Gothic House, Brighton

Gothic House
The building from the northeast in 2010, when occupied by a Blockbuster store
Location	95–96 Western Road, Brighton, Brighton and Hove BN1 2LB, United Kingdom
Coordinates	50°49′29″N 0°09′08″W / 50.8246°N 0.1522°W / 50.8246; -0.1522Coordinates: 50°49′29″N 0°09′08″W / 50.8246°N 0.1522°W / 50.8246; -0.1522
Built	1822–25
Architect	Amon Henry Wilds; Charles Busby
Architectural style(s)	Regency Gothic Revival/Strawberry Hill Gothic
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Eastern part of Debenham's store and attached wall, 95 and 96 Western and 1, 2 and 3 Western Terrace
Designated	13 October 1952
Reference no.	1381101
Location within central Brighton

Gothic House (later known as The Priory or Priory Lodge when still in residential use) is a Gothic-style building in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Although it has been in commercial use for more than a century, it retains some of its original appearance as "one of the most fascinating houses" built by the prolific partnership of Amon Henry Wilds and Charles Busby. It is the only Gothic Revival building they are known to have designed: they typically adopted the Regency style, sometimes with Classical or Italianate touches. The building is Grade II listed.

Amon Wilds and his son Amon Henry Wilds moved from Lewes to nearby Brighton in 1815 when it was a rapidly developing seaside resort. They had founded a building and architectural partnership nine years earlier. In 1822, Charles Busby—also an architect—came to Brighton and entered an informal partnership with the Wilds. They went on to become "the most influential and significant [team] in Brighton's architectural history" over the following decades.

Wilds junior set up his own company in around 1823, although he still worked with his father and Busby on some projects. One of these was their commission for a large Gothic-style house to be built on the south side of Western Road at the top of a new little street called Western Terrace. Western Road was originally a track running from Brighton to the neighbouring village of Hove, but large houses were built along it in the early 19th century until it was almost continuously built up as far as Montpelier Road, which led inland to the new suburb of Montpelier. It was finished in 1825 and was known either by the name Gothic House or by its original street address of 1 Western Terrace (it was the first building in that street, predating several others by Wilds such as Sillwood Hall and the Western Pavilion),