64. Modernist Brighton

Salads visited on Brighton Pride weekend. We visited three schemes; Hove Town Hall, Parkgate Span housing and Embassy Court.

The brutalist Hove Town Hall by architect John Wells-Thorpe was a replacement to an existing gothic style terracotta building and was completed in 1974. Brighton’s newly formed ‘civic buildings commission’ visited the Netherlands to view ‘democratically designed buildings’. For this project they were particularly inspired by Oostende’s City Hall architecture. Hove’s public building is lined internally with timber, has a main hall for concerts and was frequently used for cinema, catering for Brighton’s pioneering early film makers. The building also featured an internal Japanese garden.

We also visited Parkgate SPAN housing and Embassy Court.
Completed in 1962 Parkgate was designed by Eric Lyons and although the street elevation suggests only a simple straight block of housing, beyond the facade lies a haven of public green courtyards, gardens and well thought out hard landscaping. The idea of span housing was for people to live communally with developments around landscapes courtyards. The housing at Parkgate has 72 dual aspect flats, split windows and no private outdoor space to the individual dweller. Rooms behind the aerated blocks featuring on the internal facades are stores for residents to dry their clothes.

Embassy Court was originally built as luxury housing block with many famous people living there during its lifetime. Designed by Wells Coates, it has Grade II* listing and has recently been restored after years of degradation. There are two flats facing each circulation core with lifts to serve them. There are service walkways to the back of the block where residents could order food and have it delivered directly. Chauffeurs were to live in the basement with servant quarters on the roof, which even featured a large roof terrace for drying residents clothes. The building featured the first penthouses in the UK.