Vernon Terrace, Brighton

Vernon Terrace
Vernon Terrace from the south-southeast
Location	Vernon Terrace, Montpelier, Brighton, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Coordinates	50°49′47″N 0°08′59″W / 50.8296°N 0.1496°W / 50.8296; -0.1496Coordinates: 50°49′47″N 0°08′59″W / 50.8296°N 0.1496°W / 50.8296; -0.1496
Built	1856–57; c. 1860
Architectural style(s)	Regency/Italianate
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: 1–6 Vernon Terrace and attached railings; 7–16 Vernon Terrace and attached gate piers and balustrades; 37 Vernon Terrace and attached wall and piers
Designated	20 August 1971; 26 August 1999
Reference no.	1381070; 1381071; 1381072
Location of Vernon Terrace within central Brighton

Vernon Terrace is a mid 19th-century residential development in the Montpelier suburb of Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Construction of the first section started in 1856, and the 37-house terrace was complete in the early 1860s. Architecturally, the houses divide into five separate compositions, although all are in a similar late Regency/Italianate style. This was characteristic of houses of that era in Brighton, and especially in the Montpelier area—where the Regency style persisted much later than elsewhere. Standing opposite is the landmark Montpelier Crescent, which had a view of the South Downs until Vernon Terrace blocked it. Three groups of houses in the terrace have been listed at Grade II by English Heritage for their architectural and historical importance.

Brighton (originally known as Brighthelmston) developed as a large fishing and agricultural village on the English Channel coast. Despite intermittent periods of decline and destitution, it was the largest town in the county of Sussex by 1600. In the mid-18th century, the damaging economic effects of a terminal decline in the fishing industry were reversed by the new fashion for sea-bathing, and the town's new role as a seaside resort began. Northwest of the old town, around the parish church and the road leading to Devil's Dyke and on to London, was an expanse of gently sloping downland known as Church Hill. It was given over to sheep-grazing and was owned by two prominent locals: MP Thomas Kemp and John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset.