Opened 1834 Architect Charles Busby | Contractor Amon Henry Wilds | |
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Similar North Laine, Regency Square - Brighton, Queen's Park - Brighton, New England Quarter, Regency Town House | ||
Brunswick Town is an area in Hove, in the city of Brighton and Hove, England. It is best known for the Regency architecture of the Brunswick estate.
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History
Originally, the area had been part of Wick Farm. Then in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, nearby Brighton had become very fashionable, especially amongst the top tier of British society. The Kemp Town estate there had been a success, and so in 1824 architect Charles Busby entered into an agreement to build houses on land lying at the extreme east of Hove, adjacent to Brighton — land which belonged to Thomas Read Kemp, creator of Kemp Town. Building of the estate began in 1825. The name "Brunswick" was presumably taken from House of Brunswick, a term sometimes used for the House of Hanover, the name of the British royal family at the time.
Facilities including a market were provided. The market, opened in 1828, was funded by Busby himself but was not a success and was converted to a riding school in the 1840s. It is now a theatre.
In the late 1990s the top of Brunswick Square, where it meets busy Western Road, was closed to motor vehicles, changing the nature of the square from a through route to a strictly residential area. There is a taxi rank immediately north of this point, on Brunswick Place.
At the extreme eastern edge of Brunswick Terrace, on the border of Hove and Brighton, the bluntly modernist Embassy Court apartment block was refurbished in the mid-2000s. When originally envisaged in the 1930s, this lone block was imagined as the beginning of a transformation of the entire seafront, which would have entailed the obliteration of Brunswick Terrace. By the late 1940s Brunswick Square itself had become so run-down that the Council was considering wholesale demolition and redevelopment with modern housing.
Notable residents
Brunswick Square and Brunswick Terrace have had a large number of prominent residents. These include:
Politics
Brunswick is currently part of the local council's Brunswick & Adelaide ward which is represented by two Green councillors, Phelim MacCafferty and Ollie Sykes. They were elected to the ward in May 2011, gaining it from the Liberal Democrats.
Culture
The Brunswick Festival Group is a voluntary organisation which produces this annual festival in celebration of the diverse community of Brunswick, Hove. Brunswick Festival is one of the longest running festivals in the city, and in 2016 will be celebrating its 35th birthday. Through the hard work and efforts of a small team of local residents and volunteers, this vibrant community Festival has grown over the years from being a low key family picnic on the green, and now encompasses two whole weekends of outdoor events.