Royal Crescent, Brighton

Royal Crescent
The crescent from the southeast
Location	Royal Crescent, Marine Parade, Brighton, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex BN2 1AL, United Kingdom
Coordinates	50°49′07″N 0°07′31″W / 50.8185°N 0.1253°W / 50.8185; -0.1253Coordinates: 50°49′07″N 0°07′31″W / 50.8185°N 0.1253°W / 50.8185; -0.1253
Built	1798–1807
Built for	J.B. Otto
Architect	Unknown
Architectural style(s)	Classical
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name: Nos. 1–14 (Consecutive) Royal Crescent and attached railings
Designated	13 October 1952
Reference no.	481162
Location of Royal Crescent within central Brighton

Royal Crescent Mansions
The building from the southeast
Location	Royal Crescent Mansions, 100–101 Marine Parade, Brighton, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex BN2 1AX, United Kingdom
Coordinates	50°49′07″N 0°07′31″W / 50.8185°N 0.1253°W / 50.8185; -0.1253
Built	Early 19th century
Rebuilt	1848–1857 (as hotel)
Architectural style(s)	Classical
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Royal Crescent Hotel and attached walls and railings
Designated	20 August 1971
Reference no.	482119

Royal Crescent is a crescent-shaped terrace of houses on the seafront in Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in the late 18th and early 19th century as a speculative development on the open cliffs east of Brighton by a wealthy merchant, the 14 lodging houses formed the town's eastern boundary until about 1820. It was the seaside resort's first planned architectural composition, and the first built intentionally to face the sea. The variety of building materials used include black glazed mathematical tiles—a characteristic feature of Brighton's 18th-century architecture. English Heritage has listed the crescent at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance. An adjacent five-storey building, formerly the Royal Crescent Hotel but now converted into flats with the name Royal Crescent Mansions, is listed separately at Grade II.

Brighton's transformation from fishing village to high-class, fashionable spa town and resort happened in the second half of the 18th century and was prompted by several factors. Sea-bathing and drinking seawater became an upper-class fad, encouraged by the publication in 1750 of local doctor Richard Russell's book on the subject. The good climate—sunny, mild and breezy—also became widely known when Brighton's first guidebook was published by Anthony Relhan in 1761. Road improvements encouraged visitors from London and elsewhere: the road from London to Brighton, notorious for its poor (sometimes impassable) condition, was turnpiked throughout its length in 1770. The arrival of royalty and the effects of their patronage then gave the town such prestige that it became Britain's largest and most important seaside resort. The Duke of Cumberland lived in the town from 1779; the Prince of Wales first visited him in 1783 (although he may also have come in search of Brighton's reputed health benefits); and he liked it so much that he came back every year and eventually took up residence at the Royal Pavilion.