Numbers 11 And 12 And Attached Railings And Piers

Numbers 11 and 12 Montpelier Villas are a pair of semi-detached houses dating from around 1845. They are constructed of stucco with a slate roof. The design is notable for its uniformity within the wider group of twenty houses that make up Montpelier Villas, a characteristic considered rare in Brighton.

The houses are two storeys high with a raised basement. The front elevation, facing Montpelier Villas, is of a two-window range, while the returns to Victoria Road display a six-window range for Number 11 and a three-window range for Number 12. The plan incorporates a wider arrangement towards the rear, with entrances positioned in the resultant angles, and distinct front and back sections, each covered by a separate roof.

The front part of the houses features ground-floor rustication. A flat-arched entrance is supported by pilasters and consoles, leading to a first-floor balcony with a scalloped balustrade (now missing from Number 12). An overlight and a segmental bay with flat-arched triple windows extend from the basement to the ground floor, topped by a shallow dome. Bracketed balconies with cast-iron railings and fringed canopies shelter the ground-floor windows. The first-floor windows are flat-arched with margin lights, with the westernmost first-floor window on the return blank. The rear part of Number 11 has a segmental bay to both the ground and first floors, housing tripartite windows; the first floor features sashes of original design. Number 12 has a canted ground-floor bay and flat-arched windows with 6/6 sashes of original design, the westernmost of which is blank. The eaves are supported by console brackets incorporating paterae in the frieze. The roofs are hipped with stacks positioned at the front and back.

The interior of the buildings was not inspected during the listing assessment.

Cast-iron railings are present to the entrance steps and front gardens, with brackets; a square, stuccoed, corniced pier exists between Numbers 12 and 13. The front gardens' railings were specifically listed on August 20, 1971.