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Embassy Court is an 11-storey block of luxury flats on the seafront in Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It has been listed at Grade II * by English Heritage. Wells Coates' "extremely controversial" piece of Modernist architecture has "divided opinion across the city" since its completion in 1935, and continues to generate strong feelings among residents, architectural historians and conservationists. The flats were originally let at high rents to wealthy residents, including Max Miller, Rex Harrison and Terence Rattigan, and features such as enclosed balconies and England's first penthouse suites made the 72-apartment, 11-storey building "one of the most desirable and sought-after addresses in Brighton and Hove".〔 Its fortunes changed dramatically from the 1970s, though, as a succession of complex court cases set leaseholders, freeholders and landlords against each other while the building rotted. By the start of the 21st century it was an "embarrassing eyesore" which was close to being demolished, despite its listed status. Proposals to refurbish the block came to nothing until the court cases concluded in 2004 and Sir Terence Conran's architectural practice was brought in. With an investment of £5 million, raised entirely by the residents, Embassy Court was overhauled: by 2006 it had been restored to its original status as a high-class residence, in contrast to its poor late-20th-century reputation.〔 ==History== At the junction of Western Street and Kings Road on Brighton seafront, just on the Brighton side of the ancient parish boundary between Brighton and Hove,〔 stood a 19th-century villa called Western House. Owners included Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor and the drag king Vesta Tilley. In 1930 the site was chosen for redevelopment and the building and its grounds were demolished. Nothing took its place immediately, though, except for a temporary racetrack and miniature golf course. Developers Maddox Properties acquired the site and in 1934 enlisted Wells Coates, a Modernist architect responsible for the striking Isokon building in London earlier that year, to design a block of luxury flats as a speculative development.〔 Embassy Court was completed in 1935. Its reinforced concrete structure and steel-framed doors and windows were distinctive features, and other facilities included a ground-floor bank, partly enclosed balconies to every one of the 72 flats, and England's first penthouse suites. These occupied the top (11th) floor; the other ten storeys had seven flats each. Each flat was "all-electric", including the space heating in the form of ceiling panels. A constant hot water supply was achieved by generating and storing it in a thermal energy storage system in the basement.〔 Coates commented: "Old ideas have been discarded and a new building has arisen to greet a new age that thinks of happiness in terms of health".〔 The building's height and bold appearance, "something like a great ocean liner", contrasted with the Regency-style terraces to the east, west and north—in particular the 110-year-old "palace-fronted terraces" of Brunswick Terrace, "as grand as anything in St Petersburg", and the monumental Brunswick Square behind it. It received much praise at first: a 1936 edition of the ''Architects' Journal'' claimed that the building "thrill() one to the marrow", and Alderman Sir Herbert Carden, "the maker of modern Brighton" who was responsible for many interwar improvements in the Borough of Brighton, was so taken with its Modernist style that he campaigned for every other building along the seafront to be demolished and replaced with Embassy Court-style housing, all the way from Hove to Kemp Town.〔 Writing in 1935, in a piece accompanied by a large illustration of Embassy Court-style buildings along Kings Road, he wrote "Embassy Court ... has shown us the way to build for the new age. Along our waterfront new buildings such as this must come". This "pre-war indifference to the historic fabric of the town" resulted in the first of many local conservation societies, the Regency Society, being formed, and prompted a greater appreciation of Brighton's 19th-century architectural heritage. All 72 flats were initially rented out rather than sold to owner-occupiers. Rents varied between £150 and £500 per year—expensive for that time, and similar to the cost of a house in Brighton. The ground-floor bank branch lasted until February 1948, when it was converted into a restaurant; this was only in use for five years. Major renovations were then carried out in the 1960s: new doors, windows and lifts were installed.〔 The building's high-class status declined from the 1970s when the freehold changed hands frequently and many flats were acquired by absentee landlords. Many leaseholders built up long-term rent arrears, and lack of clarity over ownership made raising money for refurbishment difficult. Embassy Court gradually fell into disrepair. The freeholder until 1997 was a company called Portvale; it was put into liquidation when a court case resulted in a demand to spend £1.5 million on maintenance. The Crown Estate Commissioners then took possession of the freehold, but Embassy Court's leaseholders established a company, Bluestorm Ltd, to buy it; this was achieved after another court case.〔 The first plans for refurbishing the building were announced in April 1998. The leaseholders' association commissioned local architects Alan Phillips and Matthew Lloyd to undertake design work and Ove Arup and Partners for their structural engineering expertise. Work was expected to cost £3 million to £4 million, of which a grant from the Government's Single Regeneration Budget would have covered £1.4 million. The project depended on the Sanctuary Housing Association acquiring the leases to 26 flats and the Crown Estate Commissioners transferring ownership of the freehold to the leaseholders' association. The proposed work was described as a "complete refurbishment" and would have lasted until 2000. No action was taken, though, and the building continued to deteriorate. Architect Alan Phillips, who had continued his association with the building during the "impasse in negotiations" which had characterised the previous three years, described Embassy Court as being "on the cusp between demolition and renovation" at a debate in November 2001, at which he announced a new plan to convert the lower storeys into a hotel. Money generated by this could then be used to improve the upper storeys, which would remain residential. The nearby Bedford Hotel provided a model of a mixed-use tower block with hotel accommodation below residential flats. Another court case began in November 2002. Bluestorm and Portvale Holdings made claims against each other in relation to paying for the building's restoration. By this stage Bluestorm estimated the cost of a full refurbishment would be £4.5 million. Portvale Holdings stated it intended to sell the flats it owned,〔 and a former director of the liquidated Portvale company later stated he did not wish to buy the freehold back from Bluestorm.〔 The case was adjourned after two weeks and was decided in March 2003 in favour of Bluestorm. The chairman of Brighton and Hove City Council said he "welcomed the decision". Portvale Holdings appealed against the decision in February 2004, but a judge at the Royal Courts of Justice upheld the original verdict. This brought to a conclusion a long and complex period of legal action; the judge observed that the ongoing battles between leaseholders, landlords and freeholders had been "more suited to a nursery school playground".〔 In July 2003, Bluestorm announced a new refurbishment plan, this time involving Sir Terence Conran's Conran Group architectural consultancy. The scheme architect was Paul Zara.〔 Conran Group undertook a structural survey which showed that the concrete walls had not deteriorated as badly as expected: its director said that the building was in "a very poor state () perfectly salvageable". The expected cost was £5 million, and various sources of funding were proposed: money received from Portvale Holdings and from the leaseholders was to be used alongside National Lottery and European Union regeneration grants for which Bluestorm would apply. No grants or Lottery funding were ever received. Also commissioned alongside Conran Group were structural engineering firm F.J. Samuely, whose founder Felix Samuely had worked on the building originally, and some other specialist companies. By September 2003, Conran had assembled a working group of engineers, designers and other professionals, and the plans included provision of a swimming pool and public facilities such as a restaurant, museum and art gallery by making use of underused areas of the building. Work began in December 2003. First, the communal areas and lobby were deep-cleaned and exterior hoardings were put up; other early priorities included new electrical and heating systems. The overall timescale of the project was stated to be three years. At that time, the leaseholders were told they would have to fund the entire £5 million estimated cost themselves: some would have to pay around £100,000+ each. Also, the project leader indicated that the planned swimming pool, art gallery and other new features would be "put on hold until 2007". By February 2004, the bulk of the work was expected to start in summer 2004.〔 Bluestorm raised a planning application, and Brighton and Hove City Council granted outline permission in June 2004. New windows, doors, plumbing and heating, repairs to the concrete structure and re-rendering the exterior were all prioritised at this time. The first part of the refurbishment project was completed on time and on budget. After a delay caused by poor weather, the exterior hoardings and scaffolding were removed in early April 2005 to reveal new windows and a "smart cream concrete façade". The second phase involved repairs at the rear, the promised replacement plumbing and heating systems, new lifts and new front doors, and was due to finish in September 2005. The longer-term proposal for a basement swimming pool remained, and other ideas suggested at this time included a gymnasium, reinstatement of the original 1930s foyer decor including a mural by Edward McKnight Kauffer, and the conversion of one flat into a 1930s-style showpiece. Bluestorm organised a party on the Brunswick Lawns outside Embassy Court in September 2006 to celebrate the completion of the work. Local record label Skint Records led a separate private party on the top floor of the building. Public tours were also conducted later in the month. The earlier problems of poor security had been overcome, and Embassy Court was no longer "a haven for drunks, drug addicts and homeless people".〔 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「Embassy Court」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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