Royal Pavilion, The, Brighton, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest:   

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

In 1786, the Prince of Wales took the lease on Thomas Read Kemp's farmhouse on the site of the present Royal Pavilion. Between 1795 and 1802, while in partnership with John Nash, Humphry Repton (1752-1818) carried out landscape work in the Pavilion grounds for which he was paid £264. The nature of the work is not certain. From 1802 until 1816, the Prince acquired the land which forms the present Royal Pavilion estate. Repton was invited to advise on the site again in November 1805. His 'Designs for the Pavillion at Brighton', presented in the form of a Red Book, included illustrated proposals both for an Indian-style pavilion and gardens, but neither was executed. The Royal Stables and Riding School (now the Dome and Corn Exchange) were completed by 1808. John Nash built the Royal Pavilion in its present form between 1815 and 1822, and laid out the gardens simultaneously.

After King George IV's death in 1830, William IV continued to use the Pavilion as a royal residence but Queen Victoria was an infrequent visitor and eventually, in 1847-1848, had the contents of the Pavilion removed to London or sold. The building survived a government proposal for its demolition and the whole estate was purchased by the town in 1850 to be used as public assembly rooms and gardens. Restoration of its Regency interiors by Brighton Council began formally in October 1950, following the centenary commemorations of the purchase of the Pavilion.

Virtually nothing of Nash's layout survived to the present day. In 1982, in conjunction with a complete refurbishment of the Pavilion, the re-creation of Nash's 1826 layout for the grounds, using documented sources and contemporary plant species, was begun. Restoration works to the gardens in the western boundary area will be completed around the year 2000, in conjunction with refurbishment of the Dome, Corn Exchange and Museum.