Southdown House And Attached Walls And Piers And Railings

Southdown House is a detached house located on Old London Road in Patcham, Brighton. It dates back to the early 18th century and is constructed of dressed flint with cobbles, featuring red brick dressings and a slate roof.

The exterior of the house is two storeys high with a basement and dormers in the attic, presenting a double-fronted facade with five windows. It has brick quoins and a flat-arched entrance that includes an overlight and a six-panelled door, framed by a doorcase with a Gibbs surround and a pediment above. All windows are flat-arched, with the base of the building made of cobbles and segmental arches over the basement windows. There is a brick band, followed by dressed flint with a brick storey band above the ground floor windows, which feature gauged brick heads and red brick dressings. The first-floor windows have similar detailing, although the glazing bars have been renewed. The building is topped with a parapet that displays diaper patterns in red brick and has three flat-arched dormers, along with end stacks. There is a flint, tile-roofed wing extending to the south-east.

Inside, the house boasts a fine early 18th-century staircase that features a curtail step, a columnar principal newel, moulded tread ends, and a wreathed and ramped mahogany rail with three balusters on each step. The central baluster is plain, while the others are twisted, and there is an open string and panelled dado.

In front of the house, there is a dwarf cobbled wall topped with wooden railings. Brick piers with ball finials are located at either end, and curved walls made of brick and flint run between the piers and the corners of the house. The wall to the street was listed separately on August 20, 1971.