Former Maples department store and railings

This is a four-storey dwelling over shops, originally a department store (Maples), now converted into a shop and apartments. It was built in 1873 on a corner site in Hove, with its main elevation facing Western Road, returning to Holland Road and Lansdowne Street.

The building is stucco over brick, with quoins. The roof is concealed behind a parapet. It is designed in an Italianate style. The main elevation has four storeys and a 2:1:3:1:2 bay arrangement, with French casements in moulded surrounds. A pierced parapet sits above a cornice, which is carried on shaped brackets. Smaller, two-light windows are on the third floor. The elevation includes a moulded string, moulded entablature, and balconies on the first floor. The third bays from the end are distinguished by sidelights and a segmental pediment. A projecting three-bay Ionic loggia with a balustrade features arched head windows to the first floor. A clock face is in the central bay of the main elevation. The ground floor was altered in the mid-20th century with a plate glass shop front, with 1930s-style lettering for 'Maples' in panels below the three-bay projection. The date 1873 is inscribed below the cornice in the chamfered corner bay facing Lansdowne Street.

The return elevation to Lansdowne Street has eight bays; the end three bays are two storeys high with a pediment missing the semi-circular section at its apex. There are blocked double doors representing a goods entrance. Alternating bands of plain and vermiculated rustication on the ground floor of the end three bays represent a survival of the original ground floor design. Original cast-iron railings survive in these end bays.

The building forms a group with The Wick (Western Road) and Palmeira Mansions (Church Road), both of which have documented construction dates.