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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. ==History== 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.〔 Late 18th-century Brighton became popular with speculative developers and builders: either professional builders who bought some land, started erecting houses themselves or using their own men, and tried to sell the remaining land at a profit as construction work continued—this was more common; or rich speculators from other industries who bought land (sometimes from a builder in the circumstances just described) and commissioned them to build houses to their specifications. J.B. Otto, a merchant who owned plantations in the West Indies, was an example of the latter.〔 In 1798, he bought a wide east–west strip of land on the clifftop beyond the eastern edge of the built-up area, about east of the Royal Pavilion, and hired an architect (whose identity is not known) and builders to create a crescent of houses which could be let to long-term visitors. Work started in the same year; the ends of the crescent were started first.〔 The project was then delayed when Otto ran out of money; he returned to the West Indies to secure more funds, then came back to Brighton and supervised the completion of the crescent, which happened in 1807.〔 Unlike many contemporary and later developments in Brighton, Otto was able to take his time to complete it because he was not wholly dependent on it for his financial success: his plantations were still his main source of income. The crescent of 14 houses was the first to be built facing the sea and to be designed in harmony with it.〔 Brighton's 18th-century development had been haphazard and unplanned, and Royal Crescent also represented the first unified architectural design, planned as a set-piece and overseen from start to finish by one man.〔〔〔 The grand scale was intended to attract middle- and upper-class residents, both permanent and seasonal, and it was immediately successful: early tenants included the Rice family, a brewing dynasty from London. In 1802, Otto attempted to impress the Prince of Wales—probably with a view to obtaining an invitation to dine with him at the Royal Pavilion, which was the pinnacle of social achievement in Brighton〔—by erecting a statue of him at Royal Crescent. He commissioned a sculptor called Rossi to do the work; he used Coade stone, ceramic stoneware manufactured by Eleanor Coade in London.〔〔〔(Google Books online. Fashionable Brighton, 1820-1860 by Antony Dale. page 39 )〕 The statue was reportedly unable to withstand the weathering effects of sea-spray and strong wind: by 1807, the fingers on the sculpture's left hand had been destroyed, and soon afterwards the whole right arm dropped off.〔〔〔 The statue began to be mistaken for Lord Nelson, and the Prince was reportedly so displeased that he forbade Otto's name to be mentioned in his presence.〔〔 The dilapidated statue— tall on a plinth—was removed in 1819.〔〔〔 The gardens in front of the crescent, in which the statue stood, passed into the ownership of the Brighton Corporation after the 1884 Brighton Improvement Act was passed.〔 Royal Crescent was listed at Grade II * on 13 October 1952. Such buildings are defined as being "particularly important ... () of more than special interest". As of February 2001, it was one of 70 Grade II *-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove. Notable residents of Royal Crescent have included actor Sir John Clements—who lived at number 7—and Sir Laurence Olivier, who lived at number 4 with his third wife Joan Plowright and also owned number 5.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Royal Crescent, Brighton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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