Thomas Lainson
Encyclopedia
Thomas Lainson was a British
architect
. He is best known for his work in the East Sussex
coastal towns of Brighton
and Hove
(now part of the city
of Brighton and Hove), where several of his eclectic range of residential, commercial and religious buildings have been awarded listed status by English Heritage
. Working alone or (from 1881) in partnership with two sons as Lainson & Sons, he designed buildings in a wide range of styles, from Neo-Byzantine to High Victorian Gothic
; his work is described as having a "solid style, typical of the time".
's architectural style was evolving from the Regency
and Classical
forms of the early 19th century towards new forms such as Italianate
, Renaissance Revival and (especially in Hove's rapidly developing suburbs) brick-built Olde English/Queen Anne Revival
.
His first commission may have been a 13-house terrace
on the west side of Norfolk Terrace, on the Brighton/Hove border, which has been dated to the mid-19th century. The road was developed in several stages from the 1850s. Lainson's design was in the Italianate style
, popular at the time because of the fashionable influence of Queen Victoria's
Osborne House
on the Isle of Wight
. (Lansdowne Mansions, now a hotel, has been attributed to Lainson, but its construction date of 1854 predates his entering into practice.) In about 1870 he built another terrace of Italianate houses nearby on Sillwood Road, adjoining Charles Busby
's Western Cottages of nearly 50 years earlier. The whole street was renamed Sillwood Road when Lainson's 16 houses were finished. Adelaide Mansions, a four-storey seafront development in Hove, followed in 1873.
By the 1870s, a dense working-class residential area had developed to the east of Brighton on the way to the high-class Kemp Town
estate; it became known as Kemptown
. Methodist
minister J. Martin wanted to extend that denomination's reach into the area, and on 1 March 1872 Lainson submitted plans for a church on the corner of St George's Terrace and Montague Place. His Romanesque Revival
design was accepted, and builder John Fielder constructed the church in 1873. Bristol Road Methodist Church
survived in religious use until 1989, when it became a recording studio.
In 1874, Lainson received the commission for another religious building: a new synagogue
for Brighton's large Jewish
community, whose first place of worship had been founded in 1792. A site on Middle Street in The Lanes was found, and the Sassoon family
donated money to fund Lainson's elaborate Neo-Byzantine/Italian Romanesque Revival
design, which was opened (as Middle Street Synagogue
) in 1875. Lainson won the commission in competition; it was unusual for a non-Jew to design synagogues, but no Jewish architects submitted any plans.
Archdeacon John Hannah, Vicar of Brighton from 1870 until 1888, founded an Anglican
"slum mission" (a centre for the physical and spiritual welfare of poor people) in the east end of Brighton in 1876. Lainson designed the three-storey building which housed the institute and its activities; it was finished in 1877, and was known as the Pelham Institute
by 1879. Also in 1876–77, he designed and built a villa, Brooker Hall (now the Hove Museum and Art Gallery), in Hove for local landowner Major John Vallance.
Lainson was married and had six children, two of whom—Thomas J. and Arthur—joined his practice in 1881. After this, most commissions were undertaken jointly under the name Lainson & Sons. The first of these was the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children, built on Dyke Road in 1880–81. The institution was founded in 1868 and moved to a former school in Dyke Road in 1871. The Lainsons' new building marked a move towards the Queen Anne style
, which they used again in later work in Brighton and Hove— such as The Belgrave Hotel (1882; now branded Umi Hotel Brighton) at the corner of West Street and King's Road on Brighton seafront. A rare commission outside the Brighton area came in the same year: working on his own, Lainson designed a large extension to Reading Town Hall
in Berkshire
.
Brighton was a pioneer in the early cooperative movement
, and in the 1880s the Brighton & Hove Co-operative Supply Association was a major force in local commerce. Lainson & Sons were chosen as the association's architects, and they provided two large buildings in Hove: Palmeira House in 1887, and a lavish repository and warehouse at 75 Holland Road
in 1893. The buildings, which both survive, were of significantly different design.
Lainson had worked as a surveyor
in the 1850s, when he was involved with the laying out of the Wick Estate in Hove. With his sons, he did the same for the new Vallance Estate, also in Hove, from 1890 until 1895. Lainson & Sons laid out wide streets with large-scale Domestic Revival/Queen Anne-style brick houses. Lainson died in 1898, but his two sons continued in practice, designing buildings such as the Renaissance Revival-style St Aubyn's Mansions (1899) on Hove seafront.
In 2006, the Brighton & Hove bus company named one of its buses in honour of Thomas Lainson.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. He is best known for his work in the East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
coastal towns 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...
and Hove
Hove
Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...
(now part of the city
City status in the United Kingdom
City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch to a select group of communities. The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a "city". Nonetheless, this appellation carries its own prestige and, consequently, competitions...
of Brighton and Hove), where several of his eclectic range of residential, commercial and religious buildings have been awarded listed status by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
. Working alone or (from 1881) in partnership with two sons as Lainson & Sons, he designed buildings in a wide range of styles, from Neo-Byzantine to High Victorian Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
; his work is described as having a "solid style, typical of the time".
Life
Lainson was born in 1825 in the Brighton area. He set up an architecture practice there in 1860 or 1862, during a period when the fashionable seaside resortSeaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
's architectural style was evolving from the Regency
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...
and Classical
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
forms of the early 19th century towards new forms such as Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
, Renaissance Revival and (especially in Hove's rapidly developing suburbs) brick-built Olde English/Queen Anne Revival
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
.
His first commission may have been a 13-house terrace
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
on the west side of Norfolk Terrace, on the Brighton/Hove border, which has been dated to the mid-19th century. The road was developed in several stages from the 1850s. Lainson's design was in the Italianate style
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
, popular at the time because of the fashionable influence of Queen Victoria's
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
Osborne House
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat....
on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
. (Lansdowne Mansions, now a hotel, has been attributed to Lainson, but its construction date of 1854 predates his entering into practice.) In about 1870 he built another terrace of Italianate houses nearby on Sillwood Road, adjoining Charles Busby
Charles 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....
's Western Cottages of nearly 50 years earlier. The whole street was renamed Sillwood Road when Lainson's 16 houses were finished. Adelaide Mansions, a four-storey seafront development in Hove, followed in 1873.
By the 1870s, a dense working-class residential area had developed to the east of Brighton on the way to the high-class Kemp Town
Kemp Town
Kemp Town is a 19th Century residential estate in the east of Brighton in East Sussex, England, UK. Kemp Town was conceived and financed by Thomas Read Kemp. It has given its name to the larger Kemptown region of Brighton....
estate; it became known as Kemptown
Kemptown
Kemptown is a small community running along the King's Cliff to Black Rock in the east of Brighton, East Sussex, England.-History:The area takes its name from Thomas Read Kemp's Kemp Town residential estate of the early 19th Century, but the one-word name now refers to an area larger than the...
. Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
minister J. Martin wanted to extend that denomination's reach into the area, and on 1 March 1872 Lainson submitted plans for a church on the corner of St George's Terrace and Montague Place. His Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
design was accepted, and builder John Fielder constructed the church in 1873. Bristol Road Methodist Church
Bristol Road Methodist Church
Bristol Road Methodist Church is a former Methodist place of worship in the Kemptown area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1873 to an Italian Romanesque Revival design, it served this part of eastern Brighton for more than a century until its closure in 1989,...
survived in religious use until 1989, when it became a recording studio.
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
for Brighton's large Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
community, whose first place of worship had been founded in 1792. A site on Middle Street in The Lanes was found, and the Sassoon family
Sassoon family
The Sassoon family was an Indian family of Iraqi Jewish descent and international renown, based in Bombay, India. It was descended from the famous Ibn Shoshans, one of the richest families of medieval Spain...
donated money to fund Lainson's elaborate Neo-Byzantine/Italian Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
design, which was opened (as Middle Street Synagogue
Middle Street Synagogue, Brighton
The Middle Street Synagogue is a synagogue in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It was the centre for Jewish worship in Brighton and Hove for more than a century, and has been called Brighton's second most important historic building...
) in 1875. Lainson won the commission in competition; it was unusual for a non-Jew to design synagogues, but no Jewish architects submitted any plans.
Archdeacon John Hannah, Vicar of Brighton from 1870 until 1888, founded an 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...
"slum mission" (a centre for the physical and spiritual welfare of poor people) in the east end of Brighton in 1876. Lainson designed the three-storey building which housed the institute and its activities; it was finished in 1877, and was known as the Pelham Institute
Pelham Institute
The Pelham Institute is a former working men's club and multipurpose social venue in the Kemptown area of Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove...
by 1879. Also in 1876–77, he designed and built a villa, Brooker Hall (now the Hove Museum and Art Gallery), in Hove for local landowner Major John Vallance.
Lainson was married and had six children, two of whom—Thomas J. and Arthur—joined his practice in 1881. After this, most commissions were undertaken jointly under the name Lainson & Sons. The first of these was the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children, built on Dyke Road in 1880–81. The institution was founded in 1868 and moved to a former school in Dyke Road in 1871. The Lainsons' new building marked a move towards the Queen Anne style
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
, which they used again in later work in Brighton and Hove— such as The Belgrave Hotel (1882; now branded Umi Hotel Brighton) at the corner of West Street and King's Road on Brighton seafront. A rare commission outside the Brighton area came in the same year: working on his own, Lainson designed a large extension to Reading Town Hall
Reading Town Hall
Reading Town Hall is the town hall for the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. The town hall was built in several phases between 1786 and 1897, although the principal facade was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1875...
in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
.
Brighton was a pioneer in the early cooperative movement
History of the cooperative movement
The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement began with the application of cooperative principles to business...
, and in the 1880s the Brighton & Hove Co-operative Supply Association was a major force in local commerce. Lainson & Sons were chosen as the association's architects, and they provided two large buildings in Hove: Palmeira House in 1887, and a lavish repository and warehouse at 75 Holland Road
75 Holland Road, Hove
The building at 75 Holland Road in Hove, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove, is now in residential use as loft-style apartments called Palmeira Yard, but was originally a repository belonging to the Brighton & Hove Co-operative Supply Association, the main cooperative business...
in 1893. The buildings, which both survive, were of significantly different design.
Lainson had worked as a surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
in the 1850s, when he was involved with the laying out of the Wick Estate in Hove. With his sons, he did the same for the new Vallance Estate, also in Hove, from 1890 until 1895. Lainson & Sons laid out wide streets with large-scale Domestic Revival/Queen Anne-style brick houses. Lainson died in 1898, but his two sons continued in practice, designing buildings such as the Renaissance Revival-style St Aubyn's Mansions (1899) on Hove seafront.
In 2006, the Brighton & Hove bus company named one of its buses in honour of Thomas Lainson.
Works
- 1–13 Norfolk Terrace, Brighton (1850s–1860s; Grade II-listed): a flat-fronted terrace of 13 houses in three parts. The centre bayBay (architecture)A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
, made up of three houses, projects slightly and has recessed doorways set in porches with pilasterPilasterA pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s and entablatureEntablatureAn entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
s. The other houses are designed in pairs, and mostly have three windows to each of four storeys. A large arched window with scrollworkScrollworkScrollwork is an element of ornamentation and graphic design using a spiral. The name comes from by the supposed resemblance to the edge-on view of a rolled parchment scroll. "Scrollwork" is today mostly used in popular language for two-dimensional decorative flourishes and arabesques of all...
spandrelSpandrelA spandrel, less often spandril or splaundrel, is the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure....
s forms a centrepiece. - 32–47 Sillwood Road, Brighton ( 1870; Grade II-listed): Lainson built these in an Italianate style with some RegencyRegency architectureThe 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...
elements—as such, it looks more like an 1850s development. The three-storey houses have cantedCant (architecture)Cant is the architectural term describing part, or segment, of a facade which is at an angle to another part of the same facade. The angle breaking the facade is less than a right angle thus enabling a canted facade to be viewed as, and remain, one composition.Canted facades are a typical of, but...
bay windowBay windowA 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 (a classic Victorian feature) rising through two storeys, with ironwork and verandahVerandahA veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
s. On the top storey, small round-headed windows sit below a prominent corniceCorniceCornice 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...
with a dentilDentilIn classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...
pattern. - Bristol Road Methodist ChurchBristol Road Methodist ChurchBristol Road Methodist Church is a former Methodist place of worship in the Kemptown area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1873 to an Italian Romanesque Revival design, it served this part of eastern Brighton for more than a century until its closure in 1989,...
, Brighton (1872–73; Grade II-listed): a "debased Italian RomanesqueRomanesque Revival architectureRomanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
" church on a corner site, with multicoloured brickwork, a partly timber-framedTimber framingTimber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
roof and a three-stage tower with a short spire. There is a graniteGraniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
-columned porticoPorticoA portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
next to the entrance. - Adelaide Mansions, Hove (1873; Grade II-listed): a terrace of four-storey, three-bayBay (architecture)A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
houses with ClassicalClassical architectureClassical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
touches such as DoricDoric orderThe Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
-columned porches. There are ground-floor sash windowSash windowA sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
s and iron balconies, and a parapetParapetA parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
with a balustrade runs along the top of the building. - Middle Street SynagogueMiddle Street Synagogue, BrightonThe Middle Street Synagogue is a synagogue in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It was the centre for Jewish worship in Brighton and Hove for more than a century, and has been called Brighton's second most important historic building...
, Brighton (1874–75; Grade II*-listed): the yellow- and brown-brick Neo-Byzantine/Neo-RomanesqueRomanesque Revival architectureRomanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
exterior, with a large rose windowRose windowA Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery...
, multicoloured tiling, arched windows and Classical elements such as a pedimentPedimentA pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
, pilasterPilasterA pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s and Corinthian columnsCorinthian orderThe Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
, conceals a "sumptuous" galleried interior with elaborately carved marble columns, stained glassStained glassThe term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
, stencilwork, brasswork and filigreeFiligreeFiligree is a delicate kind of jewellery metalwork made with twisted threads usually of gold and silver or stitching of the same curving motifs. It often suggests lace, and in recent centuries remains popular in Indian and other Asian metalwork, and French from 1660 to the late 19th century...
ironwork. A two-storey round-headed arcade forms a clerestoryClerestoryClerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
, and the aisles behind it have arched roofs. - Brooker HallHove Museum and Art GalleryHove Museum and Art Gallery is a municipally-owned museum in the town of Hove, which is part of the larger city of Brighton and Hove in the South East of England. The museum is part of "Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton and Hove", and admission is free...
, Hove (1876–77): this has housed Hove Museum and Art Gallery since the 1920s, but was built as a private house. Opinion on the ItalianateItalianate architectureThe Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
villa, with a short left-oriented tower, varies from "drab" to "the most magnificent of [the] many mansions in New Church Road". - Pelham InstitutePelham InstituteThe Pelham Institute is a former working men's club and multipurpose social venue in the Kemptown area of Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove...
, Brighton (1877; Grade II-listed): a High GothicGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
institutional building in purple and red brick with some terracotta dressings. Its three façades have varied fenestration, and there are irregularly placed gableGableA gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s, dormer windows and stepped chimney-breasts which project slightly from the walls. - Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick ChildrenRoyal Alexandra Hospital, BrightonThe Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children is a children's hospital located within the grounds of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton in the English county of East Sussex...
, Brighton (1881): Lainson & Sons' Queen Anne-style building, with Dutch gableDutch gableA Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a roof, like a normal gable...
s, elaborate mouldingsMolding (decorative)Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
, terracotta dressings and a pair of bay windowBay windowA 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 flanking an oval window, has been added to several times since its construction, and is now disused. The three-storey building is mostly of red brick. - Belgrave Hotel, Brighton (1882): a building which "makes best use of the corner site" it occupies, and which marks a change from the seafront theme of cantedCant (architecture)Cant is the architectural term describing part, or segment, of a facade which is at an angle to another part of the same facade. The angle breaking the facade is less than a right angle thus enabling a canted facade to be viewed as, and remain, one composition.Canted facades are a typical of, but...
bay windowBay windowA 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 to the east and west. Broadly in the ClassicalClassical architectureClassical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
style and originally with red-brick and terracotta walls (now painted over), the hotel has a turret at the corner, topped with a dome. The balconies are set back into recesses. - Reading Town HallReading Town HallReading Town Hall is the town hall for the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. The town hall was built in several phases between 1786 and 1897, although the principal facade was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1875...
(major extension, 1882; Grade II-listed): Lainson added a concert hall, library and museum in a blue- and red-brick and terracottaTerra cottaTerracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
Gothic RevivalGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
style complementary to Alfred WaterhouseAlfred WaterhouseAlfred 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 1875 façade. The interior, with Composite-orderComposite orderThe composite order is a mixed order, combining the volutes of the Ionic order capital with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order. The composite order volutes are larger, however, and the composite order also has echinus molding with egg-and-dart ornamentation between the volutes...
pilasterPilasterA pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s and a semicircular gallery, has ItalianateItalianate architectureThe Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
touches. - Palmeira House, Hove (1887): Lainson & Sons' first building for the Brighton & Hove Co-operative Supply Association was a stuccoStuccoStucco 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 office building in the post-RegencyRegency architectureThe 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...
"Victorian Italianate" style of the surrounding Palmeira Square development of 1850–1865. - Brighton & Hove Co-operative Supply Association Repository75 Holland Road, HoveThe building at 75 Holland Road in Hove, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove, is now in residential use as loft-style apartments called Palmeira Yard, but was originally a repository belonging to the Brighton & Hove Co-operative Supply Association, the main cooperative business...
, 75 Holland Road, Hove (1893; Grade II-listed): a French Second Empire-style three-storey building with some Queen Anne-style elements, in red brick and terracotta. Steep mansard roofMansard roofA mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
s, ornate gableGableA gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s and arched windows with large mullionMullionA mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
s and transoms give the nine-bay main façade an elaborate appearance.