Numbers 11-40 And Attached Railings

Sussex Square Numbers 11-40 form the central portion of the celebrated Kemp Town development, comprising terraced houses now mostly converted into flats. The facades were constructed between 1825 and 1827, with interiors completed over the following years. They were designed by Amon Wilds and Charles Augustin Busby for Thomas Read Kemp, the developer of Kemp Town, with Thomas Cubitt acting as builder for some of the units. The buildings are finished in stucco with some painted and unpainted brick in Flemish bond. The roofs vary: gambrel roofs of slate cover numbers 13-19, 21-24, 28 and 38; turnerised slate roofs are found on numbers 20, 29 and 36; pantile roofs on numbers 10, 11, 39 and 40. Number 35's roof was under repair at the time of inspection, whilst the roofs of the remaining houses are concealed behind parapets.

The houses are arranged on a U-shaped plan that forms the northern enclosure of Sussex Square. With the exception of numbers 25 and 26, each unit has a three-window range. Most properties rise to three storeys with an attic, specifically numbers 11-17, 20, 24-27, 31, 32, and 34-40. The remaining houses feature three dormer windows each: numbers 18, 19, 23 and 33 have segmental arched dormers, whilst numbers 21 and 22 have flat arched dormers.

The architectural composition displays a sophisticated rhythm across the U-shaped terrace. In the side arms of the U, every third unit—numbers 11, 14 and 17 on the left, and numbers 34, 37 and 40 on the right—projects slightly forward and is distinguished by a giant tetrastyle portico of Composite pilasters applied across the first and second floors, with a plain pilastrade in the attic storey on the same axis. This motif also appears on numbers 1-10 and 41-50 of Sussex Square, the houses of Lewes Crescent, and units in Chichester and Arundel Terraces.

Charles Augustin Busby varied this pattern for the climax of the composition in the central north range. The corner units of this range, numbers 20 and 31, feature the familiar tetrastyle portico, but numbers 24-27 form an exceptional centrepiece with a combined fifteen-window range. The central pair, numbers 25 and 26, share a nine-window range between them, project beyond all other units in the ensemble, and are crowned by a shallow pediment above the parapet. This creates a bay rhythm that can be expressed as: a, b, b, b, a, c, c, a, b, b, b, a.

Several features unify this extensive group. Ground floors are rendered with banded rustication. The first floor has floor-to-ceiling openings leading onto a continuous balcony or verandah with matching cast-iron railings and brackets. A storey band runs between the first and second floors of each unit. Above the second floor, each house has an entablature with projecting cornice, the upper fascia of which aligns with the attic window sills. Openings are generally flat-arched except where noted, and all entrances have overlights.

Whilst these common elements establish the architectural unity, considerable variation exists in materials and details. Although ground floors and architectural features are rendered in stucco, many walls are of unpainted brick in Flemish bond: number 16 on first and second floors only; numbers 17-21, 23, 33 and 34 throughout. All of these have gauged brick lintels except numbers 33 and 34, which have stucco architraves. Numbers 22, 24-27 and 31 are entirely of painted brick in Flemish bond on all floors.

The entrance porches show considerable variety, though one type predominates. Numbers 16, 24, 26, 27, 29 and 33-39 follow this common pattern, comprising side walls ending in antae in the form of fluted Doric columns with responds. Each side wall is pierced by one round-arched window, and above is an entablature with triglyph and metope frieze, which is wholly or partly missing from numbers 34, 35 and 37.

Other porches display more elaborate designs. Numbers 11 and 12 have paired entrances under a tetrastyle portico of fluted Doric columns, with the central two columns coupled at the party wall to create wide gaps before each entrance. Straight side walls end in antae, the right side wall reduced to little more than a parapet. Behind the coupled columns sits a straight side wall ending in two Tuscan antae. Each porch has a segmental barrel vault ceiling springing from a moulded cornice, now much defaced.

Number 13 has an Ionic prostyle porch with straight side walls on the same axis as the columns and responds, ceiled with a segmental barrel vault springing from an egg-and-dart cornice. Numbers 14 and 15 share a porch with an entablature carried on two straight side walls and an extension of the party wall in the centre, all ending in antae. Both have an egg-and-dart cornice just below the ceiling, which in number 15 is treated as a segmental barrel vault.

Number 18's porch consists of a plain entablature supported by a pair of pierced side walls ending in antae. Numbers 19 and 20 are reached through a porch resembling a chamfered corner in plan, with corner piers bearing mutules at their intersection with the entablature, which is ornamented with a frieze of wreaths. Above, a parapet is pierced by balusters in the form of Doric columns.

Number 21's former entrance is now filled by a window, though a mid-19th-century encaustic tile pavement marks the old entrance location. Number 22's entrance is set in a tripartite Tuscan aedicule. Numbers 31 and 32 share the most elaborate paired entrances at the right-hand corner, set under a corner porch similar to that covering numbers 19 and 20. The wall between the entrances is pierced by a round-arched window and ends in a Tuscan anta. The door to number 31 was remodelled in the late 19th or early 20th century in Baroque Revival style, whilst the doorcase to number 32 was remodelled at roughly the same time in Arts and Crafts style. Evidence of number 31's original entrance remains plainly visible, now filled with a parapet and window.

An encaustic tile pavement of late 19th-century date in very good condition survives in front of number 33's entrance. Number 34's entrance, now filled by a window, was set into an aedicule consisting of fluted Tuscan columns and an entablature with triglyph and metope frieze.

The end units in the right side of the U have been converted into a single block of flats with an entrance probably dating to the late 19th century set on the return. To the left of this entrance is a two-storey rusticated bay with a shaped gable.

Many original four-panel studded doors survive: numbers 11, 12, 13 (with sidelights), 19, 22, 24, 27 (the latter two with sidelights), 28, 32, 33 (with sidelights), 34, 35 (with double doors), 36-38 (all with sidelights) and 39, where the door has been moved forward to enclose the porch.

The architectural system of giant Composite pilasters continues across the returns. Number 11's return additionally features two first-floor verandahs. The roofs of all porches are enclosed by balcony railings and in some cases roofed by a verandah. Numbers 24, 25 and 27 have glazed verandahs with concave metal roofs.

Many original or mid-19th-century sash windows remain throughout the group. Basement windows are predominantly three by six panes in numbers 11, 14-16, 18-20, 22, 23-34 and 38; two by two panes in numbers 12 and 13; and four by eight panes in numbers 35-37, 39 and 40. Ground-floor windows include one by one panes with margin lights in numbers 26 and 27; two by four panes in number 34; and six by six panes in numbers 20 and 25. First-floor windows are nine by nine panes in numbers 19, 20 and 25; two by four panes in number 34; six by twelve panes in number 39; and two-pane transoms over three-pane French doors in number 40. Second-floor windows are predominantly three by six panes in numbers 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23 and 34-40. Attic windows are three by three panes in numbers 11, 15 (left window only), 20, 27, 32, 36, 39 and 40. Dormer windows are three by three panes in numbers 18, 19, 23, 27, 29 and 33.

A blue plaque on number 22 reads: "Thomas Read Kemp, Founder of Kemp Town, Lived Here from 1827 to 1837. Erected by the Regency Society". A white plaque on number 11 reads: "The Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) stayed here frequently between 1874 and 1887. Erected by the Regency Society".

Kemp Town constitutes one of the most important architectural ensembles in Brighton, comprising Arundel Terrace, Chichester Terrace, Lewes Crescent, Sussex Square and related structures on The Esplanade.