Brighton is often considered to be a Regency resort yet few buildings from that period survive apart from the Royal Pavilion.

The Regency lasted only from 1811 when George III went mad to 1820 when he died and the Regent took the throne as George IV.

Many of the buildings now regarded as Regency were in fact built between 1820 and 1830 when George IV was King. The irony was that the man who had done so much to make Brighton had by this time tired of its pleasures and seldom went there again.

Although John Nash designed for the fantasy that is the Pavilion, three local architects and builders were largely responsible for the building boom of the 1820s. They were Amon Wilds, his son Amon Henry Wilds and Charles Busby.

One of the most delightful designs they produced was for Regency Square which has survived all kinds of difficulties including two world wars.

Also still standing although much altered is the chapel in Ship Street which later became Holy Trinity Church. It is now occupied by Fabrica.

This was built for Thomas Read Kemp whose name lives on in Kemp Town. It was followed by a far grander building for him in Montpelier Road known as The Temple.

Then in the country, it is now in the city and is used by Brighton and Hove High School for Girls.

In a different style altogether is the Grecian-inspired Unitarian church in New Road. Nearby was the Central School in Church Street, a rare example of Regency Gothic, which was tragically demolished in the 1960s.

Wilds and Busby were not the only architects in town. The young Charles Barry was responsible for St Peter’s Church which for many years was the town’s unofficial cathedral.

Barry also built the delightful St Andrew’s Church in Waterloo Street, Hove. A less happy design was his Royal Sussex County Hospital in Eastern Road. It will soon be demolished.

But his most celebrated work, produced along after he had left Brighton, was for the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

Wilds and Busby thought big in their designs for Thomas Kemp at the eastern end of town. They produced some of the houses in Sussex Square and Lewes Crescent.

This impressive development was bigger than Royal Crescent in Bath and on a par with the great London crescents. But the houses were slow to sell and Kemp ran out of cash. It took many years and other hands to complete the scheme.

Undaunted, Wilds and Busby went west to design the equally impressive Brunswick Square and terraces which formed a separate town before becoming part of Hove.

The Chain Pier, built in 1823, was the first construction of its type. It proved to be a big draw both for visitors by land and sea.

New highways such as Grand Junction Road and an improved sea wall made Brighton more secure from storms and Marine Parade became one of the most desirable roads in Britain. In ten short years the seaside town had developed into a fashionable resort.