Courtenay Gate

James Mills built a terrace of ten houses between Hove beach and the old road to Shoreham-by-Sea which ran along the seafront in the late 1820s. He named the development after himself and occupied 3 Mills Terrace until his death on 11 April 1846. His tomb is still visible at St Andrew's Church on Church Road. The properties had private gardens adjoining the beach, and were either owned by wealthy residents (including a baron, a private tutor, a priest and a shipbuilder) or were run as "respectable lodging houses". Mills Terrace was demolished in 1901 and the site remained empty until 1930 despite many plans for redevelopment. A block of flats was proposed in 1907; in 1916 three people…

Courtenay Gate was designed by the architectural firm of Coleridge, Jennings and Soimenow. They designed the building a year before that; it is therefore newer than most of the buildings along this stretch of Kingsway, the oldest of which date from the 1830s (there are also two newer blocks of flats and the King Alfred leisure centre, though). A "large four-square block of serviced apartments", its angles are softer and rounder than those of neighbouring Flag Court (1959), which therefore appears taller and bulkier. Courtenay Gate is Neo-Georgian in style; this architectural style was popular in the mid-20th century in Brighton and Hove, being especially prominent in the work of local…