ROYAL PAVILION, BRIGHTON

BUILDINGS AND CRAFTSMANSHIP

The need to rebuild the eight collapsed minarets and the realisation that the glass fibre minarets had performed poorly (leaking, fading in colour, glistening when wet and causing faster rainwater runoff which eroded and stained adjoining renders) led to the acceptance that natural stone should be used for the restoration. A full stonework survey in 1980 by Corinne Bennett of Purcell, Miller Tritton and engineers Lawrence Hewitt & Partners of Sevenoaks revealed the extent of the problem. Much of the structure of the building was linked to the stonework by concealed cast iron framing. This adventurous use of iron, including cramps to secure the stone blocks, led to a legacy of rusting and expanding metal which contributed to the obvious decay. The estimated cost of repair in 1980 was £2 million.

The major work is to the minarets, although extensive works were necessary to the octagonal columns (with their intricate leaf patterns), to finials, balustrading and chimneys, and to the tracery lattice work (suggestive of Indian Jali work) which had some of the freest flowing patterns with which stonemasons had ever been confronted.

The stone used by Nash was a Bath stone from either Combe Down or Box Ground quarries. A fortuitous report from the Building Research Establishment indicated that Combe Down was a potentially durable variety of Bath stone, and this pre-empted an earlier proposal to use a French limestone for repairs. The quarry used is the Upper Lawn Quarry of John

Hancock & Sons. Gregory Thain Ltd is responsible for initial carving of the stone at the quarry from drawings produced by conservators on the Pavilion staff (taken from original illustrations and photographs of the 1850s). Final carving in situ is by T E Tilley Ltd of Brighton.

In the original design, the minarets were constructed from rings of stone, each stone stepped in size to fit over a tapered cast iron core. To transfer the weight of the stone to the core, the gap between was filled with a tile, brick and mortar mix. Water penetrating the joints caused the cast iron to corrode and expand, splitting the rings and making the stonework dangerous.

Once the cores were exposed, by removing glass fibre minarets or stone rings, they were grit blasted and treated with a specification to meet severe conditions for exposed iron. Each replacement stone ring is now in two parts with a vertical joint. Each stone has to be worked to come as close to the core as possible, with the cavity packed with mortar, and grouted, since the weight must transfer to the core; the crushing weight would be too great at the base where the stonework has a narrow neck across the moulding.

The greater bed depth of stone in Nash’s day allowed him to make the minaret shafts in four courses, whereas now it needs seven. As the quarry progresses, however, and the face is pushed back, the bed height is increasing, and deep stones for carved sections which cannot be split are now available. The contract will use 450 tons of stone on the minarets with stones of up to two tons in

weight once worked. The Bath stQne is coated with a lime-wash shelter coat to help it withstand the damp salt-laden air of Brighton. Originally all the rendered areas (domes etc) were intended to be the colour of Bath stone, with some very elaborate shading of the scored blockwork render to enhance the illusion. Although this shading will not be repeated, the render is now resplendent in a Bath stone colour paint.

When the stonework survey was carried out in 1980, Corinne Bennett recommended that the entire building should be considered as a whole, and that the degree of research applied to the interior should also be applied to the fabric and exterior. As a result of this, further surveys discovered that dry and wet rot were in evidence on a large scale. The first remedy was to make good the roofs and stop the damp penetration feeding the rot. One area of roof remodelled in the 1850s was rebuilt about 4 ft lower, between the central tower and south western tower. Elsewhere flat roofs which had leaked badly were re-modelled at English Heritage’s insistence to include pitched slated elements for water drainage. Roof gulleys were enlarged and rainwater goods renewed and re-routed. One of the major causes of the rot had been the piecemeal development of the Pavilion, with early building enveloped within later structures, including rainwater pipes that now only fed into internal voids. Whilst most roofs are conventional Welsh slate (some with fishscale patterning) and lead sheet — albeit of gauges which had to be cast rather than milled — the domes and tented roofs had an interesting construction. The great tented roofs of the Banqueting and Music Rooms in particular use early examples of cast iron and laminated timber. Both rooms are 40 ft square and 20 ft high, floor to cornice. In the Music Room, an octagonal cornice is surmounted by a tier of elliptical windows. This in turn appears to support a convex cove which in fact conceals a complex

A section through the Pavilion, north-south, showing dearly the roof construction.

Rob Fraser discusses the on-going restoration of

Brighton’s Regency masterpiece