Location: Small House – 39 – 40 Sussex Square – Brighton
Description: Heritage renovation project converting redundant basement space into new residential dwelling at Grade I Listed Sussex Square
Client: Confidential
Budget: Confidential
Awards: Sussex Heritage Trust Awards 2019 – Highly Commended
A long forgotten underground vault behind Sussex Mansions in Brighton is being carefully restored and rebuilt after planning permission was successfully secured by Ewan Stoddart.
39-40 Sussex Square is an important Grade I listed property within the city, originally designed by Brighton Regency architect Charles Augustin Busby for the developer Thomas Reed Kemp, with works completed by around 1827. Substantial early 20th Century alterations came about between 1918, when Lady Sackville West spent £50,000 – the equivalent of millions of pounds at the time – converting the buildings into a single palatial residence, to the designs of her friend and disputed lover, the renowned architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Part of the Lutyens redevelopment was a new impressive rear underground vault space, which was designed to lead Lady Sackville through to a connecting underground road tunnel and then out into an impressive ornamental garden on the other side of Bristol Place, designs by Lutyen’s wife, the famous horticulturalist Gertrude Jekyll.
A new robust and considered application for a subterranean living area was submitted by Ewan Stoddart, assisted by Luke Carter of Lewis and Co, and permission has been successfully granted by the local authority. Work has commenced on site in Aug 2018 and reached completion late 2019.
Ewan said: “We were able to submit a robust application for the vault, and subsequently gained planning permission, thanks to a thorough understanding of the heritage and the architectural significance of this long forgotten space.”
