Georgian England experienced a boom in housing unlike anything experienced before or since. It was a time when fabulous mansions were springing up throughout the countryside, and even the middle classes could afford splendid terraced houses in fashionable places like London, Bath and Brighton. These days we complain at how the sea fronts in places like Spain and Florida are covered in miles of buildings, but the English started the fashion and Brighton is a prime example of the art.
Today when we think of a "housing estate" we may think of one of Britain's soulless collections of "little boxes all the same", or one of the walled and gated fortresses in which the American middle classes hide from the poor. Worse, we may think of some hideous array of graffiti-covered tower blocks. In the early 19th Century, however, a "housing estate" was a new terrace of fine Georgian town houses.
Prime amongst these in Brighton was Kemp Town, a creation of local lord of the manor and MP, Thomas Read Kemp. Employing architect Charles Busby and builder Amon Wilds he set out to create a completely new residential region on the cliffs to the east of Brighton. The original grand conception has been substantially re-worked, but there is still an impressive array of housing to see.
Not content with this, Busby and Wilds also got involved with Brunswick Town, a development between Brighton and Hove. The most spectacular elements of this area are Brunswick Square and Adelaide Terrace.
These days, of course, such splendid houses are far too expensive for ordinary families and most of them have been converted into hotels, offices and flats.