Every month architects and industry insiders share their recommendations for the best exhibitions and events to visit in Brighton and Hove. Views expressed on this page are those of the author, and may not reflect those of the editors of the Architecture Diaries.
THIS MONTH:
David Fisher
David was editor of the international media business/technology journal Screen Digest for 39 years, meanwhile variously executive editor of Television: Journal of the Royal Television Society, contributor to other newspapers and journals, a co-opted member of the government-advisory Interim Action Committee on the British Film Industry and its successor, the British Screen Advisory Council, part-time lecturer in European cultural policy MA at the University of Warwick, and a UK representative in the Council of Europe’s European Audiovisual Observatory.
He has lived in Brighton since 1978, has been a trustee of the Regency Society since 2014 and chair since 2022. He is the creator of brightonhistory.org.uk and as a director of Brighton Hippodrome CIC co-ordinated the business case for its restoration as a large-scale theatre.
All towns and cities have history but some have more than others, or at least are as noted for their history as for their present. Brighton & Hove has worldwide renown for its Georgian architecture. It was to defend and protect our heritage that the Regency Society was founded in 1945, when Hove Council proposed demolishing Brunswick Square and Terrace. The campaign succeeded (obviously) and the 200th anniversary of Brunswick Town is celebrated in a joint lecture by the RS and Hove Civic Society in March.
The Regency Society’s other object is to promote the appreciation of the physical and cultural heritage of the city. Fortunately, architecture can be appreciated for free simply by walking round the streets, preferably while picking up some knowledge of the history and significance of what can be seen. Also by attending some of the many talks on offer locally, and the Regency Society has a healthy programme of talks and courses this year including this month’s review of early Victorian Brighton and a study of the architecture of WMM Architects. Does anywhere else in the country have more local historians per head of population than Brighton?
Working to restore the Royal Pavilion from a municipal function building to its full pre-Victorian glory was the other part of the Regency Society’s early mission. A variety of weekly tours of the Pavilion allow visitors to appreciate this unique example of exuberant architecture, whilst a backstage tour of Brighton Dome shows how the former Prince Regent’s stable block and riding house has been transformed in use whilst retaining its original grandeur.
A number of landmark buildings open to show that the city has more to offer than the Regency. Backstage tours of the Theatre Royal evoke Victorian glamour, however faded, while two of the city’s few examples of listed twentieth-century architecture, Embassy Court, where tours resume in April, and Saltdean Lido provide a telling contrast in styles and tastes. Similarities between the Lido and Bexhill’s De La Warr Pavilion cannot go unnoticed.
Looking forward, surely the exciting lecture series “a piECE of their mind” hosted by ECE Architects will continue to delight as this years programme starts with Dr Cindy Walters on the 12th February.
