Norfolk Hotel, Brighton

Mercure Brighton Seafront Hotel
The hotel from the south
Location in the city of Brighton and Hove
Former names	Norfolk Hotel
Alternative names	Ramada Jarvis Hotel Brighton (previous branding)
Hotel chain	Mercure Hotels
General information
Status	Complete
Type	Hotel
Architectural style	French Renaissance Revival
Address	149 Kings Road, Brighton BN1 2PP
Town or city	Brighton and Hove
Country	United Kingdom
Coordinates	50°49′22″N 0°09′19″W / 50.8228°N 0.1554°W / 50.8228; -0.1554Coordinates: 50°49′22″N 0°09′19″W / 50.8228°N 0.1554°W / 50.8228; -0.1554
Groundbreaking	1864
Construction started	1864
Completed	1866
Opened	1866
Owner	Accor S.A.
Height
Architectural	French Renaissance Revival
Technical details
Floor count	6
Design and construction
Architect	Horatio Nelson Goulty
Designations	Grade II listed
Other information
Number of suites	117
Number of restaurants	1
Number of bars	1
Parking	Yes
Website
www.mercurebrighton.co.uk

The Norfolk Hotel (currently branded as the Mercure Brighton Seafront Hotel, and previously as the Ramada Jarvis Hotel Brighton and other names) is a 4-star hotel in the seaside resort of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Designed in 1865 by architect Horatio Nelson Goulty, it replaced an earlier building called the Norfolk Inn and is one of several large Victorian hotels along the seafront. The French Renaissance Revival-style building, recalling E.M. Barry's major London hotels, is "tall, to make a show": the development of the passenger lift a few years earlier allowed larger hotels to be built. It is a Grade II listed building.

West Street formed the western limit of development in Brighton until the end of the 18th century. At that time, the town was growing from a small fishing and agricultural settlement into a fashionable seaside resort. From 1800 on, seafront land that was formerly part of the West Laine was sold off in parcels to speculative builders. Some large-scale residential development took place, but it was only after 1820—when the road running parallel to the beach was widened and straightened to form a seafront promenade called Kings Road—that the area became easily accessible. The hotels, lodging houses and inns built along this stretch of road became the most popular and exclusive in the town at that time.

An inn and hotel called the Norfolk Arms was built west of Bedford Square in or before 1824—the year it was first listed in the Baxter's Directory of Brighton. (The square itself, the second such development in Brighton, was built in stages between 1801 and 1818.) Between 1828 and 1830, the inn became famous for its association with Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough and his wife Jane Digby, Lady Ellenborough; in 1830 there was a scandal when they divorced as a result of Lady Ellenborough's affair with Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg. Brighton!! A Comic Sketch, a poem written in that year, referred to the building satirically: "But ladies, use, when you next come / The Schwarzenberg Hotel". By 1841, though, its reputation was restored: a guidebook described it as "a capital family hotel, which has long enjoyed the patronage of many persons of rank and distinction". Architecturally, it had Classical overtones: Ionic columns supported a balcony and veranda across a four-storey central bay with three-storey flanking sections.