Now closed, due to lack of maintainence over the last 30 years or, more specifically, the last 5 to 10 years. Another unique part of our city to disappear I fear. 
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Madeira Terraces
- Thread starter wellquickwoody
- Start date
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 36,019
i see a claim of £100m to renovate. that has to be utter nonsense, let them rot for that much. i suspect the intransigence of the regency society for anything other than 100% original authenticity behind this.
- Thread starter
- #4
For £100m I agree. It NEEDS what, 20 million quid to shore it up and replace the metalwork, we built a whole new stadium for £100m ish? But no, we BORROWED £30m to help finance the new viewing platform by the old West Pier (ironic huh?) to allow a private company to make a profit rather than save what we already have! And to be fair, I quite like the idea of the tower/spike/platform, whatever it is, I just don't think it should get public money before the restoration of what is already public property.
And what if the road above The Fortune of War begins to open up in more places, close the A259?
Now closed, due to lack of maintainence over the last 30 years or, more specifically, the last 5 to 10 years. Another unique part of our city to disappear I fear.
Who is responsible for the upkeep of the terraces? Is it the local council?
gregbrighton
New member
100 million? Forget it.
OzMike
Well-known member
Sounds like West Pier syndrome again.
sydney
tinky ****in winky
i'll do it for 8 million....who do i speak to...?
HantsSeagull
Well-known member
100m sounds excessive but whats happened to our seafront and its neglect is a disgrace
brighton bluenose
Well-known member
I've been banging on about the state of our city for ages - there are so many areas that have been left to rot:
Black Rock
Madeira Terraces
London Road
Preston Barracks
Coombe Terrace
Circus Street
Anston House
The Seafront Arches.......and more!!
It is truly shocking that such important sites in our city have been literally left to rot by both private developers and the successive councils over DECADES!!
Black Rock
Madeira Terraces
London Road
Preston Barracks
Coombe Terrace
Circus Street
Anston House
The Seafront Arches.......and more!!
It is truly shocking that such important sites in our city have been literally left to rot by both private developers and the successive councils over DECADES!!
Vegas Seagull
New member
- Jul 10, 2009
- 7,782
Spend a million a year and do it slowly, it must be done but it's not a race, stating £100m as a one off is a non starter.
'Eating an elephant' in management speak
'Eating an elephant' in management speak
And my big bug-bear is that you can't build any new, exciting and challenging architecture in the city.
Vegas Seagull
New member
- Jul 10, 2009
- 7,782
40 storey apartment block built 'over' the sea, coming soon at the Marina fits the challenge bit
seagullsovergrimsby
#cpfctinpotclub
Especially if it obstructs the sea view from the multi million pound residences in Roedean
gregbrighton
New member
Problem is that it doesn't serve much of a purpose these days. You could easily walk along the top or down at the bottom. Perhaps they could fill the arches with housing / commercial units or even light artisan industry.
desprateseagull
New member
I saw once section stripped back- thought they were preparing to repair it?
Was on the palace pier, and saw some people rebuilding the wall at end of the groyne next to it.. quite precarious platform, bolted over the side!
Was on the palace pier, and saw some people rebuilding the wall at end of the groyne next to it.. quite precarious platform, bolted over the side!
discusting isn't it. Take a look at the grand hotel next time u drive past it, how they can still charge premium rates when they cant even be bothered to paint it is a discrase.
but we did spend millions on a bus lane on lewis rd thar has worked wonders.
Almost as shocking as the destruction of our beautiful language we have to suffer on a daily basis. Are other nationalities as poor at using their own language as the English?
[h=1]We must not let our once grand terraces rot away - The Arsegas[/h]
The Madeira terraces
Last updated 10:04 Thursday 21 May 2015
by Adam Trimingham
The Madeira terraces, built on a grand scale during the 1890s, are one of the great glories of Brighton.
Stretching more than half a mile from the Aquarium to Duke’s Mound, they provide a viewing platform unmatched in any other British seaside town.
They demonstrate the Victorian love of cast iron and are decorative as well as being functional.
They are at once monumental in construction and delicate in design.
But even cast iron, that most resilient of metals, cannot withstand the constant pounding from salt-laden winds and little has been done to protect the terraces over the years from decay.
So it is scarcely surprising that huge faults have been found in the structure which will result in dangerous sections being closed for the foreseeable future.
Madeira Drive is used as a finishing point for many major runs such as the London to Brighton bike ride, one of Britain’s biggest participatory events.
Probably the most famous is the Veteran Car Run on the first Sunday in November to commemorate the removal of the walking pace restriction on early motor vehicles.
It is Britain’s most watched outdoor event with more than a million people lining the route from London. Some of the largest crowds are in Brighton where many spectators like to go on the terraces.
Other crowd pullers include the commercial vehicles run early in May which to my mind is more interesting than the old crocks, and rallies for individual makes of cars such as Minis and Volkswagens.
Madeira Drive itself became Britain’s first racetrack for cars in the Edwardian age and helped revive the resort, which was going through a difficult period. The terraces proved ideal for watching daredevil drivers and their spirit survives in the speed trials staged each September.
But the terraces have not looked good for many years.
The plants are shabby and neglected, even though they have included the biggest euonymus japonicus, an ornamental flowering shrub, in Britain.
The cast iron is cracked and flaky while the many stairways needing attention.
The splendid Victorian lift from Marine Parade functions intermittently and with little advertisement. The lavatories on the middle terrace have long gone.
Rats scuttle along the gutters at road level and this area is uninviting at night. Part of the road has become a gigantic car park.
What is to be done about the terraces?
Left to rot, they will never look a romantic ruin, unlike the remains of that other cast iron masterpiece, the West Pier.
Yet there is no way in which the cash-strapped city council can find anything like the many millions of pounds it would cost to replace the ironwork and make them safe again.
When Labour councillor Andy Durr had the bright idea in the 1990s of renovating the seafront between the piers, he knew that private investment would follow public spending on the arches and so it proved.
But there are few arches in Madeira Drive and the current crop of Labour councillors, newly in charge, have as yet found no solution.
I have previously suggested filling in the terraces at their lowest level with commercial enterprises to provide some of the cash but this might not be structurally feasible, environmentally acceptable or financially viable.
A much more radical solution would be to accept that the terraces have come to the end of their lives and demolish them.
The way would then be open for new terraces made of modern materials and designed by one of Britain’s top architects to provide a viewing platform for the present and a striking feature of our era for the future.
Once again there would have to be a large commercial element to pay for such a vast project but the seafront arches between the piers have shown this can be achieved attractively.
I have always admired the Madeira terraces as a handsome example of Victorian design which also has a practical purpose.
It would be great to restore them to their original splendour but clearly that is impossible.
What Brighton really does not need is half a mile of dangerous decay on the seafront.
The West Pier has been derelict for 40 years and, without imaginative answers, the terraces could be closed for at least that long. Madeira Drive must not become the road to ruin.
The Madeira terraces
Last updated 10:04 Thursday 21 May 2015
by Adam Trimingham The Madeira terraces, built on a grand scale during the 1890s, are one of the great glories of Brighton.
Stretching more than half a mile from the Aquarium to Duke’s Mound, they provide a viewing platform unmatched in any other British seaside town.
They demonstrate the Victorian love of cast iron and are decorative as well as being functional.
They are at once monumental in construction and delicate in design.
But even cast iron, that most resilient of metals, cannot withstand the constant pounding from salt-laden winds and little has been done to protect the terraces over the years from decay.
So it is scarcely surprising that huge faults have been found in the structure which will result in dangerous sections being closed for the foreseeable future.
Madeira Drive is used as a finishing point for many major runs such as the London to Brighton bike ride, one of Britain’s biggest participatory events.
Probably the most famous is the Veteran Car Run on the first Sunday in November to commemorate the removal of the walking pace restriction on early motor vehicles.
It is Britain’s most watched outdoor event with more than a million people lining the route from London. Some of the largest crowds are in Brighton where many spectators like to go on the terraces.
Other crowd pullers include the commercial vehicles run early in May which to my mind is more interesting than the old crocks, and rallies for individual makes of cars such as Minis and Volkswagens.
Madeira Drive itself became Britain’s first racetrack for cars in the Edwardian age and helped revive the resort, which was going through a difficult period. The terraces proved ideal for watching daredevil drivers and their spirit survives in the speed trials staged each September.
But the terraces have not looked good for many years.
The plants are shabby and neglected, even though they have included the biggest euonymus japonicus, an ornamental flowering shrub, in Britain.
The cast iron is cracked and flaky while the many stairways needing attention.
The splendid Victorian lift from Marine Parade functions intermittently and with little advertisement. The lavatories on the middle terrace have long gone.
Rats scuttle along the gutters at road level and this area is uninviting at night. Part of the road has become a gigantic car park.
What is to be done about the terraces?
Left to rot, they will never look a romantic ruin, unlike the remains of that other cast iron masterpiece, the West Pier.
Yet there is no way in which the cash-strapped city council can find anything like the many millions of pounds it would cost to replace the ironwork and make them safe again.
When Labour councillor Andy Durr had the bright idea in the 1990s of renovating the seafront between the piers, he knew that private investment would follow public spending on the arches and so it proved.
But there are few arches in Madeira Drive and the current crop of Labour councillors, newly in charge, have as yet found no solution.
I have previously suggested filling in the terraces at their lowest level with commercial enterprises to provide some of the cash but this might not be structurally feasible, environmentally acceptable or financially viable.
A much more radical solution would be to accept that the terraces have come to the end of their lives and demolish them.
The way would then be open for new terraces made of modern materials and designed by one of Britain’s top architects to provide a viewing platform for the present and a striking feature of our era for the future.
Once again there would have to be a large commercial element to pay for such a vast project but the seafront arches between the piers have shown this can be achieved attractively.
I have always admired the Madeira terraces as a handsome example of Victorian design which also has a practical purpose.
It would be great to restore them to their original splendour but clearly that is impossible.
What Brighton really does not need is half a mile of dangerous decay on the seafront.
The West Pier has been derelict for 40 years and, without imaginative answers, the terraces could be closed for at least that long. Madeira Drive must not become the road to ruin.
