Numbers 38 and 39 and Attached Walls and Piers is a Grade II listed building in the Brighton and Hove local planning authority area, England. First listed on 20 August 1971. Gymnasium, former synagogue. 5 related planning applications.

Numbers 38 and 39 and Attached Walls and Piers

WRENN ID
strange-doorway-foxglove
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Brighton and Hove
Constituency
Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven MP: Chris Ward (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
20 August 1971
Type
Gymnasium, former synagogue
Address
Numbers 38 and 39 and Attached Walls and Piers, Devonshire Place, the City of Brighton and Hove, BN2 1QB
OS grid reference
TQ 317 040
Coordinates
50.82131, -0.13098
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

A synagogue, later used as a gymnasium, was built around 1825 in Brighton. It was constructed alongside numbers 37 and 37A and enlarged in 1837 by David Mocatta, who intended it as a residence and schoolroom. The building is stucco, with a roof hidden behind a pediment.

The building is three stories high with a basement and has a four-window front. The first, second, and third window bays are treated as a porticoed bay, featuring giant Tuscan pilasters that rise from a ground floor of banded rustication to a second-floor entablature, topped by a pediment. Remaining visible on the frieze of the entablature are traces of an inscription that originally identified the building as a synagogue. The central bay of the portico contains a round-arched entrance with a fanlight, set within a projecting, plain aedicule. Segmental pointed-arch windows flank the portico. The bay to the right has a sill band on the first floor and a simple entablature above. All the windows are flat-arched, and those on the second floor have projecting sills.

The interior remains uninspected. Attached walls and piers to the stairs and area are also part of the listing. The synagogue was originally designed to accommodate 50 people.

Local climate

Numbers 38 and 39 and Attached Walls and Piers receives an average of 840 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 56% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 89% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 15 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 85% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
  • Sale history — 4 transactions since 2007
  • Related listed building consents — 5 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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