Crown House

James Burton was one of the most successful builders and property developers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries: he built extensively in the Bloomsbury and Regent's Park areas of London and worked alongside John Nash, "play[ing] a vital part in the major London building projects" of the prominent Regency architect. By the 1820s he was in his 60s and very rich, but rather than retiring from property development he decided to undertake a major speculative project on the East Sussex coast west of the ancient town of Hastings. Although it is not known for certain why he chose this location, Hastings had grown rapidly in popularity in the early 19th century—prompted in part by the beauty…

Crown House was listed as Grade II* on 19 January 1951. As of February 2001, it was one of 13 Grade II* listed buildings, and 535 listed buildings of all grades, in the borough of Hastings. The building is part of the St Leonards West Conservation Area, one of 18 conservation areas in the borough of Hastings. The central seafront of St Leonards-on-Sea is dominated by tall Regency-style terraces built between the early 1830s and the mid-1850s, all designed by James Burton. Crown House forms an "atypical break in the overall composition" through its shorter height and "architectural expressiveness". "Much smaller and more elegant" than the adjacent terraces and the "crass" postwar block…