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Montpelier Crescent is a mid 19th-century crescent of 38 houses in the Montpelier suburb of Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Built in five parts as a set-piece residential development in the rapidly growing seaside resort, the main part of the crescent was designed between 1843 and 1847 by prominent local architect Amon Henry Wilds and is one of his most distinctive compositions. Extra houses were added at both ends of the crescent in the mid-1850s. Unlike most other squares, terraces and crescents in Brighton, it does not face the sea—and the view it originally had towards the South Downs was blocked within a few years by a tall terrace of houses opposite. Montpelier was an exclusive and "salubrious" area of Brighton, and Montpelier Crescent has been called its "great showpiece". Wilds's central section has been protected as Grade II * listed, with the later additions listed separately at the lower Grade II. The crescent is in one of the city's 34 conservation areas, and forms one of several "outstanding examples of late Regency architecture" within it. ==History== 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.〔〔Berry, Sue (1988): ''Brighton and Hove: Historical Geography'', in 〕 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. Helped by royal patronage (particularly from the Prince Regent) and good transport links to London and other important towns,〔 Brighton grew rapidly in the early 19th century, and high-class suburbs were laid out. The completion in 1841 of the main railway line from London provided a further stimulus.〔Berry, Sue (1988): ''Brighton and Hove: Historical Geography'', in 〕 By this time, Church Hill—ideally situated close to the sea and the town's main attractions, largely undeveloped and with a pleasant southwesterly aspect—was developing as a high-class residential area called Montpelier. Montpelier Road was laid out from 1820 as a major road running from the seafront to the Ditchling Road,〔 past the house built in 1819 for the late Thomas Kemp's son Thomas Read Kemp. Prominent local architect Amon Henry Wilds is believed to have designed it, although his father Amon Wilds may have been involved. Thomas Read Kemp's finances were overstretched by his involvement with the Kemp Town estate east of Brighton, and by the time he fled to France in 1837 he had sold or given away most of his landholding in the Montpelier area. Parcels of land were bought by builders and speculators, and a series of carefully planned "set-piece" residential developments were laid out.〔 Work on Montpelier Crescent started in 1843,〔 on and behind a stretch of Kemp's land previously occupied by a cricket pitch.〔 The Lillywhite's Ground (also known as the Temple Fields Ground) was in use between 1831 and 1844 and was one of Brighton Cricket Club's venues. Amon Henry Wilds was commissioned to design the first set of houses; in view of the vast scale he worked to, which was unusual on a site so far inland from the coast,〔 the crescent has been called "the grandest of his many works".〔 The houses lacked a sea view, as they faced northwest towards the open land of the South Downs.〔 The crescent was completed in 1847; within ten years, the downland vista had been obscured by the construction of Vernon Terrace opposite.〔 This "impressive" set of four-storey terraced houses, dating from between 1856 and the mid-1860s, lined the west side of the former Montpelier Road, which by this stage had been renamed except for the stretch south of Denmark Villas.〔 Between the east side of Vernon Terrace and the crescent, a curved area of green space was retained.〔 The section completed in 1847, consisting of paired and tripartite groups of linked villas (a unique arrangement within Brighton),〔 comprised house numbers 7 to 31 inclusive. Two wings flanking the original crescent were added in the mid-1850s, taking the number of houses to 38.〔 They had a different, slightly less elaborate design:〔〔 for example, they lacked the tall Classical-style pilasters and Wilds's characteristic ammonite capitals, as seen on the earlier houses.〔 All houses were comparatively plain inside: features included characteristic Victorian decorative mouldings and wooden staircases.〔 The crescent has changed little since its construction, although some buildings at the north end (adjacent to the present number 1) were demolished in the late 19th century to allow Seven Dials, a major road junction, to be built. The buildings are shown in a steel engraving dated approximately 1856, which also suggests that the crescent was closed at one end with railings which also continued around the gardens. 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「Montpelier Crescent」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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