Description

BRIGHTON

TQ3103NW MADEIRA DRIVE
577-1/46/413 (South side)
20/08/71 The Palace Pier

II*

Pleasure pier and associated structures. 1891-1901, added to
in 1906, 1910-1911 and 1930; restored and added to in c1945,
c1973 and since 1984. Designed by R St George Moore for the
Brighton Marine Palace and Pier Company and, after 1898, by
Sir John Howard; the builder was Arthur Mayoh of Manchester.
Steel, cast- and wrought-iron structure; kiosks and buildings
of wood and metal; many of the roofs made from tin pressed to
resemble fishscale tiles. 1,650 feet in length with a width
varying from 45 feet to 189 feet at the pier head.
PLAN/EXTERIOR: the following description will move from the
entrance of the structure to its head. The entrance area is
semicircular in plan; paved in red brick since 1984; stalls
along border of crescent terminate to south in octagonal
kiosks; octagonal kiosks to the north date to the late C19 and
were formerly part of the original Aquarium (qv), removed when
the entrance was rebuilt in c1927.
Flat-arched entrance way with mansard roof and clock; these
date to 1930 when they replaced 3 iron-work arches removed to
allow for the widening of the promenade.
To the north of the entrance runs a glazed windscreen which
forms a centre spine to the pier and is interrupted by various
buildings described below: windscreen supported by pairs of
cast-iron columns and, at several points, by original
iron-work gates, now much damaged, which once spanned the
promenade. Also running the whole length of the pier are
cast-iron railing of late C19 or early C20 design. The first
range of the windscreen has 12 bays; the partition bows out to
form 5 lozenge-shaped kiosks. Near the south end of the first
windscreen range, the pier widens in the first of several
stages; the corners here are marked by a pair of octagonal
kiosks with ogee metal roof; these served as toll booths on
the Chain Pier which collapsed in December of 1896.
There follows the largest extant original structure left on
the pier, the former Winter Garden of the late C19, now called
the Palace of Fun. The original exterior was designed in a
Moorish style to echo the Royal Pavilion; the structure was
sheathed in vinyl aluminium sheeting since 1984. In plan it
has a low rotunda at the centre with rectangular, nave-like
structures projecting from the north and south to form a
central axis on line with that of the promenade.
INTERIOR: inside cast-iron columns are strutted out from side
walls of the nave spaces to form vestigial aisles; each pair
of columns supports an open web, single-span metal truss which
takes the form of segmental arch; the ceiling is boarded. The
rotunda is supported by similar columns, but is much higher
than the axial naves; continuous entablature runs all around
the rotunda. The structure very likely dates to the 1910-1911
remodelling.
Just to the north of the Palace of Fun, the pier narrows again
with the promenade once more divided by the central
windscreen. At this point, spanning the pier, are the first of
several of the original, iron work and arched gateways. Each
gate was of 5 bays, the centre and end openings being far
wider than the intermediate bays. Further south, in the 4th
bay of the centre windscreen, the pier widens again to
accommodate a group of kiosks, now covered in sheeting; some
original cast-iron studs and ornament survive; originally it
was possible to walk around these kiosks on a narrow platform,
now gone. In the 15th bay of the windscreen are the remains of
another iron-work gateway; the 18th and final bay of this
stretch of the windscreen serves as the base for another
iron-work gateway, this one of 9 bays, spanning the promenade
as it broadens once again.
Beyond this archway is a single-storey building of late C19 or
early C20 date which serves to house a restaurant and bar;
3-part plan with roughly square centre section and wings to
the north and south. Low roofs over the north and south are
hipped with iron crested eaves and ridges; the centre roof is
6-sided and steps up to iron weather vane enclosing a
revolving, mirrored ball. This structure very likely dates to
the 1910-11 remodelling.
To the south, the narrowing of the pier once more is marked by
the remains of a 9-bay iron-work archway. The centre
windscreen resumes; between its 11th and 12th bays are the
remains of a 5-bay, iron-work archway; this range of the
windscreen has other iron work remains, comparable in date to
the gateways noted above.
At the end of this range the pier steps out once again; near
the angles a pair of late C19 facilities with hipped roofs,
cast-iron valence boards and pilasters with cast-iron brackets
above.
There follows the site of the 1901 Palace Pier Theatre,
severely damaged in 1973 when a barge tore loose from its
moorings and partly wrecked the theatre and the surrounding
decking; the theatre was girded by Moorish arcades and had a
very exotic interior; it was demolished in 1986 to be replaced
by the current Pleasure Dome supported by a tubular steel,
geodesic grid to which this listing does not apply.
The pier head itself is the widest area of the pier; with the
exception of 4 onion domes, now covered in sheeting, very
little of the late C19 or early C20 structures survive. The
pier itself was extended in 1938.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the Brighton Marine Palace and Pier Company
was formed in 1889 conditional on the demolition of the old
Chain Pier which was located not far to the east, at the
bottom of New Steine. A storm of December, 1896, destroyed the
Chain Pier, sweeping parts of it into the Palace Pier and
damaging Volks Railway and the West Pier (qv). The first phase
of the Palace Pier's construction was completed in 1901; the
original theatre was the focus of the Pier and contained, in
addition to a concert hall seating 1,800 people, dining,
smoking and reading rooms. The pier was damaged during the war
and reopened in 1946. The storm damage of 1973 was quite
severe; the repairs completed in 1976 did not restore the
structure to its original opulence. It was purchased in 1984,
by the Noble Organisation which embarked on a 2-year
refurbishment program.
(Carder T: The Encyclopaedia of Brighton: Lewes: 1990-: 117).

Listing NGR: TQ3136003765

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Brighton Pier at Wikipedia
• Brighton Pier official website
• Wikidata Q2745160

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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