The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, is one of the most famous and opulent royal extravaganzas in existence. First built in 1787 for the Prince of Wales as a neo-classical marine villa, by the time the Prince became king in 1820 it had grown into the extraordinary Indian-Chinese fantasy that it is today. This study reproduces all of the important surviving designs, for the exterior and interior of the Pavilion, revealing the great variety of brilliant exotic schemes devised for its construction and decoration. The projects for the exterior include the pretty but chaste designs of Henry Holland and the wilder Indian and Chinese fantasies of William Pordent and Humphry. The interior designs are often astonishing; they include schemes for whole rooms as well as for individual details such as windows, skylights, doorways, carpets and curtains.

Author Biography

John Morley became Director of the Royal Pavilion and Museums at Brighton in 1968 and under his direction the Pavilion underwent the most systematic and thorough restoration in its history.