Fife House, No 1, Lewes Crescent, is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Kemp Town Kemp Town Estate, also known as Kemp Town, is a 19th-century Regency architecture residential estate in the east of Brighton in East Sussex, England. It consists of Arundel Terrace, Lewes Crescent, Sussex Square, Chichester Terrace, and th ...

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, which was previously owned by the

Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has b ...

and the

Duke of Fife Duke of Fife is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that has been created twice, in both cases for the Earl of Fife. In 1889, Lord Fife married Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edwa ...

History

Fife House was originally built in 1828 by

Thomas Cubitt Thomas Cubitt (25 February 1788 – 20 December 1855) was a British master builder, notable for his employment in developing many of the historic streets and squares of London, especially in Belgravia, Pimlico and Bloomsbury. Background The s ...

, as part of the Kemp Town estate planned by

Thomas Read Kemp Thomas Read Kemp (23 December 1782 – 20 December 1844) was an English property developer and politician. Life He was the son of Sussex landowner and Member of Parliament Thomas Kemp, and his wife Anne, daughter of Henry Read of Brookla ...

, and designed by Charles Busby and

Amon Wilds Amon Wilds (1762 – 12 September 1833) was an English architect and builder. He formed an architectural partnership with his son Amon Henry WildsIn this article, Amon Wilds is referred to as ''Wilds senior'' and his son Amon Henry Wilds ...

. It was bought in 1829 by the

William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (21 May 1790 – 18 January 1858), styled Marquess of Hartington until 1811, was an English peer, courtier and Whig politician. Known as the "Bachelor Duke", he served as Lord Chamberlai ...

. He had the property, situated at 1, Lewes Crescent, joined internally by Thomas Cubitt, using workmen from Chatsworth, to an adjacent property he also owned at 14, Chichester Terrace.Daily Telegraph ''Oh my lord!'' 10 July 2006
/ref> The Duke had the property redecorated by

John Gregory Crace Vice Admiral Sir John Gregory Crace (6 February 1887 – 11 May 1968) was an Australian who came to prominence as an officer of the Royal Navy (RN). He commanded the Australian-United States Support Force, Task Force 44, at the Battle of the ...

in 1848, and lived there until his death in 1858. The

lived in the property from 1896,Kemp Town history
/ref> with his wife,

Princess Louise Princess Louise may refer to: People * Louise of Denmark (disambiguation), various princesses * Louise of Prussia (disambiguation), various princesses * Louise of Saxe-Meiningen (disambiguation), various princesses * Princess Louise of Schleswig-H ...

, the daughter of

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

. The house was named ''Fife House'' at that time. King Edward visited the house on a number of occasions, most notably staying there during his convalescence in 1908. It was for this reason that the ''King's toilet'' was installed in the house. Princess Louise lived in the property until 1924. From 1947 and for most of the rest of the 20th century, Fife House was the home of the Weston family, who founded and ran the nearby Nevill House Hotel.

Recent history

During renovation work carried out under the supervision of new owners Todd Cooper and Giuseppe Sironi in 2001 the decoration by Crace was rediscovered under several layers of wallpaper. Telecommunications millionnaire Patrick Naughton bought the property in 2002 for £2.85 million. The bathrooms in Fife House were renovated in 2002 by Emily Swift-Jones and Joseph Atkinson of ''Aurum Design''. The property was featured in 2005 in ''House Detectives'', a BBC series which investigated the histories of domestic properties. It was revealed that Baker, the Bachelor Duke of Devonshire's butler, occupied a small house at the rear of the property for twenty five years. The property was sold in 2008, to an unknown buyer, for £1.75 million. It was reported that the property had been occupied by

squatters Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

during December 2008, but they had moved out by mid-January 2009.

References

{{B&H Buildings Grade I listed houses Grade I listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Houses in Brighton and Hove Houses completed in 1828 Squats in the United Kingdom Former squats