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Bricks and Mortar
- Pelham House
When Pelham House was built in 1597 St Andrews Lane was a bustling
central street with a slaughterhouse and a cider-maker’s.
Now it so quiet that many people live in Lewes for years without
noticing one of its most historic and beautiful buildings. And
few realise that you are allowed to walk inside the building
and look around its beautiful interior and garden, which belie
the ugly front entrance (originally its back door). If you ask
them nicely, Circa will even make you a coffee, which you can
drink in a room walled with ornate Elizabethan oak panelling,
the only original feature of the building. The entrance and
hallways of the interior are decorated with some fine work by
local artists, including Julian Bell, Jo Lamb, Peter Messer
and Carolyn Trant. Strangely there are also some fine Soviet
social realism oils.
The construction of the mansion cost the Sheriff of Sussex and
Surrey, George Goring, £2,000 and it stayed in his family
for five generations, before being sold to Sir Thomas Pelham
of Laughton. It stayed in the Pelham family for 150 years –
extensive restorations were done in 1705. The building was eventually
bought by the County Council in 1938, and a new wing was built.
It was acquired by a private company in 2004, and is now a hotel,
event venue and conference centre. Our favourite features are
the ceiling mural by Julian Bell, featuring tightrope walkers
seen from below, and the otherworldly reception sign by Christian
Funnell. AL
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Pelham House: modern local art in a period setting |
