Viva Brighton Issue #58 December 2017

BRICKS AND MORTAR
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Brighton’s founding fathers…
...and their sons
Brighton and Hove was
built by families – from
the names of our streets
to the buildings themselves,
our city has been
marked by dynasties of
landowners and of architects
and developers.
Streets and areas of
Brighton and Hove carry
the history of past ‘developer-dynasties’.
One
Sir Isaac Goldsmid was also Baron Palmeria, and a
landowner of some substance in Hove and Preston.
The Preston estate had previously been owned by
the Shirley family (as in Shirley Street, BN3), related
over the generations to the Westerns (Western
Road) and sold on to the Stanfords (Stanford Rd
BN1). ‘Kemp Town’, as known at the time, was
named after Thomas Read Kemp, a member of an
old Sussex family which had lived at Preston since
the 16th century. He was behind the development
of Lewes Crescent, Sussex Square, Arundel Terrace
and Chichester Terrace.
There were a number of notable architect families
during the city’s Regency period and other periods
of city growth. Thomas Cooper (1792–1854) was
the son of a Brighton builder and was the architect
of Brighton Town Hall in 1830–32. Thomas
Lainson (1825–98) ran an architectural practice with
his two sons, Thomas and Arthur, from premises on
North Street, and were architects to the Goldsmid
estate, Sir Isaac being a fan of their Italianate style.
Denman & Son was a partnership of John Leopold
Denman (1882–1975) and John Bluet Denman
(1914–2002). John Leopold had been in the family
architectural trade since graduating from Central
School of Arts and Crafts in London, joining its
practice on Queens Road.
His partnership with his
son, John Bluet, was responsible
for a number of
religious and commercial
buildings, most extensively
in Brighton for the
Kemp Town Brewery.
Denman is depicted in
relief form on the wall of
the former Citizens’ Permanent
Building Society
building at 20–22 Marlborough Place.
Thomas Simpson (1825–1908), another name
closely associated with the city, worked alongside his
son, Gilbert, on the design of a number of schools
between 1870 and 1903, with the extension of mass
education here. Several of these are still in use as
schools, many with Grade II listed status. They
include: Finsbury Road Board School (1881) in
Hanover; Connaught Road School (1884) in Hove;
Ditchling Road Board School (1890); Stanford
Road School in Prestonville (1893); Elm Grove
School (1893) and St Luke’s School in Queen’s Park
(1900–03).
Another family that we owe much of our Regency
grandeur to is the Wilds; father Amon Wilds
(1762–1833) and son Amon Henry Wilds (1790–
1857), who worked with architect Charles A Busby.
The huge Regency developments in Kemp Town,
Marine Parade, Regency Square, and Brunswick in
Hove are the work of this team. Amon Henry also
went on to design Oriental Place, Park Crescent,
Western Terrace and Montpelier Crescent, as well
as the Victoria Fountain on the Steine. Cara Courage
To find out more about who built Brighton and Hove
and the family stories behind the city, visit brightonhistory.org.uk
for indexes by name and by street.
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