Organisation took over to create one of the most beautiful bingo halls in the country. It was that move that saved the Hippodrome for the next 40 years. It was also about that time that demolition of two properties in Ship Street created an open space that was added to the Hippodrome site as a car park. ?House? was last called on 8 August 2006. In the decade since then, Academy Music Group (AMG) took a lease on the site and spent several years developing a plan to create a music venue to join the Academy O2 chain. That had to be scrapped because of late-night licensing issues. A planning application to convert the building into an eight-screen cinema and four restaurants emerged in 2013, provoking the formation of a campaign to resist that idea in favour of restoration as a live performance venue. As soon as consent was given the site was put on the market. It was bought by the leaseholders, AMG, who offered the campaigners six months to develop plans for the theatre. Plans have been developed and prospects for carrying them out are favourable. The first stage is to carry out the many urgent repairs, then to restore the building and open it at an interim stage on the way to creating a full lyric theatre. A restored Hippodrome will bring the buzz of theatrical life back to Middle Street that will spread In 1915 alterations were made to the auditorium by the throughout the Old Town. theatre architect J Emblin Walker. This involved enlarging the stage and improving the three floors of dressing rooms in the stage house. In the following year Walker oversaw further revision of the seating arrangement, on both occasions with no apparent interruption in operations. Although seating capacity overall was increased, the front eight rows in the stalls were fitted with ?special fauteuils?, as the sign of the door from the foyer still attests. The stage house was rebuilt in 1955/56 by the architect E M Lawson. Many names, illustrious and forgotten, appeared in the bill over the coming years, mostly twice nightly shows for six nights a week, matinees, 51 weeks a year (the other week was for panto rehearsals). In the late 1950s variety was changing. Television (Sunday Night at the London Palladium) satisfied much of the remaining demand and by 1961 pop stars regularly topped the bill. Intermittent closures for one or two weeks, were an ominous sign, increasing in frequency from the beginning of 1964. One-night pop shows on Sundays attracted audiences but by the autumn of that year were almost the 5 R S J 2016 continued from page 3

Concr ete groynes banking the shingle enabled was w idely augmented, her e most dr amatically land to be r eclaimed. Then, w hen the Aquar ium by Lockw ood?s gem the Madeir a Walk and was built at the Chain Pier road in 1872, a Ter r ace. The road name was alter ed to Madeir a promenade and car r iage dr ive w er e laid on a Dr ive a decade after the fir st speed tr ials in 1905 new sea-wall floor ing the cliff wall. This was sparked an annual motor event. Other events extended east in 1895 up to Mar ine Par ade at joined a calendar of r egular attr actions of the Duke?s Mound. The choice of name, Madeir a kind that flour ish in the pr esent centur y, Road, typified fashionable r efer ences to for eign including climactic finales of r esor ts;. for , as Fr ank Gr ay r ecor ds, ?By the London-to-Br ighton r uns. mid-nineteenth centur y esteem for the glor ies of the sea view was deeply embedded in w ider Uneventful, lengthy str etches and spells of society?s consciousness?. Mor eover , ?municipal tr anquillity ar e never theless cher ished. Change author ities incr easingly judged and deter mined occur s occasionally: the law ns a playground; the ar chitectur e of the seaside ... par ticularly r ecast profiles of the aquar ium ter r aces and the impor tant mood-cr eating and tone-setting bastion opposite; overlay of the shingle vista by seafront promenade?. volleyball sand cour ts; developments for the

r ailway; a natur ist beach; a kayak club. Volk?s Railway, opening in 1883, accentuated the Meanw hile, exemplar y and emblematic, the linear topogr aphy of the setting, w hile the longsuffer ing decor ative infr astr uctur e marks distinctive geometr y of the wall steps? w ooden time, conceivably in due cour se to be pr eser ved r ailings was r emodelled in iron and teak. In intact and even fur ther ed ? moder n in facilities, 1889 Madeir a Law ns w er e for med near the continuous in style. Banjo Groyne, opposite the new Lift. As the Palace Pier succeeded the stor m-w r ecked Chain Pier , the tow n?s decor ative cast iron seafront

The opening of the Volks Electric Railway (1883) speed trials (1932) and (top) Madiera Drive and lift today

6 R S J 2016 TIGHT SPOTS The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has been working with Brighton and Hove City Council to encourage innovative design for council homes on difficult sites.

Br ighton and Hove City Council?s and car parks at Hinton Close, ?The w inning ar chitectur al ?New Homes for Neighbour hoods? Rother field Cr escent and Natal pr actices impr essed us w ith their progr amme aims to build 500 Road. A car park in Fr eder ick cr eative designs w hich successfully homes on Council ow ned land. Str eet was also included. Innes addr ess the constr aints of the With 23,000 households wanting to Associates has been chosen for differ ent sites and r espond w ell to r ent a council or housing Fr eder ick Str eet and Rother field their existing context.? association home the need is Cr escent, w hile Sutherland Hussey She continued: ?The w inner s have urgent. This progr amme focuses on Har r is has w on the Hinton Close also demonstr ated that their small infill sites as w ell as and Natal Road projects. designs ar e deliver able w ithin the r egener ating existing estates. The pr efer r ed schemes for each budget set aside for the As par t of this, the Council has site w er e selected earlier this year competition." been w orking w ith the Royal Jo Thompson from the Council?s Institute of Br itish Ar chitects on a Estate Regener ation team told me design competition for new council r ecently that having RIBA holding homes on difficult sites in 4 the council?s hand r eally helped as locations. Entr ies have come from their exper ience in r unning pr actices throughout the UK. competitions suitable for small Sutherland Hussey Har r is and ar chitectur al pr actices is ver y Innes Associates have been chosen to design homes on ?challenging? sites in Br ighton. The tw o pr actices w er e picked from a 20-strong longlist w hich was announced earlier this year.

w ith the tw o studios invited to limited. Smaller pr actices ar e fur ther develop their designs per fectly suited to coming up w ith ahead of a pr esentation to judges cutting edge quality for these tiny in Mar ch. Judges included BHCC sites. r epr esentatives alongside Gr ant Shepher d from the Univer sity of She w ould like to see this as a pilot Br ighton and Simon Barker of for similar schemes in the futur e. Barker Shor ten Ar chitects. The plans for Natal Road and Hinton Close w ill be pr esented as Councillor Anne Meadow s ? chair proposals for planning per mission of BHCC?s Estate Regener ation in Spr ing 2017, w ith those for Member s Boar d and Housing & Rother field Cr escent and Fr eder ick Str eet likely to follow later in the year. Launched in Mar ch 2015, the Br ighton & Hove City Council Mar y McKean (BHCC)-backed contest sought proposals for four ur ban plots constr ained by their ?size, context, overlooking issues and/or r estr icted access?. These sites include for mer gar ages New Homes Committee ? said: ?The competition has gener ated some Parts of this article are published with kind Images show Sutherland Hussey Harris r eally exciting designs for some of permission from The Architects Journal proposal for Natal Road (above) and Hinton our most challenging sites w ithin (www.architectsjournal.co.uk) where they Close (above centre )Innes Associates? the New Homes for were first published in May 2016 proposal for Frederick Street (below centre) Neighbour hoods Progr amme. and Rotherfield Crescent (right) 7 R S J 2016 WITH REFERENCE TO BRIGHTON AND HOVE

Robert Edwards browses recent books of local interest

Among the eclectic choice of titles released so far A benign account of high life in late Georgian in 2016 regarding the city, one that is likely to be of Brighton is offered in the Sket ches of Bright on interest to many Regency Society members is 1827 by a French Nobleman (published by Belle Bright on and Hove in 50 Buildings (by Kevin Vue Books, paperback, 322 pages). ?It is to London Newman, published by Amberley, paperback, 96 what Versailles was to ? (p.84). The meticulous pages), whose opening sentence asserts that the chronicler of his own visit was the travel writer Le city is ?defined? by its buildings. The fifty selected Comte Auguste de la Garde; the translator is are mostly individual, many detached, a few more Suzanne Hinton (our membership secretary) composite (Dome complex, Marina) or attenuated whose extensive introduction sets the biographical (Rastrick?s Viaduct, i360); deliberately, no classic context and broader local scene. Illustrations, estates or terraced groups feature. The majority annotation and index cast extra light on the text, are in the city centre, especially along and close to which was originally published in Paris in 1834. As King?s Road, and most are prominent and locally some of our members are well aware, copies of the well known. The order is alphabetical (from Amex original are rare. Stadium to ). All are illustrated, many in Judy Middleton?s Hove and Port slade published colour, in a range of images as mixed as the two years ago by Pen & Sword Books in a series subjects, and all receive at least nearly half a page ?Your Towns and Cities in the Great War? is now of text describing their origin, development, status joined in 2016 by Douglas d?Enno?s Bright on in t he and social or cultural associations. Great War (paperback, 272 pages). Within its While Newman?s list contains four pubs, forty-five account of the conflict?s involvement of and impact are taken in by Bright on Pubs (David Muggleton, on the town?s community and institutions, the paperback, 96 pages, also published by Amberley). narrative frequently dwells on buildings, They are informatively and consecutively development, vistas and scenarios; and the celebrated in a set of walks through five areas of numerous illustrations (black and white) are widely Brighton. The selection criteria, explained in a varied in subject, style and provenance. personal and autobiographical foreword by the A little less weighty, The Sussex Colouring Book is author, are (to paraphrase): architecture, human a landscape-format paperback (published by the incidents, landlords and customers, current History Press, 96 pages) offering forty-six black trading, and fitting into a walk. Physical outline drawings on white paper by Chris West, of descriptions tend to focus on interiors, while which five represent subjects located in the city: interiors and/or exteriors are illustrated in clear, Hove County Cricket Ground, Hove beach huts, the colourful photography by the author. Some (also filling the front cover, partially historical images are included, and the James Gray coloured), the Lanes, and Deckchairs on Brighton collection is credited in the acknowledgments and beach. Whether a pastime of colouring images of included, via the Regency Society, in the the Lanes and Pavilion might encourage concern bibliography?s website list. for conservation or inspire the lurid coating of Amply illustrated in colour and black and white, sensitive townscape, who can tell? The Nort h Laine Book (paperback, published by To date, very few of the established travel guides Brighton Town Press, 102 pages ? in close have issued a revised Britain, England or collaboration with the North Laine Community local-regional edition in 2016. However, in their Association) records the history of the area and Great Breaks series, Insight Guides have this year celebrates the creation and character of the produced a first edition of Bright on, Sussex and conservation area. Local historians contribute t he Sout h Dow ns (published by DK/Penguin, 128 introductions to the themed chapters, as do pages, gloss paperback), of which more than a several very local historians who also add short quarter is devoted to Brighton and Hove, and is as commentaries for the many reminiscences of much absorbed in the city?s multi-faceted visual residents. Some of the material originated in character as in its practical tourist offer. editions of the North Laine Runner.