page_title: Montpelier, Brighton
section_title: Other public buildings
hierarchical_section_title: Montpelier, Brighton / Buildings / Other public buildings
caption_attribution_description: The Old Vicarage, Temple Gardens, Montpelier, City of Brighton and Hove, England. now the sixth form of Brighton and Hove High School.
context_page_description: Montpelier is an inner suburban area of Brighton, part of the English city and seaside resort of Brighton and Hove. Developed together with the adjacent Clifton Hill area in the mid-19th century, it forms a high-class, architecturally cohesive residential district with "an exceptionally complete character". Stucco-clad terraced housing and villas predominate, but two of the city's most significant Victorian churches and a landmark hospital building are also in the area, which lies immediately northwest of Brighton city centre and spreads as far as the ancient parish boundary with Hove.
  Development was initially stimulated when one of the main roads out of Brighton was turnpiked in the late 18th century, but the hilly land—condemned as "hideous masses of unfledged earth" by John Constable, who painted it nevertheless—was mostly devoted to agriculture until the 1820s. The ascent of Brighton from provincial fishing town to fashionable resort prompted a building boom in the next quarter-century, and Montpelier and Clifton Hill were transformed into districts of architecturally homogeneous streets with carefully designed, intricately detailed housing.
context_section_description: The Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children, "an important part of Brighton life and a well known local landmark", was officially opened on 21 July 1881 and was used until 22 June 2007, when a new children's hospital opened on the Royal Sussex County Hospital campus elsewhere in the city. Designed by Thomas Lainson, it was a three-storey Queen Anne-style building of red brick with terracotta dressings and mouldings, enlivened by Dutch gables, cupolas and a moulded cartouche. Extensions included a colonnade of balconies (later enclosed) by the Clayton & Black firm in 1906 and a Vernacular-style recessed wing of two storeys in 1927–28, partly tile-hung and with timber decoration to the gables. The first mention of its potential closure came in 2001, when the Government allocated £28 million towards new facilities at the Royal Sussex County Hospital on Eastern Road in Kemptown. By 2004, it seemed likely that the building would be demolished and the site redeveloped with luxury flats. Montpelier residents were unsuccessful in their attempt to get the former hospital listed by English Heritage, who stated that Lainson's original design had been altered so much that much of its character had been lost. Taylor Wimpey, a housebuilding company, bought the hospital in December 2006, but their proposals to clear the site and build a combined residential development and GP surgery were refused twice by the city council, in 2007 and 2008. In 2009 Taylor Wimpey appealed against the latest refusal to grant planning permission for 149 flats and a four-day public inquiry was held at Brighton Town Hall in May 2009. The local conservation group, the Montpelier and Clifton Hill Association, led the opposition to Taylor Wimpey's plans to demolish the hospital. The planning inspector, John Papworth, turned down Taylor Wimpey's appeal, praising the architectural quality of Thomas Lainson's main building. "I consider that the main block and particularly its southern façade and the southern end of the Dyke Road frontage contribute positively to the character and appearance of the conservation area,” said Papworth. In 2010 Taylor Wimpey abandoned its plans to clear the site and put forward a compromise plan, which kept the main Lainson building but demolished the later ancillary buildings on the site. This plan, which was supported by the Montpelier and Clifton Hill Association was approved by the council in 2011. Flats on the site went on sale (marketed as Royal Alexandra Quarter) in 2012. The iconic main hospital building, to be called the Lainson building, is currently being restored and converted to provide 20 flats.
  The Temple, now the main part of Brighton and Hove High School, was built in 1818–19 by Amon Wilds or his son Amon Henry Wilds, and has been described as "certainly exotic enough for their tastes".  The Wilds, along with Charles Busby, were the three architects most closely associated with the development of Brighton and Hove in the Regency era and the exuberant, confident and strongly planned architecture which still characterises the city. The Temple was an early commission: they only moved to Brighton in 1814.  The north and east walls retain their original appearance: long colonnades are formed by a series of arches on top of paired vertical features of "bizarre form". These have unusual capitals and have been described as resembling Egyptian-style pilasters or engaged columns. The west and south façades also had these, but the building was drastically altered in 1911–12: the domed roof was replaced by a mansard, a curious central spiral staircase housed in a cylindrical structure was removed, and chimneys were taken away. The dimensions of the building match those of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple is a Grade II listed building, and the large flint and brick wall surrounding the building is also listed at Grade II; it is decorated with stone lion heads. An extension was also built at the southwest corner in 1891.
  Junior pupils shared the building with the senior school until 1904, after which they moved several 
caption: Brighton and Hove High School's sixth-form is in the former Brighton vicarage.
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