page_title: Regency Square, Brighton
section_title: Hanson builds the square
hierarchical_section_title: Regency Square, Brighton / History / Hanson builds the square
caption_attribution_description: Regency Tavern, Regency Square, Brighton, City of Brighton and Hove, England. An early 19th-century pub at the northeast corner of this prestigious residential square. Listed at Grade II by English Heritage (IoE Code 481140)This is a photo of listed building number 1380816.
context_page_description: Regency Square is a large early 19th-century residential development on the seafront in Brighton, part of the British city of Brighton and Hove. Conceived by speculative developer Joshua Hanson as Brighton underwent its rapid transformation into a fashionable resort, the three-sided "set piece" of 69 houses and associated structures was built between 1818 and 1832. Most of the houses overlooking the central garden were complete by 1824. The site was previously known, briefly and unofficially, as Belle Vue Field.
  The square was a prestigious, high-class development, attracting the social elite. The central garden, originally private, has been council-owned since 1885 and publicly accessible since WW2. An underground car park was built beneath it in 1969.
  Most of the buildings in and around the square have been designated Listed buildings: 47 houses are each listed at Grade II*, the second-highest designation, while 18 other houses, a war memorial, a nearby inn and a set of bollards outside it have each been given the lower Grade II status. The house at the southwest corner is now numbered as part of King's Road but was built as part of Regency Square, and is also Grade II*-listed.
context_section_description: In 1818, the field was acquired by Francis Hanson's son, Joshua Flesher Hanson, a businessman. By this time, Brighton's profile was such that speculators were commissioning architects and builders to design and lay out sea-facing residential developments to attract wealthy long-term visitors or permanent residents. Royal Crescent, New Steine and Bedford Square were already in existence; Clarence Square, Russell Square and Marine Parade were being developed.
  Hanson's plan for Regency Square was on a much larger scale than these developments. He divided Belle Vue Field into 69 plots, leased them individually and put strict covenants in place, demanding that each house be built in a specific style in order to ensure architectural harmony.  In return, the leaseholders (mostly private builders) would have the right to buy, and would end up with houses much larger than average for the town, with excellent sea views and exclusive access to the large central garden. Most leaseholders bought the houses as soon as they could, which was to Hanson's advantage as he made money and had no ongoing responsibility for the buildings. Restrictions in the covenants included the requirement to erect a façade with an iron balcony, to clad the area below the balcony in stucco, to paint the façade at least every three years, to repair any damage, and to pay towards maintenance of the central garden.  No stucco was to be applied above the balcony line.
  The covenants included a requirement to form a residents' committee, whose job it was to ensure the covenants were obeyed and to impose a levy on the occupiers of the houses to pay for the upkeep of the garden.
  Although there is no documentary evidence confirming the architects, most sources attribute Regency Square's buildings to the father-and-son partnership of Amon and Amon Henry Wilds, who moved to Brighton from nearby Lewes in 1815 and became two of Brighton's most important architects; they were extremely prolific, and were responsible for defining and developing the town's distinctive Regency style. Although they worked extensively with fellow architect Charles Busby during the 1820s, historians agree that he was not involved in Regency Square, at least not in its early stages: the buildings "appear to lack his distinctive flair" and are not as impressive as those at the Kemp Town estate to the east of Brighton, which all three men were involved with. No. 1 Regency Square (now 131 Kings Road) is confirmed as the work of Amon Henry Wilds. Some evidence points to William Mackie being involved in the design of houses on the east side of the square.
  Building work started in 1818 and continued until 1832, with most of the houses complete by 1824. A passageway (Regency Colonnade) was built at the northeast corner to connect the square to the neighbouring development of Russell Square. The Regency Tavern has occupied most of the passageway since the 1870s, all of it since 1939. St Margaret's Church, an Anglican chapel of ease designed in the Greek Revival/Neoclassical style in 1824 by Busby, was the local place of worship.
  In 1866 the West Pier, designed by Eugenius Birch, was built opposite the square's central garden.
  Unusually, Hanson had set a 71-year time limit on the covenants rather than granting them in perpetuity, and on 25 December 1889 they were due to expire.  Among other things, residents would then lose their rights to use the gardens.  The residents committee, led by solicitor Somers Clarke (unrelated to the Brighton-born architect of that name), attempted unsuccessfully to purchase the gardens and extend the covenants by an Act of Parliament; two years later, the passing of the Brighton Improvement Act 1884 achieved the same aims.  Brighton Corporation took ownership of the gardens, and householders signed new deeds confirming they wished for the covenants relating to their houses to be extended indefinitely.
caption: Regency Tavern stands at the northeastern corner of the square
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