Brighton & Hove through the ages

The Grand was the first truly exclusive hotel in Brighton, designed by architect John Whichord. It was built in 1862-64, ostensibly for the upper classes that visited Brighton when it became a fashionable resort. Its imposing fascia is an amalgam of grandiose Italian renaissance and classic Victorian architecture.

The opening of the London to Brighton railway made the journey cheap and easy. It also brought a massive influx of tourists from a very different social background from traditional high society. The new tourists were middle- or lower-class trippers from the South of London.

British city of Brighton and Hove. Conceived by speculative developer Joshua Hanson as Brighton underwent its rapid transformation from fishing village to fashionable resort, the three-sided “set piece” of around 70 houses and associated structures was designed and built over a ten-year period by Brighton’s most important Regency-era architects: the

The population grew rapidly due to Dr Russell’s “sea water cure” (the belief that a dip in the cold sea has very therapeutic qualities). Several nobles took the cure and became enamoured enough of the area to build houses.

Fleet of French raiders attacked the village of Brighthelmstone, burning almost every building to the ground. Read more