Brighton Quaker Meeting House, former Caretaker's Cottage, and former Adult School

The Quaker Meeting House, with its attached former caretaker's cottage and former adult school, forms an irregular complex of buildings standing in what was once the Quaker burial ground, now a garden with no remaining headstones. The meeting house was built in 1805, with the former adult school added in 1876 to 1877, possibly to the design of Holford and Clayton. The buildings were altered and extended principally in 1845, 1876 to 1877, and later.

The complex is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond, flint, cement render, with slate and lead roof coverings.

Meeting House

The meeting house stands at the centre of the complex. Rectangular on plan, it has a projecting entrance porch to the west and a small single-storey extension to the east. Inside, from west to east, it comprises a reception and storage area with a north-west staircase leading to the gallery above, opening into the full-height meeting room.

The west elevation forms the principal façade, facing onto Ship Street and approached through the former burial ground. Built of red brick in Flemish bond with stucco-cement dressings, it presents a symmetrical composition of four bays at ground floor level and three bays above, topped by a pediment. At ground level, a single-storey porch is entered up two steps through a two-bay arcade of rounded-headed arches springing from Tuscan pilasters. This porch gives access to a pair of double-leaf entrance doors in the central two bays. Two corner pilasters support the porch's frieze, which carries the incised inscription FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE. The porch's cornice continues across the meeting house front wall. The outer bays on the ground floor each have a window with architrave either side of the porch. The upper storey is lit by three arched windows with plate glass sashes and transom lights. These windows have oblong aprons with brick panels, a moulded string course at sill level and a dentilled string course at springing level, and architraves to the window heads. The pediment above has a moulded entablature with a plain frieze. The hipped roof over the meeting house is covered with slate, whilst the flat roof of the porch is covered with sheet lead.

The north elevation is obscured at ground level by the corridor that links the meeting house to the former adult school (this corridor was formerly an entrance block). Three large sixteen-over-sixteen sash windows in the upper storey light the meeting room. The rear (east) elevation is rendered, with the hopper of the central downpipe dated 1805. The ground floor of the east elevation is obscured by a later, flat-roofed, brick-built extension containing two small east-facing windows and two roof lights. The south elevation is largely obscured by the former caretaker's cottage at its west end, but has two six-over-six sash windows with segmental heads.

Inside, the front porch leads into a corridor below the meeting house gallery. The gallery access stair is in the north-west corner. The space to the south comprises the reception area, with a storage room to the north. A centrally-placed door leads from the reception area into the meeting room. At its west end, the raked gallery with panelled fronts to each level projects over the entrance corridor below. The double-height meeting room has a timber dado throughout (thought to be late-twentieth century). The flat panelled ceiling with cornice includes a central ventilation grille. The east end includes the curved, full-width sounding board over the position of the former stand. The meeting house and its other buildings contain a number of free-standing open-backed benches with fittings to enable them to be fixed to the floor.

Former Caretaker's Cottage

The former caretaker's cottage is joined to the south elevation of the meeting house and extends approximately halfway back along the south wall. Built of red brick in Flemish bond, it comprises three storeys to the front with a two-storey bay to the rear. The ground floor now (2019) includes a library room and toilets. The staircase to the upper floors (not inspected) is on the south side, whilst the fireplaces and chimneys are on the north wall. The gable roof is covered with slate and has a roof light over the south-west bay. Chimneys are on the north wall.

The principal (west) front is of two bays. The ground floor has a six-over-six sash window with a segmental head to the left and the cottage's six-panelled door to the right. The door surround includes a round brick arch with a decorative fanlight. The first floor comprises, to the left, a three-over-six sash window also with a segmental head, and a blind window to the right above the door. The second floor is lit by a small three-over-three sash window with a flat arch to the left, with a further blind window to the right. All five windows have projecting sills. The rear (east) elevation is largely obscured by an adjacent building. The south elevation, partially obscured by adjacent buildings, is built in flint.

Former Adult School

The former adult school is joined to the meeting house by the old single-storey north entrance block which has been converted into an east-west corridor. The former adult school, oblong on plan with a re-entrant corner to the south-east, includes from west to east a large meeting room, then the kitchen and café. The open-well staircase in the south-east corner provides access to a mezzanine of two small rooms to the east, and the four rooms of the first floor. Built of red brick in Flemish bond with stucco-cement dressings, it is of two storeys with a hipped roof covered in slate, two chimney stacks to the north and one to the south.

The west end wall of the linking corridor, originally part of a loggia, now has a segmental-headed window. The east end wall of the corridor, also formerly open, now has a segmental-headed double-leaf entrance door. This block is corniced and has a flat roof covered with sheet lead.

The west elevation of the former adult school is a symmetrical composition of four bays, with windows paired on both floors. At ground floor level, the windows are plate-glass sashes, each pair separated by a brick pilaster and under a lintel surmounted by a course of sawtooth bricks. A date stone set between the two pairs of ground floor windows is inscribed ERECTED/ 1876. A string course separates the ground and first floors. The upper storey windows are plate-glass sashes, the window of each pair separated by a brick pilaster with a capital. These windows have segmental heads and moulded architraves, and decorative panelled brick aprons. A string course links the windows at the springing band. The elevation is surmounted by a dentilled cornice and a short parapet with projecting corners and centre block.

The north elevation is largely obscured by neighbouring buildings. The rear (east) elevation is obscured at ground level by a lean-to extension, rendered and with clay tile roof coverings. The extension is lit by four small oblong plate-glass windows with clay tile sills in the east wall to Meeting House Lane, a two-light sash window in the south return wall, and three roof lights. Because the former adult school includes a mezzanine at the rear, the rear elevation has three asymmetrically-placed two-light plate-glass sash windows with rubbed brick segmental heads and brick sills at the mezzanine level. A plain brick string course at both the sill band and the springing band links these windows. Above, lighting the upper storey, are three similarly placed two-light plate-glass sash windows with flat rubbed brick arches and brick sills. Their arches interrupt a cornice of two courses of sawtooth bricks.

The brick string courses and the cornice continue from the east elevation around the south elevation. The south elevation, obscured at ground floor level by the linking corridor, includes a sash window with segmental head in the staircase bay.

Inside, the ground floor comprises to the front (west) a large lecture room, and a kitchen, café/canteen and the staircase to the rear. The lecture room has a dado rail, a tiled fireplace on the north wall, and a cornice. The café at the rear, which extends into the single storey rear extension, includes a smaller fireplace. The open-well stair, with turned newels and balusters, incorporates a 19th-century walk-in safe below. The mezzanine floor comprises two small rooms in the eastern bays, whilst the upper storey extends to the full depth of the building. That includes two front rooms with original fireplaces, and a third room with a cast-iron grate and a kitchen to the rear.