The horseshoe-shaped, three-part terrace of 48 houses was designed and built by one of Brighton's most important architects, Amon Henry Wilds; by the time work started in 1849 he had 35 years' experience in the town.

The three parts of the terrace, which encircle a private garden formerly a pleasure ground and cricket pitch, have been listed at Grade II* by English Heritage for their architectural and historical importance.

The fishing village of Brighthelmston, on the English Channel coast, was built around the point at which the Wellesbourne, a winterbourne flowing off the South Downs, entered the sea.

By the 18th century, when the village started developing into the fashionable resort of Brighton, this had become a popular site for fairs, sports and general recreation.

[2] Major changes happened in 1822 after the Prince Regent—the most enthusiastic player and supporter of cricket among Brighton's high society—became king and retired from the sport.

[3] Meanwhile, The Level was granted to the town by its landowners, who included influential local clergyman, politician, property speculator and Lord of the Manor[4] Thomas Read Kemp.

[6] Cricket remained the most popular attraction throughout the gardens' existence, but there was a range of activities: bowling greens, a "noble and conspicuous building" with ground-floor billiard rooms, refreshment facilities and reading rooms and a walking area on the roof, lawns, a grotto, an aviary, fairground activities, and an artificial lake with a path leading to a maze whose centrepiece was a special swinging chair.

Lewis Carroll's sister Henrietta moved to number 4 Park Crescent in 1885 and lived a hermit-like existence with several cats for company.

[13][16] On 15 July that year, the body of Violet Kaye, a prostitute, was found in a suitcase in a house in Kemp Street in the North Laine area.

Her pimp, Tony Mancini, alleged that he found her dead in bed in the Park Crescent house and transported her to lodgings in Kemp Street out of fear.

[6] The wall along the north side of Union Road, which cuts off Park Crescent and the gardens from The Level, retains its original (1822) gate piers.

The gate piers were listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 24 July 1969; this defines them as "nationally important [and] of special interest".

[25] Wilds adopted the then-popular Italianate style for his design of Park Crescent,[4][13] which has been described as the most ambitious development of his architectural career.

[11][12] It has been criticised for being an unsuccessful composition, "showing ... his limitations as an architect" with the "muddled and disappointing" proportions of the interior (garden-facing) façades.

[19] Similarly, number 48—the end house at the southeast corner—has a hipped-roofed south-facing wing with a hipped roof, in which the entrance is set in a doorcase flanked by antae.