Regency Square conservation area

Please note that this text is an extract from a reference work written in 1990.  As a result, some of the content may not reflect recent research, changes and events.

This outstanding conservation area, which stretches westwards from the Grand Hotel to the borough boundary, was developed principally in the 1810s and ’20s, and contains some of the finest examples of Brighton’s famous Regency architecture. However, the district of around 2,500 people now has many housing problems with its many multiply-occupied houses and bed-sits. The streets of particular interest in the area are detailed below, but see also “Bedford Hotel“, “Grand Hotel“, “King’s Road“, “Lower Esplanade“, “Metropole“, “Norfolk Hotel“, “West Pier“, and “Western Road“.

n) RUSSELL SQUARE: Developed by about 1825, Russell Square has listed terraces on its western and southern sides designed by A.H.Wilds, all with ironwork balconies, verandahs and Corinthian pilasters. The gardens were taken over by the corporation in July 1887 following the 1884 Brighton Improvement Act.
The Regency Tavern, in the twitten leading to Regency Square, is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young crippled girl who lived on the first floor when it was a cobbler’s shop; she unfortunately leapt out of the window to her death when she smelt gas. There is a second ghost, that of a former landlady who roams the first floor.

Any numerical cross-references in the text above refer to resources in the Sources and Bibliography section of the Encyclopaedia of Brighton by Tim Carder.

Comments about this page

  • It is amazing – absolutely beautiful.

    By Nazneen (29/11/2010)

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