Sussex Heights
Encyclopedia
Sussex Heights is a residential tower block
in the centre of Brighton
, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built between 1966 and 1968 on the site of a historic church, it rises to 334 feet (101.8 m)—making it the tallest building in the city and one of the tallest residential buildings on the south coast of England. Richard Seifert
's design has been criticised for its overbearing scale and contrast with neighbouring Regency architecture
, but it is acknowledged as an "imposing and prestigious" luxury apartment block with good facilities. Peregrine falcon
s have been resident at the top of the tower for several years, and have successfully bred.
was part of an architectural partnership (with Amon Wilds
and his son Amon Henry Wilds
) which gave Brighton much of its character in the 19th century. They met high demand for residential, ecclesiastical and public buildings of all types in the rich, fashionable town by producing elegant designs which combined contemporary architectural expectations with imaginative devices (such as prominent cornice
s, bold bay window
s and columns with decorative capitals
) in a distinctively "powerful and assertive" style. Busby has been described as the best architect of the three, having already achieved much by the age of 20. He moved to Brighton in 1822 and joined Amon and Amon Henry Wilds.
One of their commissions was St Margaret's Chapel, a proprietary chapel
built near Regency Square
for Barnard Gregory, a local speculator and businessman. The Greek Revival
/Neoclassical
church stood at the end of St Margaret's Place, just behind the seafront. Built in 1824, it was one of five Anglican
churches to be constructed in the town in six years—an indication of the growth being experienced at the time. The chapel is usually attributed to Busby alone (and has been called "his finest church" and "the best Classical church in Brighton"), but Amon Henry Wilds has also been identified as its designer. It had a gigantic tetrastyle portico of Ionic columns
, a stucco
ed façade, a large dome over the nave
and a cupola
. The first service was on 26 December 1824, and the church could accommodate 1,500 worshippers. John Oldrid Scott
carried out alterations in the 1870s.
The church closed on 30 September 1956 after congregations fell. It survived until 1959, but it stood within a zone of proposed redevelopment behind the Metropole Hotel, Alfred Waterhouse
's prestigious seafront hotel of 1888 (once England's largest outside London) which was itself about to be altered by the Richard Seifert & Partners architectural firm. St Margaret's Chapel was demolished in June of that year, and the same firm was commissioned to build a series of exhibition and conference halls topped by a block of flats on the site. Work on the hotel itself started in 1961, followed a few years later by the rest of the redevelopment. The block of flats was given the name Sussex Heights after the historic county of Sussex
in which Brighton was situated, and work started in 1966. The 24-storey tower was finished in 1968. The 334 feet (101.8 m) building had 91 two-bedroom flats and 24 with one bedroom, all with balconies
, allocated garage space and leases
of 125 years. The typical sale price of a two-bedroom flat in 1968 was recorded as £5,950 (£ as of ); by 2006 it was £250,000 (£ as of ).
Peregrine falcon
s have nested at the top of Sussex Heights since early 1998, when a nest box
was erected. A breeding pair moved in and successfully reared two chicks. Although the birds occasionally used the (now destroyed) West Pier as well, Sussex Heights has been a successful breeding ground ever since. The Sussex Ornithological Society rings the chicks
each year and has installed a webcam
through which activity in the nest box can be viewed. As of 2010, 40 chicks have been reared. The nest box was threatened with removal in January 2010 when renovation work was scheduled, but this did not happen and the 2010 breeding season produced two chicks.
which takes up the whole of the top floor. The 23 floors below the penthouse have five flats each; three face east and two face west, and four have two bedrooms (the other is a single-bedroom flat). Two-bedroom flats typically have a 23 feet (7 m) balcony, a 20 by 15.5 ft (6.1 by 4.7 m) living room, a 10.5 by 7.5 ft (3.2 by 2.3 m) kitchen, a master bedroom of 18.5 by 11.5 ft (5.6 by 3.5 m), a second bedroom of 11.5 by 8.5 ft (3.5 by 2.6 m), a bathroom, separate lavatory and hallway. The bedrooms in single-bedroom flats are considerably larger and have been subdivided in many cases. Most flats have uninterrupted sea views, and many also have views over the South Downs
and the city of Brighton and Hove. Other facilities include underground parking garages, concierge
and CCTV monitoring. Early advertising material described the flats as "beautifully finished" and "built to the very highest standards", and the building is typically described as a luxury apartment block.
and skyline is mostly negative. Although it stands on the seafront, the lowest ground in the area (Brighton is built on a north–south slope, with the South Downs sloping towards the English Channel
), its height dominates the surroundings, which consist mostly of early 19th-century terraces of Regency-style
houses of three and four storeys. Its effect on both short- and long-distance views has led to it being called "appalling" and the "most damaging" modern building in the city. Other commentators have noted that it has an "imposing and prestigious" presence, and that it has become Brighton's main landmark (replacing the octagonal tower of the nearby St Paul's Church
, which had this status for more than 100 years and was used as a reference point by generations of sailors).
called Sussex Heights (Brighton) Ltd, which is in turn owned jointly by all lessees—each of whom holds one share. It was formed as a private company limited by shares
in 1992. Its company officers are residents of the building, and all shareholders are invited to an Annual General Meeting
.
The company's formation was prompted by concerns that the former freeholder of the lease was letting Sussex Heights become dilapidated and potentially structurally unsound by failing to exercise control over the actions of the managing agency
which looked after the building on the freeholder's behalf. The company now oversees the agency's actions and scrutinises its work.
Tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...
in the centre of Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built between 1966 and 1968 on the site of a historic church, it rises to 334 feet (101.8 m)—making it the tallest building in the city and one of the tallest residential buildings on the south coast of England. Richard Seifert
Richard Seifert
Reubin Seifert - normally known as Richard Seifert was a British architect, best known for designing the Centrepoint tower and Tower 42 , once the tallest building in the City of London...
's design has been criticised for its overbearing scale and contrast with neighbouring Regency architecture
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
, but it is acknowledged as an "imposing and prestigious" luxury apartment block with good facilities. Peregrine falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
s have been resident at the top of the tower for several years, and have successfully bred.
History
Charles BusbyCharles Busby
Charles Augustin Busby was an English architect.He created many buildings in and around Brighton such as Brunswick Square and St Margarets Church. His style usually included Romanesque style pillars to his buildings....
was part of an architectural partnership (with Amon Wilds
Amon Wilds
Amon Wilds was an English architect and builder. He formed an architectural partnership with his son Amon Henry WildsIn this article, Amon Wilds is referred to as Wilds senior and his son Amon Henry Wilds as Wilds junior. in 1806 and started working in the fashionable and growing seaside resort...
and his son Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds was an English architect. He was part of a team of three architects and builders who—working together or independently at different times—were almost solely responsible for a surge in residential construction and development in early 19th-century Brighton, which until then had...
) which gave Brighton much of its character in the 19th century. They met high demand for residential, ecclesiastical and public buildings of all types in the rich, fashionable town by producing elegant designs which combined contemporary architectural expectations with imaginative devices (such as prominent cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
s, bold bay window
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
s and columns with decorative capitals
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
) in a distinctively "powerful and assertive" style. Busby has been described as the best architect of the three, having already achieved much by the age of 20. He moved to Brighton in 1822 and joined Amon and Amon Henry Wilds.
One of their commissions was St Margaret's Chapel, a proprietary chapel
Proprietary Chapel
A proprietary chapel is a chapel that originally belonged to a private person. In the 19th century Britain they were common, often being built to cope with urbanisation. Frequently they were set up by evangelical philanthropists with a vision of spreading Christianity in cities whose needs could no...
built near Regency Square
Regency Square, Brighton
Regency Square is a large early 19th-century residential development on the seafront in Brighton, part of the British city of Brighton and Hove...
for Barnard Gregory, a local speculator and businessman. The Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
/Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
church stood at the end of St Margaret's Place, just behind the seafront. Built in 1824, it was one of five Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
churches to be constructed in the town in six years—an indication of the growth being experienced at the time. The chapel is usually attributed to Busby alone (and has been called "his finest church" and "the best Classical church in Brighton"), but Amon Henry Wilds has also been identified as its designer. It had a gigantic tetrastyle portico of Ionic columns
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
, a stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
ed façade, a large dome over the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and a cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
. The first service was on 26 December 1824, and the church could accommodate 1,500 worshippers. John Oldrid Scott
John Oldrid Scott
John Oldrid Scott was an English architect.He was the son of Sir George Gilbert Scott and Caroline née Oldrid. His brother George Gilbert Scott Junior and nephew Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, were also prominent architects. He married Mary Ann Stevens in 1868, eldest daughter of the Reverend Thomas...
carried out alterations in the 1870s.
The church closed on 30 September 1956 after congregations fell. It survived until 1959, but it stood within a zone of proposed redevelopment behind the Metropole Hotel, Alfred Waterhouse
Alfred Waterhouse
Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London, and Manchester Town Hall, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the...
's prestigious seafront hotel of 1888 (once England's largest outside London) which was itself about to be altered by the Richard Seifert & Partners architectural firm. St Margaret's Chapel was demolished in June of that year, and the same firm was commissioned to build a series of exhibition and conference halls topped by a block of flats on the site. Work on the hotel itself started in 1961, followed a few years later by the rest of the redevelopment. The block of flats was given the name Sussex Heights after the historic county of Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
in which Brighton was situated, and work started in 1966. The 24-storey tower was finished in 1968. The 334 feet (101.8 m) building had 91 two-bedroom flats and 24 with one bedroom, all with balconies
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
, allocated garage space and leases
Leasehold estate
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....
of 125 years. The typical sale price of a two-bedroom flat in 1968 was recorded as £5,950 (£ as of ); by 2006 it was £250,000 (£ as of ).
Peregrine falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
s have nested at the top of Sussex Heights since early 1998, when a nest box
Nest box
A nest box, also spelled nestbox is a man-made box provided for animals to nest in. Nest boxes are most frequently utilized for wild and domesticated birds, in which case they are also called birdhouses, but some mammalian species may also use them. Birdhouses are the most common types of nest...
was erected. A breeding pair moved in and successfully reared two chicks. Although the birds occasionally used the (now destroyed) West Pier as well, Sussex Heights has been a successful breeding ground ever since. The Sussex Ornithological Society rings the chicks
Bird ringing
Bird ringing or bird banding is a technique used in the study of wild birds, by attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to their legs or wings, so that various aspects of the bird's life can be studied by the ability to re-find the same individual later...
each year and has installed a webcam
Webcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
through which activity in the nest box can be viewed. As of 2010, 40 chicks have been reared. The nest box was threatened with removal in January 2010 when renovation work was scheduled, but this did not happen and the 2010 breeding season produced two chicks.
Description
Sussex Heights is the tallest building in the city of Brighton and Hove. It has 115 flats on 24 floors, plus a penthousePenthouse apartment
A penthouse apartment or penthouse is an apartment that is on one of the highest floors of an apartment building. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features.-History:...
which takes up the whole of the top floor. The 23 floors below the penthouse have five flats each; three face east and two face west, and four have two bedrooms (the other is a single-bedroom flat). Two-bedroom flats typically have a 23 feet (7 m) balcony, a 20 by 15.5 ft (6.1 by 4.7 m) living room, a 10.5 by 7.5 ft (3.2 by 2.3 m) kitchen, a master bedroom of 18.5 by 11.5 ft (5.6 by 3.5 m), a second bedroom of 11.5 by 8.5 ft (3.5 by 2.6 m), a bathroom, separate lavatory and hallway. The bedrooms in single-bedroom flats are considerably larger and have been subdivided in many cases. Most flats have uninterrupted sea views, and many also have views over the South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
and the city of Brighton and Hove. Other facilities include underground parking garages, concierge
Concierge
A concierge is an employee who either works in shifts within, or lives on the premises of an apartment building or a hotel and serves guests with duties similar to those of a butler. The position can also be maintained by a security officer over the 'graveyard' shift. A similar position, known as...
and CCTV monitoring. Early advertising material described the flats as "beautifully finished" and "built to the very highest standards", and the building is typically described as a luxury apartment block.
Architecture
Opinion regarding Sussex Heights' architectural quality and its contribution to Brighton and Hove's cityscapeCityscape
A cityscape is the urban equivalent of a landscape. Townscape is roughly synonymous with cityscape, though it implies the same difference in urban size and density implicit in the difference between the words city and town. In urban design the terms refer to the configuration of built forms and...
and skyline is mostly negative. Although it stands on the seafront, the lowest ground in the area (Brighton is built on a north–south slope, with the South Downs sloping towards the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
), its height dominates the surroundings, which consist mostly of early 19th-century terraces of Regency-style
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
houses of three and four storeys. Its effect on both short- and long-distance views has led to it being called "appalling" and the "most damaging" modern building in the city. Other commentators have noted that it has an "imposing and prestigious" presence, and that it has become Brighton's main landmark (replacing the octagonal tower of the nearby St Paul's Church
St Paul's Church, Brighton
St Paul's Church, dedicated to the missionary and Apostle to the Gentiles Paul of Tarsus, is a Church of England parish church in Brighton in the English county of Sussex. It is located on West Street in the city centre, close to the seafront and the main shopping areas.-History and...
, which had this status for more than 100 years and was used as a reference point by generations of sailors).
Ownership
Sussex Heights is owned by a management companyProperty management
Property management is the operation, control of ususally on behalf of an owner, and oversight of commercial, industrial or residential real estate as used in its most broad terms. Management indicates a need to be cared for, monitored and accountability given for its usable life and condition...
called Sussex Heights (Brighton) Ltd, which is in turn owned jointly by all lessees—each of whom holds one share. It was formed as a private company limited by shares
Private company limited by shares
A private company limited by shares, usually called a private limited company , is a type of company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales, Scotland, that of certain Commonwealth countries and the Republic of Ireland...
in 1992. Its company officers are residents of the building, and all shareholders are invited to an Annual General Meeting
Annual general meeting
An annual general meeting is a meeting that official bodies, and associations involving the public , are often required by law to hold...
.
The company's formation was prompted by concerns that the former freeholder of the lease was letting Sussex Heights become dilapidated and potentially structurally unsound by failing to exercise control over the actions of the managing agency
Agency (law)
The law of agency is an area of commercial law dealing with a contractual or quasi-contractual, or non-contractual set of relationships when a person, called the agent, is authorized to act on behalf of another to create a legal relationship with a third party...
which looked after the building on the freeholder's behalf. The company now oversees the agency's actions and scrutinises its work.