Wavertree House

Wavertree House is a dwelling, now serving as a residential home for the elderly blind. It was built in 1892 and extended shortly after. The house features red brick with ashlar dressings and a green slate roof, topped with a lead-covered ogee cap on the oriel turret and tall external chimney stacks, all designed in the Jacobean style. The layout consists of a parallel range with a cross gable forming the entrance front. It has two storeys plus an attic and a four-bay frontage, with a two-storey oriel turret at the junction of the west and south facades. The windows include four- and six-light mullion and transom designs, with two gabled dormers on the right and a balustraded first-floor oriel of six lights featuring an arch-head window supported by three shaped brackets. The entrance is arch-headed with an unglazed two-bay opening above, a panelled dado in the porch, and a recessed half-glazed door flanked by sidelights and a fanlight with ornamental leading, along with a similar inner door. The oriel turret is illuminated on three faces. The long south front facing Lansdowne Road is marked by a full-height bay window with a balustraded parapet and leaded windows that light the staircase. The interior, which has only been partially seen, contains few notable features apart from the original staircase with turned balusters and a moulded handrail. In the hall, there is a pen and ink drawing of the house dated 1892 and signed by A.N. Bromley. The house is believed to have been built for a German doctor, likely J.C. Uhthoff, who is noted as the first recorded occupant in the street directories from 1896. The main investment appears to have been in the exterior, as the house occupies a prominent position in Hove.