A row has broken out in a fashionable neighbourhood over plans to strip the white paint off the front of an historic Regency house.

Homeowner Todd Cooper has applied for planning permission to uncover the original yellow brickwork of Fife House, in Lewes Crescent, Brighton, which was built by the Duke of Devonshire in 1828 as a weekend retreat.

Mr Cooper, 37, and his partner Giuseppe Sironi, have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds painstakingly restoring the Kemp Town property to its Regency splendour.

Mr Cooper says the brickwork was an important feature of the six-floor house and he is trying to be historically accurate. But five residents and the Kemp Town Conservation Society have written to Brighton and Hove Council to complain about the plan, saying it would ruin the sweeping white uniformity of the street.

Mr Cooper, who is a banker, spent hours poring over books and historical records to find out how the house would have originally looked both inside and out.

Original wall decorations by the Crace family, who decorated the Royal Pavilion, have also been uncovered during the restoration.

Mr Cooper said: "If you look at the Dome or the Corn Exchange you will see a lot of these houses were built with yellow brick facades. The brick was painted over at some point when white became fashionable, but at the time brick was very valuable and would have been left exposed.

"It was a feature that was intentionally chosen by the illustrious architects who designed the house.

"The house was for one of the most important people in the country at the time and we have a unique opportunity to reinstate an original feature."

The conservation department of the council is recommending the scheme is refused on the grounds it would spoil the appearance of the street but Mr Cooper said that was "nonsense."

He said: "These people should be brave and do what is right for the historical monuments of this country. I don't see how uniformity can be more important than being historically accurate."

Barbara Luder, honorary secretary of the Kemp Town Conservation Society, said all the residents she had spoken to were opposed to the plan.

She said: "At the moment all the houses are painted white and it was felt stripping the paint off would make the house stand out and destroy the nice continuous line of the houses. It would spoil the look of the area. Kemp Town needs to be treated as a whole."

Roger Dowty, council conservation officer, said it was felt keeping the uniform look of the street was more important than restoring the facade.

A decision is expected on August 30.