Numbers 7-31 And Attached Gate Piers And Walls And Railings

Terraced houses designed by Amon Henry Wilds and built between 1843 and 1847 on the south-east side of Montpelier Crescent in Brighton. The houses are arranged in a concave crescent formation and are constructed of stucco with slate and tile roofs, largely obscured by parapets.

The crescent contains 25 consecutive houses numbered 7 to 31. Most are three storeys over basement, with additional wings of one and two storeys distributed throughout. The majority have a three-window range, except numbers 24 and 25 which have four windows. The houses are organised into two distinct grouping types: blocks of three at the ends of the crescent (numbers 7–9, 10–12, 13–15, 26–28 and 29–31) and blocks of two in the middle (numbers 16–17, 18–19, 20–21, 22–23 and 24–25). Each block is designed with its centre brought forward and articulated with a giant order and pediment, while the recessed wings link one block to the next. The overall composition presents ten projecting pedimented fronts, those to the three-house blocks being broader than those to the two-house blocks.

In the three-house blocks, the inner house stands slightly forward with the ground floor decorated with banded rustication. The outer houses feature flat-arched porches with pilasters and entablatures in their outer bays, originally single-storeyed. The entrance to the inner house is round-arched in the left-hand bay. Ground-floor windows are flat-arched to the outer houses and round-arched to the inner. First-floor windows are flat-arched with moulded stucco architraves; those to the inner house are flanked by giant pilasters and subsidiary pilasters with entablature decorated with wreaths. A bracketed balcony with cast-iron railings runs across the inner house. Second-floor windows are flat-arched with moulded stucco architrave, surmounted by entablature and pediment over the inner house, with a blocking course above.

In the two-house blocks, the ground floor similarly displays banded rustication with a flat-arched entrance in a recessed single-storey porch to the outer bay. All windows are flat-arched. The projecting part of the block extends across five windows, with the central window blank, leaving two windows per house. Moulded stucco architraves appear on the outer windows only at first and second floors; the three inner windows are flanked by giant pilasters and this section is set slightly forward again. This arrangement is topped by entablature, pediment over the three inner windows, and blocking course.

Individual variations include the following: Number 7 has a double panelled door of original studded design, 6/6 sashes of original design to the first floor over the porch, and a gabled dormer in the mansard roof. Number 8 has fluted Corinthian pilasters and a bracketed balcony with cast-iron railings. Number 9 retains 6/6 sashes of original design to the recessed outer bay. Number 10 features individual cast-iron balconies to the first floor. Number 11 has fluted pilasters with ammonite capitals, a bracketed balcony with cast-iron railings, and 3/6 sashes of original design to the second floor. Numbers 13 and 15 have round-arched windows to the ground floor. Number 14 displays unfluted Corinthian pilasters and a bracketed balcony with cast-iron railings. Number 16 has undergone considerable additions in the porch area. Numbers 16–17, 20–21 and 22–23 all feature fluted pilasters with ammonite capitals. Numbers 24–25 form a two-house block with some character of the three-house type: they possess an additional bay outside the porch bay and subsidiary pilasters with wreathed entablature surrounding the first-floor windows; the entablature continues over the porch at first-floor level. Number 24 retains sashes of original design to the outer bays and second floor of the front block. Numbers 26 and 28 have panels of blank balustrading below the inner first-floor windows. Number 27 has flat-arched ground-floor windows and panelled Corinthian pilasters. Number 30 has unfluted Corinthian pilasters and a bracketed balcony with cast-iron railings.

Square stuccoed piers with cornices and low walls between properties survive at numbers 15–25 and 28–29, originally serving as gate divisions. Cast-iron area railings survive in part at numbers 7, 18, 20, 22–23 and 26–31, though much appears to be replacement. Numbers 22–23 and 26–28 have elaborate cast-iron balconies to the ground floor, probably dating from the late nineteenth century.

The interior of the houses was not inspected during the survey.