Medina House

Last updated

Medina House
Medina House August 2022.png
Pictured in August 2022
BrightonHove OSM1.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location within Brighton and Hove
Former namesMedina Baths; Hove Baths
General information
StatusDemolished
TypeBath-house
Architectural style Vernacular
AddressKings Esplanade, Hove BN3 2WA
Town or city Brighton and Hove
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates 50°49′28″N0°10′35″W / 50.8245°N 0.1763°W / 50.8245; -0.1763
Current tenantsNone
Construction started1893
Completed1894
Opened13 September 1894
Renovated1923
ClosedLate 1940s
Demolished2018
Cost£2,000 (site)
Renovation cost£1,279
Owner Polly Samson
Technical details
Floor count3
Design and construction
Architect(s)P. B. Chambers
References
[1]

Medina House is a former Turkish bath on the seafront of Hove, Sussex, England. After falling into disuse it was squatted for several years. During this period Sirus Taghan, the then owner, agreed that the occupants could remain so long as the property was kept in the same condition as before occupation. The squatters were eventually evicted in September 2006, although the property was re-occupied for a week at the end of January 2007.

Contents

Taghan submitted several applications to demolish the building. However, these were all turned down by the council and also opposed by local residents. There was a fire in the building May 2013, and again in December 2014, after which the site became increasingly derelict. The novelist Polly Samson and the guitarist David Gilmour, a couple, purchased the building in late 2015. It was demolished with the plan to build a new home for herself and Gilmour on the site in 2018. The new building on the site was completed in 2021.

History

Medina House was built in 1894 as a ladies' turkish bath. An adjacent building housed a ladies' swimming pool, although that has since been demolished. It was built for the Hove Bath and Laundry Company to the design of the architect P. B. Chambers.

As part of Kings Esplanade, it now forms part of the Cliftonville Conservation Area within Hove. Its listing describes it as a "Strange and whimsical building" that "Possesses some charm and character as well as historical significance." [2] [3]

During the Second World War it saw service as a makeshift hospital. [4]

Previously owned by Hove Borough Council, it was at the end tenanted from the 1940s to 1994 by a firm of diamond cutters, Monnickendam, who tried to buy the premises from the council and were refused. Around the time that Hove Borough Council was merged with Brighton Council to form the Brighton and Hove unitary authority 1997–8, they instead sold it for circa £300,000 to Sirus Taghan.

21st century

In 2001, the building was occupied by a group of artists known as the Chalk Circle who used the space for artist development, community workshops and exhibitions. Their aim was to create a 'free space' that the local community could use for whatever they thought most appropriate. Though initially the rent paid to the landlord was minimal (£1 per year) this was gradually increased to £20 per tenant per week. In the summer of 2006 the house became divided into drug addicts and non-addicts. Consequently, internal conflicts arose, most of the non-addicts left and the rent ceased to be collected. It was occupied until September 2006, when the residents were evicted due to non-payment of rent. The court ordered the eviction. The residents appealed against the decision but were eventually evicted. City councillors had been campaigning for four years due to local complaints about noise and rubbish. [4]

In 2007, the building was briefly squatted for about two weeks. [5] One morning, Elijah Smith opened the door to the fire brigade and police who escorted them. The police kicked electric sockets inside the building, causing them to become a fire hazard. Under this pretext the squatters were evicted and a fire prohibition order was then placed on the building. [6]

Development

Following purchase in the late 1990s, Sirus Taghan obtained planning consent for a low-rise small development which would have seen Medina House demolished. Whilst the Royal Doulton-tiled main bath house area was part demolished and the pool filled in with concrete along the way, the consent was allowed to lapse and ideas of putting a tall building on the site have instead proliferated ever since (unsuccessfully).

One idea, for a 'spinning plates' tower, appeared on the front page of the local newspaper, The Argus. A local architect recognised it as having been inspired by a development in Scandinavia. No planning application was submitted to BHCC for this proposal.

Sirus Taghan has wanted to demolish Medina House and build a new tower block. He first put in a planning application for an 18-storey building in 2002, but this was rejected. Subsequently, he planned a smaller tower but never put in a formal application. Taghan's 2006 proposal for Sirus Tower, a 12-storey building which would house 25 flats, also failed to gain planning consent. [7] Taghan claimed that the building is structurally unsound. [8]

Enforcement notices

Following receipt of a letter from the Hove MP, Mike Weatherley, in January 2011, Brighton and Hove City Council opened an Enforcement file. A six-months s215 notice was raised in November 2011, a one-month extension granted soon after and the deadline of 1 June 2012 passed without compliance. At the time of writing a 2nd s215 notice was to be raised concerning refuse within the bath area and a letter was to be sent advising the owners of the council's position: prosecution and/or repairs by the council to be recharged to the owners and asking them what their position is.

Medina House, 2010 Medina House, King's Esplanade, Hove (August 2010).JPG
Medina House, 2010

Demolition

A fire occurred in the afternoon of Friday 31 May 2013. [9] The cause is unclear. [10] Another fire occurred in the evening of Saturday 20 December 2014. [11] The initial assessment by the fire service was that the cause was arson. [12]

The novelist Polly Samson and the guitarist David Gilmour, a couple, purchased the building in late 2015. [13] After the fires, view of the surveyors was that Medina House was damaged beyond repair. A plan to erect a new structure which echoes the old one was approved. The Victorian building was demolished in April 2018. [14]

Turkish baths site 2002 Medina House Turkish Baths Site.jpg
Turkish baths site 2002
Turkish baths decorated wall, 2002 Medina House Turkish Baths Decorated Wall.jpg
Turkish baths decorated wall, 2002
Turkish baths detail showing decoration, 2002 Medina House Turkish Baths Detail Showing Decoration.jpg
Turkish baths detail showing decoration, 2002
Rebuilding, 2019 Medina House in July 2019.jpg
Rebuilding, 2019
With the roof line of the re constructed Medina House now completed, it exposes the new gable. Medina House New Gable.jpg
With the roof line of the re constructed Medina House now completed, it exposes the new gable.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brighton</span> Seaside resort on the south coast of England

Brighton is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the city of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located 47 mi (76 km) south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The ancient settlement of "Brighthelmstone" was documented in the Domesday Book (1086). The town's importance grew in the Middle Ages as the Old Town developed, but it languished in the early modern period, affected by foreign attacks, storms, a suffering economy and a declining population. Brighton began to attract more visitors following improved road transport to London and becoming a boarding point for boats travelling to France. The town also developed in popularity as a health resort for sea bathing as a purported cure for illnesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Pier</span> Ruined 19th century pier in Brighton, England

The West Pier is a ruined pier in Brighton, England. It was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1866. It was the first pier to be Grade I listed in England but has become increasingly derelict since its closure to the public in 1975. As of 2023 only a partial metal framework remains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital</span> Hospital in England

The Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital is a children's hospital located within the grounds of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton on the south coast of England. It provides outpatient services, inpatient facilities, intensive care and a 24-hour emergency care service for children referred by GPs and other specialists. It is managed by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brighton i360</span> Observation tower in Brighton, East Sussex

Brighton i360 is a 162 m (531 ft) moving observation tower on the seafront of Brighton, East Sussex, England at the landward end of the remains of the West Pier. The tower opened on 4 August 2016. From the fully enclosed viewing pod, visitors experience 360-degree views across Brighton, the South Downs and the English Channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embassy Court</span> Historic site in East Sussex, United Kingdom

Embassy Court is an 11-storey block of flats on the seafront in Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It has been listed at Grade II* by English Heritage. Wells Coates' "extremely controversial" piece of Modernist architecture has "divided opinion across the city" since its completion in 1935, and continues to generate strong feelings among residents, architectural historians and conservationists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pepper Pot, Brighton</span> Historic site in City of Brighton and Hove, England

The Pepper Pot, also known as the Pepperpot, the Pepper Box or simply The Tower, is a listed building in the Queen's Park area of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It was designed and built in 1830 by architect Charles Barry in the grounds of a villa, which was built for the owner of Queen's Park. It survived the villa's demolition and is now one of its only surviving remnants. Its original purpose is unknown, but several possible explanations have been given for its construction. It has had a wide variety of uses in the 20th century, and is now owned by Brighton and Hove City Council, protected as a Grade II listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sussex Heights</span> Residential tower block in Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom

Sussex Heights is a residential tower block in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built between 1966 and 1968 on the site of a historic church, it rises to 102 m (335 ft) and has 116 flats. As of August 2022, the tower is the 125th tallest building in the UK, and until 2005 it was the tallest residential tower in the UK outside of London. Until 2015, it was the tallest structure in Brighton, however it has now been exceeded by the i360 Tower, which stands at 162 metres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buildings and architecture of Brighton and Hove</span>

Brighton and Hove, a city on the English Channel coast in southeast England, has a large and diverse stock of buildings "unrivalled architecturally" among the country's seaside resorts. The urban area, designated a city in 2000, is made up of the formerly separate towns of Brighton and Hove, nearby villages such as Portslade, Patcham and Rottingdean, and 20th-century estates such as Moulsecoomb and Mile Oak. The conurbation was first united in 1997 as a unitary authority and has a population of about 253,000. About half of the 20,430-acre (8,270 ha) geographical area is classed as built up.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Alen Building</span> Residential apartment block in Brighton, United Kingdom

The Van Alen Building is a modern apartment and penthouse block on the seafront in Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It was named after William Van Alen, the architect of New York City's Chrysler Building and is designed as a 21st-century interpretation of the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles. It was completed in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amex House</span> Corporate headquarters in Brighton, United Kingdom

Amex House, popularly nicknamed The Wedding Cake, was the former European headquarters of American Express, a multinational financial services company. Its site is located in the Carlton Hill area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The nine-floor building, designed by British architecture firm Gollins, Melvin, Ward & Partners, was commissioned by the company in 1977 to consolidate their operations in Brighton, which had been spread over several sites. The white and blue structure, a landmark on the city skyline, received both praise and criticism for its distinctive style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brighton Wheel</span> Ferris wheel in Brighton, England

The Brighton Wheel, also known during its planning and construction phase as the Brighton O and the Wheel of Excellence, was a transportable Ferris wheel installation which operated from October 2011 until May 2016 on the seafront in Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Situated below the East Cliff near Brighton Pier and built with private funding, its promoters anticipated that several hundred thousand visitors per year would experience the 12-minute ride. The wheel's location in a conservation area with many residential buildings proved controversial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montpelier, Brighton</span> Inner suburban area of Brighton, England

Montpelier is an inner suburban area of Brighton, part of the English city and seaside resort of Brighton and Hove. Developed together with the adjacent Clifton Hill area in the mid-19th century, it forms a high-class, architecturally cohesive residential district with "an exceptionally complete character". Stucco-clad terraced housing and villas predominate, but two of the city's most significant Victorian churches and a landmark hospital building are also in the area, which lies immediately northwest of Brighton city centre and spreads as far as the ancient parish boundary with Hove.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astoria Theatre, Brighton</span> Historic site in Brighton, England

The Astoria Theatre was a former cinema in Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1933 in the Art Deco style for a local entertainment magnate who opened one of Brighton's first cinemas many years earlier, it was the first and most important expansion of the Astoria brand outside London. It initially struggled against the town's other "super-cinemas", but enjoyed a period of success in the 1950s and 1960s before rapid decline set in, culminating in its closure in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brighton Town Hall, England</span> Municipal building in Brighton, East Sussex, England

Brighton Town Hall stands on Bartholomew Square in Brighton, East Sussex, England. The town hall contains a number of police cells which were in use until the 1960s, and which now form the Old Police Cells Museum. The town hall is a Grade II listed building. It was formerly the headquarters of Brighton Borough Council and is still used for some meetings of the successor Brighton and Hove City Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elm Grove, Brighton</span>

Elm Grove is a mainly residential area of Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. The densely populated district lies on a steep hill northeast of the city centre and developed in the second half of the 19th century after the laying out of a major west–east road, also called Elm Grove. Terraced houses, small shops and architecturally impressive public buildings characterise the streetscape: within the area are a major hospital, two churches and a former board school, as well as Brighton's oldest council houses and an interwar council estate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courtenay Gate</span> Serviced apartments in Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom

Courtenay Gate is a block of serviced apartments on the seafront in Hove, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Situated in a prominent position next to the beach and overlooking Hove Lawns, the six-storey block is Neo-Georgian in style and dates from 1934. It is in a conservation area and is a locally listed building. Built to replace a terrace of early-19th-century houses which had been demolished more than 30 years earlier, the "imposing" gault brick building has a "palatial" appearance and is a landmark on the seafront.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kings House, Hove</span> Grade II listed building in Hove, England

Kings House is a Grade II listed building in Hove that was previously used as offices by Brighton and Hove City Council. It is situated in Grand Avenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preston Barracks</span> Demolished military installation

Preston Barracks was a military installation on Lewes Road, Brighton. All of the buildings on the site have been demolished, most recently in 2018, with mainly student residences and a retail park built on the site.

Bayside is a development, currently under construction, located on the eastern approach to Worthing town centre in West Sussex, England. Designed by Allies and Morrison, it consists of two main buildings, the tallest of which, Bayside Vista, is a 15-storey tower that reaches 52 metres (172 ft) and is the tallest building in Worthing. It replaced the Aquarena swimming pool.

References

  1. Middleton 2003, Vol. 9, pp. 23–26.
  2. Montagu Evans (May 2012). "Heritage Assessment: Medina House" (PDF).[ permanent dead link ]
  3. "Medina House and former Turkish Baths: Conservation Management Plan" (PDF). University of Birmingham. March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 Squatters are finally evicted, The Argus, 21 October 2006, archived from the original on 4 April 2012, retrieved 20 March 2009
  5. Squatters move back into seafront property, The Argus, 23 January 2007, archived from the original on 16 June 2012, retrieved 20 March 2009
  6. Seafront squatters evicted, The Argus, 1 February 2007, archived from the original on 16 June 2012, retrieved 20 March 2009
  7. Quirky tower plans anger campaigners, The Argus, 16 October 2006, archived from the original on 2 October 2016
  8. Vowles, Neil (14 September 2013). "Developer claims it's 'not viable' to keep historic bath house in Brighton". The Argus. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  9. "Medina House in Hove on fire". The Argus. 31 May 2013. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  10. Kiely, Melita (2 June 2013). "Arson not ruled out at historic Medina House baths". The Argus. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  11. "Fire takes hold at historic seafront bath house". The Argus. 20 December 2014. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  12. Vowles, Neil (22 December 2014). "Public baths blaze thought to be arson attack". Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  13. Vowles, Neil (30 October 2015). "Multi-millionaire rock star and author wife are new owners of historic former bath house". The Argus . Newsquest Media (Southern) Ltd. Archived from the original on 31 October 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  14. Wadsworth, Jo (19 April 2018). "Medina House demolished as Dave Gilmour's plans to rebuild it progress". Brighton and Hove News. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.

Bibliography