Royal pavilion, Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK
by Neale And Judith Clark
Title
Royal pavilion, Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK
Artist
Neale And Judith Clark
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Brighton Pavilion or the Brighton Royal Pavilion and gardens, Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK, GB, Europe
Alamy ref:DH1TJP
The Royal Pavilion was constructed as the seaside pleasure palace of King George IV.Brighton suited George who was a vain and extravagant man with a passion for fashion, the arts, architecture and good living.George hired architect Henry Holland to transform his Brighton lodging house into a modest villa which became known as the Marine Pavilion. With his love of visual arts and fascination with the mythical orient, George set about lavishly furnishing and decorating his seaside home. He especially chose Chinese export furniture and objects, and hand-painted Chinese wallpapers.
In 1811 George was sworn in as Prince Regent because his father, George III, had been deemed incapable of acting as monarch.
At that time the Marine Pavilion was a modest building in size, not suitable for the large social events and entertaining that George loved to host.
In 1815, George commissioned John Nash to begin the transformation from modest villa into this magnificent oriental palace.
This stage of the construction took a number of years. Nash superimposed a cast iron frame onto Holland’s earlier construction to support a magnificent vista of minarets, domes and pinnacles on the exterior.
George was determined that the palace should be the ultimate in comfort and convenience.
Skipping ahead a few years Queen Victoria sold her uncle’s pleasure palace to the town of Brighton for over £50,000 in 1850. As it was thought the building would be demolished, she ordered the building to be stripped of all its interior decorations, fittings and furnishings, for use in other royal homes.
In 1864 Queen Victoria returned many items – chandeliers, wall paintings, fixtures – with further gifts being made in 1899.
From 1851 to the 1920s the admission fee to the Royal Pavilion was sixpence. At this time the Royal Pavilion was also used as a venue for many different events and functions from fetes, bazaars, and shows to balls, exhibitions and conferences. The Royal Pavilion garden was opened up and made accessible to both residents and visitors.
In the early months of the First World War, the Royal Pavilion was converted into a military hospital. It was first used for Indian Army soldiers who had become sick or wounded while fighting for the British on the Western Front.it was used until 1920.
After a break during World War II, restoration work began again in earnest with the revival of interest in the Regency era. To ensure that the work was carried out as accurately as possible, every piece of available evidence was examined – from original fragments, drawings and prints to archives and accounts.
The programme of restoration has had occasional setbacks. An arson attack in 1975 badly damaged the Music Room which was then closed for 11 years. Then, in the great storm of 1987, a ball of stone was dislodged from a minaret and fell through the newly restored coving, burying itself in the new carpet.The most recent restoration project has been the Saloon. After years of research and meticulous conservation, the Saloon was returned to its original design in 2018.
Uploaded
March 28th, 2023
Statistics
Viewed 2,060 Times - Last Visitor from Wilmington, DE on 03/29/2024 at 3:58 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet