Wykeham Terrace, Brighton
Encyclopedia
Wykeham Terrace is a row of 12 early 19th-century houses in central Brighton
, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The Tudor-Gothic
building, attributed to prominent local architect Amon Henry Wilds
, is built into the hillside below the churchyard of Brighton's ancient parish church
. Uses since its completion in 1830 have included a home for former prostitutes
and a base for the Territorial Army, but the terrace is now exclusively residential again. Its "charming" architecture is unusual in Brighton, whose 19th-century buildings are predominantly in the Regency style
. English Heritage
has listed the terrace at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
, Brighton's oldest Christian place of worship and its parish church
until 1873, stands on a hill well behind the English Channel
coast on which the old fishing village of Brighthelmston developed. French raids during the 16th century damaged or destroyed much of the settlement, and only the church survived unscathed. Decline set in until the mid-18th century, when the good climate, patronage by wealthy, fashionable visitors, better transport and the growth of the sea-bathing and "water cure" fad
transformed Brighthelmston into the popular resort of Brighton.
Residential development proceeded rapidly around the core of the fishing village. Amon Henry Wilds
, his father Amon Wilds
and another architect, Charles Busby
, were the most important builders and designers in Brighton's early 19th-century growth period: they worked jointly or individually on dozens of residential, religious and secular buildings and developed Brighton's characteristic Regency style
. In 1827, Amon Henry Wilds is believed to have been commissioned to design Wykeham Terrace (although this attribution has not been established definitively). The site, east of the road from central Brighton to Devil's Dyke
on the South Downs
, was dug into the hillside on which St Nicholas' churchyard stands. The terrace was completed in 1830.
In the 1850s, 325 prostitutes (including 25 children) and 97 brothels were recorded in Brighton, and these were known to be underestimates. In 1853, Rev. George Wagner, a cousin of Brighton's long-time vicar Rev. Arthur Wagner, established a house on the town's Lewes Road to which prostitutes could be sent by police and doctors to be helped and rehabilitated. Only 12 women could be accommodated in this building, so in 1855 Wagner bought houses in Wykeham Terrace and the adjacent Queen Square and expanded the institution. In 1857, after George Wagner died, Arthur Wagner himself took over responsibility for the home, by way of the Community of the Virgin Mary—a Brighton-based convent
which he had founded. They renamed the institution St Mary's Home for Female Penitents, and expanded it further to take in all of Wykeham Terrace apart from numbers 6, 7 and 12. The west side of Queen Square, whose buildings backed on to the terrace, was also occupied. Although conditions for the former prostitutes were strict, with regular surveillance, hard work and punishments for misbehaviour, the institution was able to offer about 40 women proper healthcare, education, training for domestic service
, and charitable help of various kinds. Constance Kent, convicted of an infamous child murder in 1865 in a case which revolved around priest-penitent privilege, worked at the Home during this time. By the 1880s, the Home expanded further to take in disabled, elderly and destitute women from around Brighton, and orphans: nearly 300 people lived there. The institution moved in part to Egremont Place in the Queen's Park
area in 1866, and in its entirety to Rottingdean
in 1912. (The building provided for it there is now residential, but the community of nuns survives in Rottingdean, an outlying village which is now part of the city of Brighton and Hove.)
The terrace returned to residential use after that, but the Army owned some of the houses at one point in the 20th century and turned them into quarters
for married soldiers. The whole terrace was then bought by the Territorial Army, again to provide housing for their soldiers. Squatters
took over in the 1960s, and the Territorial Army sold the building to a developer for refurbishment and conversion back to private houses and flats. This took place during 1970.
Notable residents have included actress Dame Flora Robson
, who lived at number 7 for the last part of her life; art historian Sir Roy Strong
; singer-songwriter David Courtney
; and singer Adam Faith
. Courtney wrote many songs for Leo Sayer
at his flat, and Faith managed the singer.
Wykeham Terrace was listed at Grade II by English Heritage
on 4 July 1969. This status is given to "nationally important buildings of special interest". As of February 2001, it was one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.
s on Lewes Road, are the only other examples. It has been called a "charming Gothic confection", and is generally considered "attractive" and "pleasant". The curious styling is described as Tudor-Gothic
(with "Tudor" reflecting the brief 19th-century revival of the original Tudor form
), but Nikolaus Pevsner
and Ian Nairn
considered it Gothic above all, and the description "Regency-Gothic" has also been used in view of some Regency-style
elements.
The whole terrace is faced with grey-painted cement
and stucco
. The mansard roof
, with dormer windows, is laid with slate
. The long façade is symmetrical but uneven in height: the houses have either two or three storeys with a basement. At the south and north ends, three-sided bays
project forwards and are topped by pinnacles. In the centre, forming part of numbers 7 and 8, a similar polygonal bay projects from the terrace to form its centrepiece. Except on these bays, all windows are paired lancets
with flat hood mould
s, some of which retain their unusual diamond-pattern bars. The central, five-sided bay is of three storeys, with a large pointed-arched lancet window
at the top; a gable
cuts into the decorative parapet
above it, and buttress
es on each side terminate in flat-topped projections.
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. The Tudor-Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
building, attributed to prominent local architect 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...
, is built into the hillside below the churchyard of Brighton's ancient parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
. Uses since its completion in 1830 have included a home for former prostitutes
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
and a base for the Territorial Army, but the terrace is now exclusively residential again. Its "charming" architecture is unusual in Brighton, whose 19th-century buildings are predominantly in the 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...
. 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...
has listed the terrace at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
History
St Nicholas' ChurchSt Nicholas' Church, Brighton
The Church of Saint Nicholas of Myra, usually known as St. Nicholas Church, is an Anglican church in Brighton, England. It is both the original parish church of Brighton and the oldest surviving building in Brighton. It is located on high ground at the junction of Church Street and Dyke Road in...
, Brighton's oldest Christian place of worship and its parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
until 1873, stands on a hill well behind 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...
coast on which the old fishing village of Brighthelmston developed. French raids during the 16th century damaged or destroyed much of the settlement, and only the church survived unscathed. Decline set in until the mid-18th century, when the good climate, patronage by wealthy, fashionable visitors, better transport and the growth of the sea-bathing and "water cure" fad
Water cure (therapy)
A water cure in the therapeutic sense is a course of medical treatment by hydrotherapy.-Overview:In the mid-19th century there was a popular revival of the water cure in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
transformed Brighthelmston into the popular resort of Brighton.
Residential development proceeded rapidly around the core of the fishing village. 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...
, his father 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 another architect, 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....
, were the most important builders and designers in Brighton's early 19th-century growth period: they worked jointly or individually on dozens of residential, religious and secular buildings and developed Brighton's characteristic 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...
. In 1827, Amon Henry Wilds is believed to have been commissioned to design Wykeham Terrace (although this attribution has not been established definitively). The site, east of the road from central Brighton to Devil's Dyke
Devil's Dyke, Sussex
Devil's Dyke is a V-shaped valley on the South Downs Way in southern England, near Brighton and Hove. It is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation.Devil's Dyke is on the way to Brighton and is a big hill at the side of the road.-Geological history:...
on 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...
, was dug into the hillside on which St Nicholas' churchyard stands. The terrace was completed in 1830.
In the 1850s, 325 prostitutes (including 25 children) and 97 brothels were recorded in Brighton, and these were known to be underestimates. In 1853, Rev. George Wagner, a cousin of Brighton's long-time vicar Rev. Arthur Wagner, established a house on the town's Lewes Road to which prostitutes could be sent by police and doctors to be helped and rehabilitated. Only 12 women could be accommodated in this building, so in 1855 Wagner bought houses in Wykeham Terrace and the adjacent Queen Square and expanded the institution. In 1857, after George Wagner died, Arthur Wagner himself took over responsibility for the home, by way of the Community of the Virgin Mary—a Brighton-based convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
which he had founded. They renamed the institution St Mary's Home for Female Penitents, and expanded it further to take in all of Wykeham Terrace apart from numbers 6, 7 and 12. The west side of Queen Square, whose buildings backed on to the terrace, was also occupied. Although conditions for the former prostitutes were strict, with regular surveillance, hard work and punishments for misbehaviour, the institution was able to offer about 40 women proper healthcare, education, training for domestic service
Domestic worker
A domestic worker is a man, woman or child who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping...
, and charitable help of various kinds. Constance Kent, convicted of an infamous child murder in 1865 in a case which revolved around priest-penitent privilege, worked at the Home during this time. By the 1880s, the Home expanded further to take in disabled, elderly and destitute women from around Brighton, and orphans: nearly 300 people lived there. The institution moved in part to Egremont Place in the Queen's Park
Queen's Park, Brighton
Queen's Park is an administrative ward and a public park in Brighton, England.The area lies to the east of the centre of Brighton, north of Kemptown and south-east of Hanover. It is largely made up of Victorian terraced houses, with a smaller number of detached and semi-detached houses...
area in 1866, and in its entirety to Rottingdean
Rottingdean
Rottingdean is a coastal village next to the town of Brighton and technically within the city of Brighton and Hove, in East Sussex, on the south coast of England...
in 1912. (The building provided for it there is now residential, but the community of nuns survives in Rottingdean, an outlying village which is now part of the city of Brighton and Hove.)
The terrace returned to residential use after that, but the Army owned some of the houses at one point in the 20th century and turned them into quarters
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
for married soldiers. The whole terrace was then bought by the Territorial Army, again to provide housing for their soldiers. Squatters
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
took over in the 1960s, and the Territorial Army sold the building to a developer for refurbishment and conversion back to private houses and flats. This took place during 1970.
Notable residents have included actress Dame Flora Robson
Flora Robson
Dame Flora McKenzie Robson DBE was an English actress, renowned as a character actress, who played roles ranging from queens to villainesses.-Early life:...
, who lived at number 7 for the last part of her life; art historian Sir Roy Strong
Roy Strong
Sir Roy Colin Strong FRSL is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London...
; singer-songwriter David Courtney
David Courtney
David Courtney is a British singer-songwriter and record producer. Courtney's first big break was as a songwriter with Adam Faith and Leo Sayer; Courtney co-wrote several hit songs with them and he co-produced Faith's 1974 album, I Survive...
; and singer Adam Faith
Adam Faith
Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
. Courtney wrote many songs for Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s...
at his flat, and Faith managed the singer.
Wykeham Terrace was listed at Grade II 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...
on 4 July 1969. This status is given to "nationally important buildings of special interest". As of February 2001, it was one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.
Architecture
As a non-ecclesiastical Gothic-style building, Wykeham Terrace is almost unique in Brighton: the remnants of Gothic House in Western Road (now part of a shop), built by Amon Henry Wilds, and some almshouseAlmshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
s on Lewes Road, are the only other examples. It has been called a "charming Gothic confection", and is generally considered "attractive" and "pleasant". The curious styling is described as Tudor-Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
(with "Tudor" reflecting the brief 19th-century revival of the original Tudor form
Tudor architecture
The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
), but Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
and Ian Nairn
Ian Nairn
Ian Nairn was a British architectural critic and topographer.He had no formal architecture qualifications; he was a mathematics graduate and a Royal Air Force pilot...
considered it Gothic above all, and the description "Regency-Gothic" has also been used in view of some 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...
elements.
The whole terrace is faced with grey-painted cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
and 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...
. The mansard roof
Mansard roof
A 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...
, with dormer windows, is laid with slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
. The long façade is symmetrical but uneven in height: the houses have either two or three storeys with a basement. At the south and north ends, three-sided bays
Bay (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:...
project forwards and are topped by pinnacles. In the centre, forming part of numbers 7 and 8, a similar polygonal bay projects from the terrace to form its centrepiece. Except on these bays, all windows are paired lancets
Lancet window
A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...
with flat hood mould
Hood mould
In architecture, a hood mould, also called a label mould or dripstone, is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater...
s, some of which retain their unusual diamond-pattern bars. The central, five-sided bay is of three storeys, with a large pointed-arched lancet window
Lancet window
A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...
at the top; a gable
Gable
A 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...
cuts into the decorative parapet
Parapet
A 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...
above it, and buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es on each side terminate in flat-topped projections.