Brighton Pavilion

Question 1

Function?

Answer 1

Seaside retreat for the Prince Regent.

Question 2

Original Marine Villa?

Answer 2

The building comprises the original skeleton of the neoclassical ‘Marine Villa’: a central rotunda and two flanking side wings.

Question 3

Nash’s adaptations?

Answer 3

Extended the building –adding two additional square blocks (housing the
Banqueting room on the left and the Music room on the right) and smaller
recessed blocks at either end of both side wings.

Question 4

Indo-Saracenic style?

Answer 4

Demonstrates the influence of the revivalist architectural style in the decorative
Indo-Islamic elements such as onion domes, pointed arches, pinnacles,
minarets and jalis. A British interpretation of a ‘classic’ Indian style.

Question 5

Central Rotunda?

Answer 5

Houses the grand Saloon - comprised of four bay windows, articulated by tall
Indian pillars with jalis between them. Crowned by a large onion dome and two
flanking Islamic minarets that point heavenwards.

Question 6

Jalis?

Answer 6

(Intended to provide shade in tropical heat), impart a sense of mystery, wrapped
like a lacy veil around the three main elements of the façade.

Question 7

Flanking side wings?

Answer 7

Crowned with four smaller versions of the central onion dome. Each wing
features five floor-length windows separated by Indian pilasters which support
the first-floor balconies and Gothic ridge tiles.

Question 8

Square blocks at either end of side wings?

Answer 8

Adorned with verrandahs and jalis and crowned with Chinese ‘tented’ roofs. Their concave outlines balance the convex central dome.

Question 9

Smaller recessed blocks?

Answer 9

Crowned by domes and minarets, enhance the sense of symmetry.

Question 10

Eclectic exoticism?

Answer 10

Incorporates elements of Gothic, Classical, Moorish, Hindu and Chinese
architecture –demonstrates the Orientalist tendency to imagine and generalise
the non-Western world.

Question 11

Classical Unity?

Answer 11

Despite this, the east front has a feeling of sense of classical unity, emphasised
by repeated decorative elements.

Question 12

Phantasmagoric quality?

Answer 12

Ten domes and ten minarets give the building a vertical thrust creating a dreamlike quality that reflects the decadent tastes of the Prince Regent

Question 13

Romanticism?

Answer 13

The Pavilion reinforces Romantic tropes regarding the decadence and sensuality
of the ‘exotic’ in direct contrast to polite British society –perfectly suited to the
hedonistic function of the Regent’s pleasure palace.

Question 14

‘Kubla Khan’?

Answer 14

Coleridge’s poem demonstrates similar Romantic attitudes towards the Orient.

Question 15

Sezincote?

Answer 15

The Pavilion reflects the influence of the “Indian” exterior of Sezincote house

Question 16

Regency Brighton?

Answer 16

Became a popular resort amongst British society thanks to the patronage of the Prince Regent and the fashionable belief that sea water was had
therapeutic qualities. As a result, the city became a pleasure ground for the new consumer class -demonstrated by the frivolity and playful eclecticism of the Pavilion.

Question 17

The British Empire and the East India Company?

Answer 17

Facilitated the rule of the Indian sub-continent for two-hundred years, helping to shape the British Empire. It provided trade from the East, prompting a fascination for the “Orient“ –as reflected in the architecture of the Pavilion.

Question 18

Increasing consumerism?

Answer 18

The industrial revolution and increased trade generated by colonialism introduced a newly-wealthy merchant class, prompting a consumerist “taste” for Orientalist-inspired interior design styles such as Japonisme and Chinoiserie –reflected in the interior decoration of the
Pavilion.

Question 19

The Prince Regent (patron)?

Answer 19

Brighton’s seaside location allowed the prince to escape the formality of the
Royal Court in London and provided a discreet setting for the Prince to enjoy
liaisons with his numerous mistresses. A keen patron of the arts and lover of
the exotic, Nash’s vision for the Pavilion was informed by the Prince’s aesthetic
sensibilities and colourful personality

Question 20

John Nash?

Answer 20

Theatre designer and architect. criticised for an overly fashionable approach
and a lack of purity – Nash’s style perfectly encapsulates the Prince Regent’s
decadent tastes and its influence on the new fashionable consumer classes.

Question 21

Cast-iron?

Answer 21

A relatively modern material - used to construct the central onion dome,
which was erected on the iron frame above the original classical dome. Cast
iron became a fashionable building material, and used to construct ther
structures in Brighton such as the West Pier and Palace Pier.

Question 22

Bath stone?

Answer 22

Cream-coloured bath stone was used to construct the Jali – relatively soft to
carve which enabled the detailed tracery.

Question 23

Yellow stucco?

Answer 23

Covered the walls of the façade, recalling themarble of Indian shrines like the
Taj Mahal.

Question 24

Orientalism (Said)?

Answer 24

Said argues that buildings and paintings in the Orientalist style enabled the “West”
to generalize and misrepresent North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Depicting
an “exotic” and therefore racialized, violent and often sexualized culture distinct
from European order and morality.