Numbers 1-6 And Attached Railings

Terraced Houses on St James's Place, Brighton

Numbers 1–6 and Attached Railings

These six terraced houses were built in the early 19th century and represent an unusually picturesque approach to terrace design for the period. They are constructed primarily of flint laid in pitch with painted brick dressings to numbers 1, 4, 5 and 6. Number 5 has the addition of a segmental bay faced with mathematical tile. Number 3 retains unpainted flints with red-brick dressings and stucco to its segmental bay. Number 2 was refaced in the 20th century with brick in stretcher bond, though it retains one original brick quoin strip at the right party wall.

The exteriors are predominantly three storeys over basement, with three-window ranges to the main block of each unit. Several houses have extensions: number 1 has a single-storey addition; number 2 features an additional window range and a low utility shed; number 4 has a two-storey addition and a second entrance set in a single-storey porch; and number 6 has an additional window range.

The end units, numbers 1 and 6, are of nearly identical design, featuring round-arched entrances set at the centre of each elevation. The doors are framed by attached Tuscan columns supporting an entablature lintel with modillioned cornice and have decorative glazing fanlights. Windows flanking the entrance are camber-arched and dressed in brick, with brick quoin strips at corners and party walls. Original sashes remain in the first and third window ranges of the ground and first floors (8 x 8 panes), with 4 x 4 panes above on the second floor. Windows in the centre range above the door are 6 x 6 on the first floor and 3 x 3 on the second. Basement windows flanking the door are camber-arched with original 4 x 8 sashes. A modillioned cornice runs to the eaves.

Number 4 follows a similar design but with tripartite, flat-arched windows inserted to the first and third window ranges in the late 19th century. This building was also heightened by two additional storeys of late 19th-century date, topped with a tile-covered pitched roof. The painted brick is laid in Flemish bond, with a round-arched entrance in the side extension and brick window lintels.

Number 5 features a full-height segmental bay to the left of the entrance. Its tripartite, flat-arched windows have original sashes: 6 x 6 to the centre and 3 x 3 to the sides. The third window range is narrower than the comparable range in numbers 1 and 6 but matches the width of the centre range, with original sashes of 6 x 6 to ground- and first-floor windows and 3 x 3 to second-floor windows.

Numbers 2 and 3 are the most heavily altered. Number 2 has tripartite, camber-arched windows with original sashes to the first and third window ranges on ground and first floors (6 x 6 to the centre and 2 x 2 to the sides, with 3 x 3 to the centre and 1 x 1 to the sides on the second floor). The entrance has a flat arch with a door framed by attached Tuscan columns, themselves framed by Tuscan pilasters. Above the entrance, a pair of corbels supports a two-storey rectangular bay with flat-arched windows featuring quadrant corners. A three-storey extension in Flemish-bond brick contains two round-arched windows to the ground floor (the right one blocked) and a rectangular bay to the first floor with a camber-arched window with original 3 x 3 sashes.

Number 3 has a flat-arched entrance framed by Tuscan pilasters and an entablature with a frieze decorated with laurel wreaths. To either side rises a full-height segmental bay with tripartite, flat-arched windows having quadrant corners. Tuscan pilasters and responds frame the bays, which are surfaced in stucco. The second floor is heightened by a stucco parapet. Camber-arched windows in the entrance range have gauged brick lintels and brick keystones, with red brick quoin strips to party walls and at the sides of the bays. Stacks are positioned to party and end walls.

Cast-iron railings are fitted to the small front gardens, areas and entrances.