First Church of Christ, Scientist

The First Church of Christ, Scientist stands in Brighton and Hove’s Montpelier district, a former Regency suburb on a hillside overlooking the sea. The building began as a private house around 1850, one of many stuccoed villas built when Montpelier Road was laid out. In 1909 it became a church reading room before Clayton & Black converted it back into a single church in 1921. The architects added a Neoclassical façade with rusticated stone and a richly decorated pediment. Inside, a gallery and timber panelling frame the reader’s dais. The church is recognised as a place of worship and sits within the Montpelier & Clifton Hill Conservation Area. Brighton Council designated the area in 1973 and later extended it to 75.4 acres. The council’s 2005 character statement calls the building notable and notes the high quality of surrounding properties. The congregation grew rapidly in the early 20th century, meeting first at the Athenaeum Recreation Hall on North Street. Clayton & Black had already designed other churches, including St Thomas the Apostle’s in Hove. Visitors find a chapel with five bays marked by full-height pilasters. The entrance is set in a three-bay section with arched and straight-headed windows. Flat-headed windows on the ground floor contrast with arched ones above. Stucco covers the façade, and the entrance is framed by a frieze and pediment. Inside, the gallery and timber panelling give the space a quiet, reflective atmosphere. The building’s Regency origins remain visible alongside its later embellishments.