From mausoleum to ballroom – how one building is adapting to modern life
This year’s buildings at risk list for Brighton and Hove highlights one of the key problems facing a city blessed with such a rich architectural heritage: how do you find an economically viable use for an exceptional building in a world that is radically different from the one for which it was designed?
Even with committed owners who are prepared to invest heavily, it can be difficult to come up with a realistic solution, as the Brighton Ballrooms demonstrate.
Built in 1892 on the corner of Paston Place and St George’s Road by Sir Albert Sassoon, it echoes the Pavilion, with its Indo-Saracenic motifs, tri-lobed blind arches and copper, tented roof. It was originally the Sassoon family mausoleum (they owned a large house at the end of the road in Eastern Terrace) but survived in this use only until 1933, when the bodies of Sir Albert and his son Edward were removed to the Willesden Jewish Cemetery and the mausoleum was sold.
Even then, there were problems in finding a practical use. It became a furniture store, a decorator’s, a restaurant, an air raid shelter during World War II and then the ballroom and Bombay Bar of the neighbouring Hanbury Arms pub.
Listed Grade II, its significance was recognised in 2006, when it underwent a £100,000 refurbished to become a cabaret club, aided by a £56,000 grant from English Heritage to restore paintings that had been added to its dome when it became a bar in 1949. But three operators in rapid succession have failed to make the building pay.
Current owners Proud Group, who have a track record of working within important listed buildings, have faced the same problem – ”a result of the limited capacity and poor location of the property, situated apart from the main nightlife in Kemp Town, with little passing trade,” they explain.
Last May, they approached the council to see whether it might be possible to convert the building to housing but were told that it should be kept in its current use if possible.
Over the following months, they have worked with the council’s heritage and planning teams to come up with a design that increases the number of covers and integrates the space of the old Hanbury Arms pub and the mausoleum.
The design blocks redundant entrances, removes unsympathetic additions, reinstates historic cornicing and makes use of modern glass technology to add balconies without cluttering the original space.
“We always take pride in our venues – the mausoleum is as much the identity of what we do as the business we run in it but we desperately needed to make it fit for purpose,” says a spokesperson.
“We want the building to survive and thrive, just as we need our business to be viable. It’s a challenge but we’ve worked closely with the council and everyone involved hopes that we’ve found the answer.”
Top: the roof of the mausoleum. Centre: party time at the Brighton Ballrooms. Bottom: exterior, mid 20th century
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