Regency Square is a large early 19th-century residential development on the seafront in Brighton, part of the British city of Brighton and Hove. Conceived by speculative developer Joshua Hanson as Brighton underwent its rapid transformation into a fashionable resort, the three-sided "set piece" of 69 houses and associated structures was built between 1818 and 1832. Most of the houses overlooking the central garden were complete by 1824. The site was previously known, briefly and unofficially, as Belle Vue Field.
The square was a prestigious, high-class development, attracting the social elite. The central garden, originally private, has been council-owned since 1885 and publicly accessible since WW2. An underground car park was built beneath it in 1969.
Most of the buildings in and around the square have been designated Listed buildings: 47 houses are each listed at Grade II*, the second-highest designation, while 18 other houses, a war memorial, a nearby inn and a set of bollards outside it have each been given the lower Grade II status. The house at the southwest corner is now numbered as part of King's Road but was built as part of Regency Square, and is also Grade II*-listed.
History
Belle Vue Field
Regency Square was built on one of the fields to the west of the town but within the parish of Brighton. The field was briefly and unofficially known as Belle Vue Field after it was acquired by Francis Hanson, the owner of the nearby Belle Vue House, in the late 1790s.
Belle Vue House was built near to a windmill known as West Mill. The windmill was owned by Matthew Bourne in 1744, but was not marked on Ogilby's 1762 map, although a windmill is shown on Lambert's View of Brighthelmstone which is dated 1765. In the 1790s, the windmill was owned by John Streeter. On 28 March 1797, when 86 oxen dragged it uphill on a sled to the nearby village of Preston. It was re-erected there and renamed Preston Mill. After several more renamings, it was demolished in 1881. Its machinery was cannibalised by the owners of nearby Waterhall Mill. A watercolour painting, now displayed at Preston Manor, shows crowds of people watching the mill's removal to Preston.
By the late 18th century, Brighthelmstone (as it was originally known) had begun to develop into a fashionable coastal resort. When the annual town fair could no longer be accommodated on its traditional site in the Old Town, Belle Vue Field was used as one of several temporary locations.
Belle Vue Field is sometimes said to have been the site, in 1793, of a 10,000-man military encampment. However, Belle Vue Field did not yet exist in 1793 and contemporaneous sources show that the encampment occupied a much wider area of land, extending as far as the boundary with the neighbouring parish of Hove. Jane Austen refers to the encampment in her novel Pride and Prejudice (written in 1796 and published in 1813). The heroine Elizabeth Bennet's sister is invited to Brighton and elopes with, and later marries, army officer George Wickham. The annual military encampments moved to other sites in and around Brighthelmstone in subsequent years.
Hanson builds the square
In 1818, the field was acquired by Francis Hanson's son, Joshua Flesher Hanson, a businessman. By this time, Brighton's profile was such that speculators were commissioning architects and builders to design and lay out sea-facing residential developments to attract wealthy long-term visitors or permanent residents. Royal Crescent, New Steine and Bedford Square were already in existence; Clarence Square, Russell Square and Marine Parade were being developed.
Hanson's plan for Regency Square was on a much larger scale than these developments. He divided Belle Vue Field into 69 plots, leased them individually and put strict covenants in place, demanding that each house be built in a specific style in order to ensure architectural harmony. In return, the leaseholders (mostly private builders) would have the right to buy, and would end up with houses much larger than average for the town, with excellent sea views and exclusive access to the large central garden. Most leaseholders bought the houses as soon as they could, which was to Hanson's advantage as he made money and had no ongoing responsibility for the buildings. Restrictions in the covenants included the requirement to erect a façade with an iron balcony, to clad the area below the balcony in stucco, to paint the façade at least every three years, to repair any damage, and to pay towards maintenance of the central garden. No stucco was to be applied above the balcony line.