1808: West Indian Builds Houses on Royal Crescent Site in Brighton

The land on which the houses of the Royal Crescent now stand was sold for building purposes in 1789 to a West Indian named J. B. Otto Otto began by erecting three houses at each end of the Crescent. Having completed the six houses, Otto return home to Barbados. Then, in January 1807, the Brighton Herald recorded that Otto returned to Brighton and completed the construction of the remaining houses in the Crescent.