55, The Drive

This is a villa, built between 1890 and 1900 by William Willett and subsequently subdivided into flats. It is located on The Drive in Hove. The villa was built of yellow stock bricks with stone or composition dressings, and has hipped concrete tile roofs to the canted bays. The overhanging eaves are supported by console-shaped brackets on the facade, and brick stacks extend as continuous walls on the returns, finished with moulded coping. The building follows a double-fronted plan and rises two storeys over a basement. It has a three-bay front with a single bay in the centre, featuring sash windows without glazing bars set within segmental-headed openings. Moulded strings are present, and full-height canted bays flank the entrance bay. A round-arched entrance has decorative spandrels, rusticated piers with garlanded capitals, and a recessed doorway. The original six-panel door has stained glass in its fanlight and sidelights, as do the two lights inserted. Steps with tessellated pavement provide access to the entrance. Ornate cast-iron window box guards remain on the ground floor windows. The right return displays two tall stairway windows with stained glass.