Burstow Gallery And Hall, Brighton College

The Burstow Gallery and Hall, part of Brighton College, is a college hall and art gallery built between 1913 and 1914, with an addition in 1926. Designed by FT Cawthorne, it incorporates a rifle range and armoury in the basement. The building is rectangular, with a seven-window range to the main and rear elevations, a one-window range to the right return, and a two-window range to the left. It is constructed in a Gothic Revival style.

The ground floor is brick in English bond, while the upper levels are of split flint and brick panels with stone and brick dressings. A single-storey flat-arched porch provides the main entrance, featuring a 4-centred blind arch surround with carved spandrels and an overlight, reflecting a design motif from earlier buildings on the site. A stone plaque bearing the College’s coat of arms is positioned above the door. A flint and brick wall connects the gallery and hall to Chichester House, and includes a 4-centred diaphragm arch leading to the Woolton Building. A flat-arched entrance to the hall is centrally positioned, and a 2-light window is located in the first window range. A continuous springing band ties the hall windows together, and above this, the split flint wall transitions to a wall of flint and brick chequers. Corner buttresses create two sets of setbacks, and the brick return walls feature two stone lacing courses. The walls rise above the facing gables to form parapets, giving the end gables a recessed effect. The rear elevation is predominantly red brick in English bond, consistent with earlier College buildings.

Inside the hall, a 6-bay roof features a king post structure divided into three sections. Shallow, flat soffits run along the long sides, while the main span is a wood-boarded elliptical barrel vault with shallow ribs dividing it into three compartments. Trefoil openings line the ridge piece, and each tie beam is supported by arched struts rising from wood wall posts carried on large, plain corbels. A crenellated cornice tops the walls, which are wood-panelled to shoulder height. A wooden gallery and elevated stage are located at the rear of the hall, accessible by two flights of stairs.