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Embassy Court Kings Road, Western Street, Brighton, East Sussex The twelve-storey block of private Art Deco flats known as Embassy Court, once the gleaming white home of the likes of Max Miller and Rex Harrison, now sits a dilapidated heap at the edge of Brighton’s seashore. Wells Coates, well-known architect and creator of the revolutionary Ekco Bakelite radio cabinets, contributed his vision to modern Brighton’s formerly monochromatic four- and five-storey Regency house skyline. Coates sought to provide maximum comfort through minimal material goods, a design philosophy adopted from Jack and Molly Pritchard, former clients and principals of Isokon, a design firm bent on creating cutting edge minimalist flats, houses and furniture. The plan for Embassy Court was dictated both by residents’ potential enjoyment of their seaside location and Coates’ dedication to Modernist ideals. An ocean view, whether direct or oblique, was afforded all living rooms and main bedrooms. Private balconies, communal terraces and separate sunrooms in some flats were similarly meant to capture the feel of sun and sea. De rigeur models for Modernity, the flats were, remarkably for the time, fitted with only electrical equipment. This included space-heating through embedded ceiling coils, water heating through an electric thermo-storage system and built-in electric fireplaces in every living room. Well-equipped kitchens (with built-in refrigerators), a mural in the hall designed by American graphic artist Edward McKnight Kauffer using a new invention of transferring photographic images directly onto walls, and a range of tubular steel furniture are further details that indicate Embassy Court’s appeal. Luxury was intended from top (with the introduction of Britain’s first penthouses) to bottom (with a first class ground floor restaurant that offered room service to residents, as well as a liveried doorman) of the residence, a magnet for the fashionable doyens of society. Unfortunately, the block of flats previously coveted by celebrities now drops decaying chunks of concrete into the street. Embassy Court suffered from a takeover by absentee leaseholders during the Seventies and Eighties, leading to amalgamating security and maintenance problems. Residents wrested control from property developers in 2002, forming the leaseholder company Bluestorm, which recently has been taken over by a new group of freeholders. Sir Terence Conran’s group has been hired to assess the current situation and suggest a way forward. Due to the state of the building, estimates for repairs to the concrete façade, windows, lifts, heating and water systems are around £5.5 million (about £60,000 per flat). Residents are largely supportive of the refurbishment, though it remains to be seen if they will be able to shoulder the sizeable cost. Due to the potential valuation of the property if repaired, the current chair of Bluestorm, Emma Jinks, is hoping to woo a High Street bank to offer loans for the entire building. A first phase of basic restoration works will start in June 2004 with the renewal of all windows, concrete repairs and the refurbishment of the services in the building. Most residents have agreed to invest into these works. The local authority does not have the money to take on Embassy Court as a compulsory purchase. Furthermore, the local authority feels that the solution for the building will come from within and plans only to intervene if it can help advance the building’s refurbishment process. Sarah Ciccone
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