Number 15 And Attached Railings

Number 15 is a house, later used as offices, dating from the late 18th century. It is located on Prince Albert Street, Brighton. The exterior is red brick in Flemish bond, with gauged brick lintels, stone dressings, and stucco cement to the porch. The roof is hidden behind a parapet.

The building is three storeys high, with a basement. It has a five-window front. The central bay features a flat-arched entrance with an overlight, accessed by steps leading to a Doric prostyle porch with pilaster responds, an entablature, and a blocking course. The door case has panelled jambs and retains its original six-panelled door. The basement is stuccoed and treated as rustication. The window range above the entrance is narrower than the flanking ranges, emphasizing the building’s bilateral symmetry. All windows are flat-arched, with projecting sills and keyed stone lintels; ground-floor windows have cast-iron flower guards. Stone quoin strips are at the corners, though the left one is partially hidden by late 19th-century shop fronts. The second-floor windows are shorter than those below, suggesting the original proportions of an attic storey. Above is a stone entablature with a projecting cornice and parapet. The original sash windows retain their original patterns: 6/6 sashes to the centre range on the first and second floors; 8/8 sashes to the ground and first floors of the remaining ranges; and 4/4 sashes to the second floor of the remaining ranges. Stacks are located within the party wall.

The entrance hall features a fine elliptical diaphragm arch with a keystone and panelled soffit, supported by a pair of panelled Tuscan pilasters. This arch leads to a dogleg staircase, with a semicircular rear wall extending the full height of the stairwell. The handrail is wreathed above the bottom curtail step, and there are brackets below each stair and on all vertical fascias to the landings, along with a wall string and dado. An elliptical light illuminates the stairwell from a coved ceiling. Many original doorcases remain in the rear section of the building on all floors. A late 20th-century shop front on the left-hand side of the ground floor has been removed, requiring the insertion of easily distinguishable replacement bricks.