Plans for the restoration of King’s House, Hove have been revealed by Mortar Nova Grand Avenue, who bought the Grade II listed building on Hove seafront from Brighton & Hove City Council in October for £26 million.
Proposals for the former Council office building include reverting King’s House, built in the 1870s, back to its original residential use and replacing its 1980s extension and car park with two new buildings, creating a total of around 172 homes.
Alan Coleman, co-director of Mortar Nova Grand Avenue, said, “We have brought together a project team of superb local companies, including architects Crowther Associates, to develop designs that will restore the grandeur of King’s House when it was first built and create quality new buildings that will enhance the townscape in this important location in Hove.
“We invite local people to come and see our plans at our exhibition on 26 and 27 January at the Cornerstone Community Centre and we very much look forward to hearing their views and ideas for this exciting project.”
King’s House was originally designed as a terrace of large houses with the Princes Hotel located at its western end fronting Grand Avenue. It is now proposed to reinstate the building to its original intended status in providing high quality residential accommodation throughout the building.
The external facades will be repaired and refurbished with some original features previously lost, such as entrance doors on Queen’s Gardens facing Hove seafront, being reinstated and original style windows and chimney pots re-introduced.
The 1980s extension and glazed link on Grand Avenue will be demolished and two new separate modern apartment buildings are proposed, one fronting Grand Avenue and one in the current rear car park, restoring the Second Avenue street scene.
Local people are invited to share their views on the proposals as well as their ideas for making the scheme as environmentally friendly as possible. In addition to contributions for education and infrastructure, Mortar Nova Grand Avenue has also created a voluntary fund of £15,000 and is seeking ideas for projects which would most benefit people locally in Hove.
The public exhibition will run from 6-9.30pm on Friday 26th January and 10am-4pm on Saturday 27th January at Cornerstone Community Centre, on the corner of Church Road and First Avenue in Hove, BN3 2FL.
