Wykeham Terrace detail taken from ‘North-East View of Brighton from the top of the Old Church’

BPC00479

This image is a close-up taken from another in this collection: click here to view

Lithograph by J Newman, published by W Grant, News Agent, 5 Castle Square, c1850. The original watercolour for the complete scene is in the British Museum.

There are no specific views of Wykeham Terrace in Victorian prints of Brighton, but this detail from Grant’s larger lithograph gives a very clear depiction.

For the building of Wykeham Terrace, John & Jill Ford put it between 1822 and 1830, Wikipedia writes that A H Wilds is believed to have been commissioned to build it in 1827, and a resident of the Terrace who has researched it at the East Sussex Record Office writes that it was built between 1827 and 1839. In 1855 the Rev. George Wagner, a cousin of the vicar of Brighton, purchased numbers 1 to 5 and 8 to 11 together with properties in the adjacent Queen Square. He had previously established a home on the Lewes Road to help and rehabilitate prostitutes, and these new premises enabled the work to expand. When the Rev George died, the Rev Arthur Wagner took it over. These houses in Wykeham Terrace became St. Mary’s Home for Female Penitents and offered valuable education and healthcare for 40 women.

The building on the far right of the terrace is the old brewhouse that was part of Smither’s North Street Brewery. It is thought to have been demolished by the 1930s and this is the only known view of that building in local 19th century engravings. By 1933 Smither’s had premises just the other side of Dyke Road, next to the Swan Downer building.

Wykeham Terrace has variously been described as Tudor-Gothic and Regency-Gothic and, as a non-ecclesiastical building of Gothic design, it is rare in Brighton. English Heritage listed it as Grade II in 1969. It is probably best known today for its famous residents who included Dame Flora Robson, Sir Roy Strong, David Courtney and Adam Faith. However, before these residents, the Terrace’s most important name, from the point of view of the history of Brighton, was that of John Ackerson Erredge, who lived at number 1 for a few months in early 1858. Erredge was the author of The History of Brighthelmstone, with a Chronological Table of Local Events, published in 1862; it is one of the most important Victorian history books of our city.

The complete print is illustrated in Old Brighton: A Collection of Prints, Paintings and Drawings by Eileen Hollingdale. George Nobbs Publishing, 1979, p 113.

The whole print is Images of Brighton 48 and illustrated on page 26

 

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Wykeham Terrace BPC00479

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Wykeham Terrace BPC00479 50.824645, -0.144591 Click here to view the entry for this image