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> Brighton tour Part 2 - Sea and be seen |
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Marine Parade is considered one of the finest seafront facades in Britain. During the "season"- which in its Regency heyday ran from July to March - fashionable society folk would ride along here daily on horseback or in carriages to see and be seen. It was said that one could get a dozen invitations to dinner on the journey from Kemptown, in the East, to Hove. Many of the houses were built in the 1820s by the celebrated partnership of architect Charles Busby and the builder Amon Wilds, who designed some of Brighton's most beautiful terraces. Examples are nos. 41 to 45 and 102 to 104. No. 76, Brighton Royal British Legion club, is thought
to be by Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860) who later designed the Houses of
Parliament. Residents today include actress Dora Bryan. Charles Street, built in 1780s, was one of the first
streets to spring up as Brighton expanded and is now one of the towns
oldest survivors. Its houses were rented out as lodgings and their rounded
bow windows were designed to ensure the best possible views of the sea.
The small panes of glass were blown, then spun out by craftsmen. The swirled
"bottle glass" panes used today to create mock-Georgian style
were in fact the makers "seconds" and would never have been
used on the front of a building. Houses no. 25 and 26 are modern copies,
built in 1996. Camelford Street was built as lodgings and tradesmen's houses and is considered one of Britain's best surviving examples of small scale Regency architecture. In 1800 residents included two shoemakers, a grocer, tailor, carpenter, cow keeper and "poney" keeper. No. 36 later became home to social reformer Jacob Holyoake (1817 - 1906), who founded an irreligious sect called Secularism and was the last man ever jailed for atheism.
Other attractions were a saloon lounge, reading room and camera obscura - a live "cinema" in which views of the sea and shore outside were projected into a dark room through a periscope-type lens in the roof. The pier was badly damaged by a succession of storms and at 10.30pm on December, 1896, in driving rain and howling gales, the entire structure finally collapsed into the sea. Its two octagonal entrance booths were left on the shore. They now stand on either side of the main amusement arcade on the Palace Pier, which opened in 1899, and can be seen from this spot. A plaque on Chain Pier House at 48 Marine Parade - former home of the Chain Pier's designer Captain Samuel Brown - commemorates his vanished masterpiece. |
TRACK
OF ALL TRADES
The
Royal Suspension Chain Pier, built opposite New Steine, opened in 1823
as a landing stage for ferries to and from Dieppe. Described as "a
great curiosity", it was a stunning engineering feat, consisting
of four iron towers supported by eight huge chains. It was Britain's first
pleasure pier. Up to 4,000 people a day paid 2d to stroll the 350-yard
length, buying novelties and souvenir china and having their portraits
cut out in silhouette.