Eastern Inspiration

In 1802 a Chinese gallery was created and followed by a Chinese passage room with painted glass decorated with flowers, insects, fruits and birds. Eventually the entire interior had a Chinese theme. Naturally the Prince now wanted the exterior of the building to reflect his new Eastern theme for his palace.

The Prince’s architect at the time William Porden already had experience with eastern architecture having worked under architect Samuel Pepys Cockerell who built the magnificent Sezincote residence at Gloucestershire for his brother Charles Cockerell. Details of the architecture of Sezincote had been derived from drawings of Indian architecture that Thomas Daniell and his nephew William Daniell had seen during their time in India from 1785 to 1794. Under Cockerell, William Porden had designed some of the smaller buildings at Sezincote, including a Temple, a bridge and a fountain.

William Porden produced a design for a new Pavilion in the Eastern style in 1802 but the final design of the new Pavilion would be executed under John Nash, who the Prince appointed as his Surveyor-General in 1805.

John Nash produced a design with broad concave spires with numerous minarets and pinnacles with pierced stonework screens and Indian columns. Work began on this new vision of the Royal Pavilion in 1815. The Great Kitchen, Long Gallery with its staircases at either end and the new Entrance Hall were completed in 1816. Two new apartments, the Banqueting and Music Rooms were added in 1817. The original cupola was now replaced by a central Indian dome containing five living rooms with smaller domes on either side. By 1819 the Kings apartments on the west front were added.

References

Tim Lambert, A Brief History of Brighton, Sussex, www.localhistories.org

Clifford Musgrave, The Royal Pavilion (Royal Pavilion Committee, 1954)

Regina Scott, Brighton's Shining Star: The Royal Pavilion, nineteenteen.blogspot.com/2009/09/brightons-shining-star-royal-pavilion.html