Numbers 1-11 And Attached Wall And Pier And Railings

Numbers 1-11 Portland Place are a row of terraced houses dating from circa 1826, designed by Charles Augustin Busby. They are constructed of stucco over stock brick in Flemish bond, with artificial stone dressings. The roofs are slate to numbers 3-4, 6-7, 9, and 10; number 1 has asphalt shingles, and the rest are obscured by a parapet.

The houses are generally three storeys with a basement, although numbers 2, 5, 8, and 11 are three storeys and have an attic over the basement. Numbers 1-11 each have three windows. The front of number 11 curves for two bays and sets back one bay’s depth. A monumental character is achieved by treating every third house—numbers 2, 5, 8, and 11—with a projecting portico featuring a giant pilastrade of the Composite Order rising through the first and second floors, alongside a complete entablature and attic with a blocking course above. The entrances and ground-floor windows of these porticoed bays are round arched, with fanlights over the doors. Other ground-floor windows are flat arched.

Details unify the row: ground floors are banded with rustication, first floors feature French windows, storey bands are present between the first and second floors, and a common cornice originally ran along the second floor of each house—though significantly altered on numbers 6-7 and 10. Projecting sills are found on all windows. Original tawny stock brick walls would have further unified the composition, however, many fronts are now painted. Number 5 has been altered considerably and has lost many original features. First-floor balconies with cast-iron railings and brackets are present on numbers 1, 6-7, and 9-10; the first-floor windows of the other houses have cast-iron window guards.

Number 11, the end unit, is the most elaborate and unusual in plan; the entrance bay is set back behind a curving front of two windows. Composite pilasters are applied to each corner. The entrance is set under a first-floor balcony supported on a large fluted bracket. To the right of the entrance is a low wall with an heraldic ornament, terminating in a moulded and chamfered pier with a scroll finial. Original window glazing is present to the ground floor of number 8 and the first floors of numbers 4, 6-9, and 11. Original glazing is also present to the second floors of numbers 1, 4, 6, 8-9, and 11 as well as the attics or dormers of numbers 1, and 6-9. The right return of number 11 is executed in glazed black, red, tan and blue brick, and reproduces the design of the main elevation as a colour diagram. Dormers are segmental arched. Stacks are present on the party walls.

The interior of the houses has not been inspected. Railings are present to stairs and areas. The terrace forms an important group with numbers 127, 128-133A Marine Parade, and Marine Square, and was Busby’s last work in Brighton, built on land owned by Major Villeroy Russell.