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Park Crescent is a mid-19th-century residential development in the Round Hill area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The horseshoe-shaped, three-part terrace of 48 houses was designed and built by one of Brighton's most important architects, Amon Henry Wilds; by the time work started in 1849 he had 35 years' experience in the town. Wilds used the Italianate style rather than his (and Brighton's) more common Regency motifs. Three houses were replaced after the Second World War because of bomb damage, and another was the scene of one of Brighton's notorious "trunk murders" of the 1930s. The three parts of the terrace, which encircle a private garden formerly a pleasure ground and cricket pitch, have been listed at Grade II * by English Heritage for their architectural and historical importance. ==History== The fishing village of Brighthelmston, on the English Channel coast, was built around the point at which the Wellesbourne, a winterbourne flowing off the South Downs, entered the sea. It formed a north–south valley along which the road and railway line to London were built. The road to London diverged from the road to Lewes, which also followed a valley northeastwards, at an area of marshy, intermittently flooded ground called The Level. By the 18th century, when the village started developing into the fashionable resort of Brighton, this had become a popular site for fairs, sports and general recreation. In 1791, the northernmost part became the Prince of Wales Ground, a cricket ground which hosted early first-class matches and served as the home of Brighton Cricket Club, one of the principal founders of Sussex County Cricket Club 50 years later.〔 Major changes happened in 1822 after the Prince Regent—the most enthusiastic player and supporter of cricket among Brighton's high society—became king and retired from the sport. The Prince of Wales Ground fell into disuse at this time. Meanwhile, The Level was granted to the town by its landowners, who included influential local clergyman, politician, property speculator and Lord of the Manor Thomas Read Kemp. Union Road was built from east to west connecting the London and Lewes Roads, and the area to its south was landscaped by Amon Henry Wilds and landscape gardener Henry Phillips. The part to the north was bought by a speculator, James Ireland,〔〔 who built the Royal Gardens—a multi-purpose pleasure garden with a new cricket ground (the Royal New Ground). The gardens opened on 1 May 1823. Cricket remained the most popular attraction throughout the gardens' existence, but there was a range of activities: bowling greens, a "noble and conspicuous building" with ground-floor billiard rooms, refreshment facilities and reading rooms and a walking area on the roof, lawns, a grotto, an aviary, fairground activities, and an artificial lake with a path leading to a maze whose centrepiece was a special swinging chair.〔 A bizarre flying demonstration took place on one occasion, during which a businessman and associate of Ireland claimed he would fly from the roof of the main building to the far side of the gardens. When he merely sailed down a rope wearing a pair of wings and attached to a pulley, the spectators were so unimpressed that he had to escape into the maze to get away from them.〔 The gardens soon began to decline in popularity, and Ireland sold them in 1826. Under later owners' oversight, they became overgrown, and the main building soon became unusable.〔 Only the ornamental gate piers and the south boundary wall (on the north side of Union Road) remain.〔 The gardens and the land surrounding then came up for sale again in the late 1840s. After the opening of the railway line and Brighton railway station nearby in 1841, the surrounding area developed as a largely working-class area of small terraced houses. In about 1849 Amon Henry Wilds attempted to introduce some higher-class housing with his Park Crescent development. It was envisaged as a long, horseshoe-shaped crescent facing inwards towards the former cricket ground part of the Royal Gardens, which would be a private garden for residents.〔 Work started on the 48-house development, described as Wilds's "most ambitious scheme", in 1849.〔 The crescent was complete in 1854,〔 one of Wilds's final works before his death in 1857. At first the gardens were managed by a private agent on behalf of the residents, but a committee of residents took over responsibity in 1872.〔 The 19th-century German philosopher Arnold Ruge lived at number 7 and was chairman of the Park Crescent Residents' Association. Lewis Carroll's sister Henrietta moved to number 4 Park Crescent in 1885 and lived a hermit-like existence with several cats for company. She died in 1922. In 1934, number 44 was the site of the second notorious "Brighton trunk murder" in the space of a few weeks.〔 On 15 July that year, the body of Violet Kaye, a prostitute, was found in a suitcase in a house in Kemp Street in the North Laine area. Her pimp, Tony Mancini, alleged that he found her dead in bed in the Park Crescent house and transported her to lodgings in Kemp Street out of fear. Remarkable work by defence counsel acquitted Mancini, but he confessed to the murder in 1976.〔 Wartime damage to Brighton's grand squares, terraces and crescents was minimal, and much less than expected; nevertheless, three houses (numbers 24, 25 and 26) in the centre of the northern part of the crescent were destroyed by a bomb in 1942.〔 They were not replaced until 1983, when the three houses were rebuilt as two, omitting number 25. The replacements were built in the same style as the rest of the terrace.〔〔 The west, north and east sides of the crescent were each listed separately at Grade II * on 13 October 1952. Such buildings are defined as being "particularly important ... () of more than special interest". As of February 2001, they were three of the 70 Grade II *-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove. 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「Park Crescent, Brighton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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