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38-464: Amon Henry Wilds , his father, Amon Wilds , and another architect, Charles Busby , went into partnership early in the 19th century, and quickly became Brighton's most important firm of architects. When the Wildses moved from nearby Lewes to Brighton in about 1814, the latter's transformation from small, declining fishing village to fashionable, high-class seaside and leisure resort had already started; but

76-416: A portico . These vertical elements can also be used to support a recessed archivolt around a doorway. The pilaster can be replaced by ornamental brackets supporting the entablature or a balcony over a doorway. When a pilaster appears at the corner intersection of two walls it is known as a canton . As with a column, a pilaster can have a plain or fluted surface to its profile and can be represented in

114-417: A blank window in cusped-headed recessed arches. Between each arch is a pilaster . Simpler windows, some of which are blank, are on the first floor, below large eaves and the dome. The main part of the house is in two slightly staggered parts. Columns rise at the corners of the walls and terminate in minaret -shaped finials . Amon Henry Wilds Amon Henry Wilds (1784 or 1790 – 13 July 1857)

152-629: A chapel at Gravesend Cemetery. These were of brick with pink stucco façades and were also in the Classical/Greek Revival style. Later in his life, Wilds junior experimented in other areas: he invented a new way of cleaning chimneys, proposed a breakwater to protect Brighton's coastline, and served as an officer of the Brighton Commissioners for three years from 1842. In 1852, the Commissioners asked him to plant elm trees along

190-486: A crescent-shaped façade and the shells of houses; buyers could then add internal fittings as they wished. They were built in around 1822 and are listed at Grade II. Between 1822 and 1825, Wilds and Busby designed and built Gothic House on Western Road at the top of Western Terrace. Regency Gothic in style, it represents the only occasion they attempted the Gothic Revival style. It is a Grade II-listed building. On

228-549: A distinctive Regency-era character, and many are listed buildings . Amon Henry Wilds was born to Amon Wilds and Sarah Dunn, and was baptised at All Saints Church, Lewes on 4 November 1790. Some sources give his birth year as 1784, but others consider 1790 more likely. At this time, Wilds senior's profession was listed as "carpenter and builder". In around 1806, the father and son established an architectural and building partnership in Lewes, but in 1815 they moved to Brighton, which

266-405: A flattened column which has lost its three-dimensional and tactile value.". In discussing Leon Battista Alberti 's use of pilasters, which Alberti reintroduced into wall-architecture, Rudolf Wittkower wrote: "The pilaster is the logical transformation of the column for the decoration of a wall. A pilaster appears with a capital . and entablature , also in "low- relief " or flattened against

304-506: A move towards the Italianate style when that became popular later. His most distinctive and famous motif—which his father also used, and which had been developed during their time in partnership in Lewes—was the ammonite capital . This was a type of Ionic capital used to decorate the top of pilasters and columns; it took the spiral shape of an ammonite fossil. As well as approving of

342-619: A new crescent for the growing seaside town of Worthing , 11 miles west along the coast. Originally to be called Royal Park Crescent, it became known simply as Park Crescent . Wilds also designed a triumphal arch and Swiss Cottages for the site. On Montpelier Road in the Montpelier area of Brighton, he built numbers 53 to 56—a three-storey terrace of four houses designed as two identical pairs—in about 1830. The entrances are between Doric pilasters, and there are ammonite capitals at second-floor level. There are small cast-iron balconies outside

380-506: A pilaster is a ridge that extends vertically across the femur , which is unique to modern humans . Its structural function is unclear. A pilaster is foremost a load-bearing architectural element used widely throughout the world and its history where a structural load is carried by a thickened section of wall or column integrated into a wall. It is also a purely ornamental element used in Classical architecture . As such it may be defined as

418-443: A pool, and is 32 feet (9.8 m) high. The iron casting was done at a local foundry, and the sculpting was undertaken by a Mr Pepper. The structure cost £989.16s.7d. , and a further £114.7s.6d. was spent constructing it. Pilaster In architecture , a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives

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456-535: A small terrace of five houses called Western Terrace and for a time resided in the central house (now No.6). These five houses are in the Neoclassical style with stucco and columns. The restoration of No.6 won the Design Award of 1992. Beyond these, the terrace incorporated the mansion's coach house and at its north end Wilds built his own house in a different style again. The Western Pavilion, as it became known,

494-508: A tall, steam-heated glasshouse called the Athenaeum, a library, museum and school, all surrounded by high-class houses. Wilds junior started building two north–south terraces accordingly, but Phillips' money ran out and he abandoned the project. A local magistrate bought the land in 1827 and asked Wilds junior to finish the work. Sillwood Place was built on the proposed Athenaeum site. Ammonite capitals feature prominently on Oriental Place, which

532-577: Is Grade II-listed. Around the same time he also worked on 1a Castle Square a short distance away. Wilds Junior's last work in Brighton was the Victoria Fountain in Old Steine. Partly paid for by public donations, it was unveiled on 24 May 1846—Queen Victoria's 27th birthday—and is now a Grade II listed structure. It consists of two cast-iron or bronze basins, one of which stands on three dolphins, and

570-544: Is listed at Grade II*. Wilds junior also built Hanover Crescent, to the northeast of Brighton off the Lewes Road, on behalf of a speculator—this time, local entrepreneur Henry Brooker. He felt that property speculation would be profitable even in areas further away from the town centre, such was Brighton's growing popularity in the Regency era , so he bought a set of strips of farmland in 1814 and commissioned Wilds junior to build

608-491: The 1820s, and after 1822 he increasingly worked on his own. In 1827, he was commissioned to build a mansion for Sir David Scott, 2nd Baronet , on the south side of Western Road—the main route from Brighton to the Brunswick Town estate and Hove . Sillwood House, named after Scott's Berkshire residence of Silwood Park [ sic ], was ready in 1828. In 1824 on land next to the would-be mansion, Wilds developed

646-521: The Western Pavilion was converted into an office. In 1957, a shop took it over, and refronted the north façade (facing Western Road) with two-storey windows. A shopfront still stands in front of the building on Western Road, but the Western Pavilion is now in residential use again. It was listed at Grade II* on 13 October 1952; such buildings are defined as being "particularly important ... [and] of more than special interest". As of February 2001, it

684-475: The Wilds. Proving who was responsible for particular buildings or projects is difficult and sometimes contradictory because many designs were signed "Wilds and Busby", the three men carried out individual works simultaneously, and Wilds junior established his own independent company as well after 1823. Although he still had some involvement with his father and Busby's work, his own projects took up more of his time over

722-440: The appearance of a supporting column and articulates an extent of wall. As an ornament it consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall surface, usually treated as though it were a column, with a capital at the top, plinth (base) at the bottom, and the various other column elements. In contrast to a Classical pilaster, an engaged column or buttress can support the structure of a wall and roof above. In human anatomy ,

760-608: The building contractor was taking risks with the structural integrity of the building. Wilds junior also worked in Gravesend , a town in Kent. His scheme for a new town at Milton , a neighbouring parish, in the 1820s was not carried out, but in 1836 he designed Gravesend Town Hall in the Classical style (both the building and the adjacent High Street are dominated by its "noble Greek Doric tetrastyle portico "), and between 1838 and 1841 he designed triumphal arch -style entrance lodges and

798-530: The crescent now numbered 7–31 is listed at Grade II*; the other houses are of a different design and are newer: they date from around 1855 and are listed at Grade II in four separate parts. In 1820 or 1826, Wilds (possibly in conjunction with Busby) rebuilt a terraced house on Castle Square to form the Royal Pavilion Tavern . He refronted it in the Regency style with a stuccoed bow front. The building

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836-431: The design, the Wilds enjoyed the pun on their unusual first name, and used it on many buildings. Wilds junior designed his father's headstone at St Nicholas' Church and decorated it with an ammonite capital design. Brighton Unitarian Church , a Grade II*-listed building, was built early in Wilds junior's architectural career. He designed the 350-capacity building with guidance from its first minister, Dr Morell. It

874-497: The exterior are of Indo-Saracenic origin; and there are small minarets of the Hindoo type. The house has two storeys and a basement, and presents a two-bay façade westwards to Western Terrace. The entrance is on this side, projecting further forward than the upper storey, under a cusped archway below a parapet with an Oriental-style balustrade . The left (northern) bay on the west façade is almost circular and has two glazed windows and

912-499: The first time: he submitted a design for a new road to connect the ancient Middle Street and West Street. By 1821, the scope of the project had been extended, and Wilds junior ended up supervising the construction of a raised promenade and sea-wall all the way from West Street to East Street, providing a direct east–west link across the town via the seafront for the first time. It was built between 1821 and 1822 and opened by King George IV on 29 January 1822. Named King's Road, it became

950-504: The first-floor windows. The group has been listed at Grade II. Nearby Montpelier Crescent was Wilds junior's largest-scale independent work. Built between 1843 and 1847 in the Seven Dials area, whose development had been stimulated by the recent opening of the nearby railway station , it was laid out as a curving terrace of mansions, each divided into two dwellings. Some had pilasters decorated with ammonite capitals. The section of

988-516: The house was used as a pied-à-terre by the Prince Regent , where he could take his lover Maria Fitzherbert away from the Royal Pavilion. The eclectic style "reveals Wilds's humour and his willingness to embrace the exotic": it combines the Hindoo, Orientalist and Indo-Saracenic styles. The large leaded (now painted) onion dome is an Orientalist touch; the repeated cusped -headed arches on

1026-555: The next 25 years: Oriental Place, Sillwood Place, Western Terrace, Hanover Crescent, Park Crescent , the Royal Newburgh Assembly Rooms and the Royal Albion Hotel all still exist and are listed buildings. The Anthaeum , a gigantic dome-shaped conservatory he designed for Henry Phillips in 1832–33, collapsed the day before its scheduled opening; Wilds had resigned from the project before its completion because

1064-581: The other side of Western Terrace, the Western Pavilion was built in an elaborate Oriental and Indian style in imitation of the Royal Pavilion in 1828, and is now a Grade II* listed building. Amon Henry Wilds built it as his own house. He also lived at Gothic House and the central house in Western Terrace (now No.6). Following the success of his work in Brighton, Wilds was commissioned to design

1102-666: The road to Brighton Racecourse ; this road became known as Elm Grove . He moved to Shoreham-by-Sea , where he died in 1857. He was buried at the town's St Nicolas' Church . Many buildings originally attributed to Wilds senior in partnership with Charles Busby—in particular, the terraces of the Kemp Town estate—have now been accredited to Wilds junior. At both Kemp Town and other locations he worked at, architectural devices and features characteristic of Wilds junior can be seen: Egyptian-style flourishes and scallop designs inlaid into stuccoed walls above windows in his earlier days, and

1140-411: The three architects jointly and individually led the town through its period of greatest success, when they established their trademark Regency architectural style in a succession of major residential developments. They designed a wide variety of religious and secular buildings of all types as well, and Amon Henry Wilds was also involved in engineering projects. Amon Henry Wilds was prolific throughout

1178-411: The town's most important promenading and horse-riding route, and is still a major road. Around the same time, Wilds junior was commissioned to design and build Brighton Unitarian Church for the town's recently established Unitarian community; he laid the foundation stone in 1819 and completed the building the next year. Charles Busby arrived in Brighton in 1822 and formed a loose partnership with

Western Pavilion - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-421: The wall. Generally, a pilaster often repeats all parts and proportions of an order column; however, unlike it, a pilaster is usually devoid of entasis . Pilasters often appear on the sides of a door frame or window opening on the facade of a building, and are sometimes paired with columns or pillars set directly in front of them at some distance away from the wall, which support a roof structure above, such as

1254-660: Was an English architect. He was part of a team of three architects and builders who—working together or independently at different times—were almost solely responsible for a surge in residential construction and development in early 19th-century Brighton , which until then had been a small but increasingly fashionable seaside resort on the East Sussex coast. In the 1820s, when Wilds, his father Amon Wilds and Charles Busby were at their most active, nearly 4,000 new houses were built, along with many hotels, churches and venues for socialising; most of these still survive, giving Brighton

1292-479: Was based on the Temple of Nemesis . By 1876, its structural condition was so poor that it collapsed, and it was rebuilt in red-brick Gothic style . Oriental Place and Sillwood Place are the remaining parts of an ambitious scheme for which Wilds junior was hired in 1825 by a horticulturalist and landscape gardener, Henry Phillips, who had designed Kemp Town's enclosed gardens. He proposed an Oriental-style garden with

1330-403: Was experiencing rapid growth; they carried out work in both places for the next five years until they moved permanently to Brighton in 1820. Their early work in the town, preceding their relocation, included Richmond Terrace and Waterloo Place. Wilds junior was chiefly responsible for these speculative developments. In 1818, Wilds junior took independent responsibility for a design scheme for

1368-449: Was intended to resemble the Royal Pavilion , the elaborate and opulent Orientalist / Indo-Saracenic royal palace which has become Brighton's best-known building. Wilds placed a leaded onion dome on the northwest corner (and inserted a bathroom shaped like an igloo ); minarets, Oriental-style windows and various Hindoo-style details predominate elsewhere. Many rooms, including the dining room, were oval. Wilds died in 1857, and in 1931

1406-522: Was intended to resemble the Temple of Thesæus in Athens, and has an enormous tetrastyle portico of four Doric columns beneath a pediment . Six years later, a merchant named Charles Elliott acquired the right to build a proprietary chapel on land belonging to the 3rd Earl of Egremont east of Brighton; Wilds junior created another Classical-style design for the new St Mary the Virgin Church . It

1444-465: Was one of 70 Grade II*-listed buildings and structures , and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove . Descriptions of the Western Pavilion's architecture focus on its similarity to the Royal Pavilion: it has been called that building's "baby brother" (and, similarly, a "miniature version" of it), and one historian has observed that some people have incorrectly believed

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