Numbers 1-14 And Attached Railings

Terraced houses with attached railings in Brighton, comprising numbers 1 to 14 on the west side of Lewes Crescent. The facades were completed between 1823 and 1828, designed by Amon Wilds and Charles Augustin Busby for the developer Thomas Read Kemp. The builder Thomas Cubitt is known to have erected 10 of the 14 houses.

The buildings are constructed in stucco and painted brick or mathematical tiles in Flemish bond. Roofs to numbers 5–9 and 14 are of slate; the remainder are obscured by blocking course.

Each property is three storeys and attic over basement, except for number 7, which has an extra storey added in the 20th century, and numbers 5, 6 and 9, which have three storeys with three segmental-arched dormers each. Most houses have three windows each; numbers 1 and 14, the curved end units, have six windows each. The two halves of Lewes Crescent are laid out as arcs forming the junction of Sussex Square to the north and transitions to Chichester and Arundel Places to the south. The end units are noticeably curved and larger than the rest to accommodate this transition.

Beginning with number 1, every third unit (numbers 1, 4, 7, 10 and 13) projects outward and is treated as a giant tetrastyle pilastrade of the Composite order applied to the first and second floors, with a plain pilastrade to the attic storey on axis below. These bay units are wider and taller than those without pilasters.

Common unifying features throughout include: ground floor of banded rustication; French doors opening onto first-floor balconies with cast-iron brackets and railings; storey bands interrupted by pilasters between first and second floors; entablature with projecting cornice, the upper fascia level with the attic window sill; diminutive entablature and blocking course to attic; and flat-arched openings throughout, those to ground and second floors with projecting sills. Ground floor stucco is applied throughout.

Entrances are reached by stairs up to a broad landing on numbers 2–4, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 13; others are entered by a landing level with the street. Entrances to numbers 3–4, 7–8 and 10–11 are paired. All entrances have overlights; those to numbers 7–10 are set in a rusticated aedicule continuing the ground floor of the adjacent unit. The long elevation contains many broken joins to negotiate the level change. The end units have more elaborate entrances: number 1 has side- and overlights set under a prostyle porch with fluted Doric columns and entablature, its sides filled with walls stopping short of each column and terminating in antae, each wall pierced by a window, with a verandah above having a metal roof with dripboards supported by cast-iron railings and stanchions. Number 14's porch is nearly identical except its side walls are not pierced and are without responds. Original 4-panel studded double doors appear at numbers 1 and 12; a 4-panel door at number 2; and 6-panel studded double doors at numbers 13 and 14.

Original sashes remain at basement level of numbers 1–4, 6–8, 12 and 13 (3 × 6 panes); basement of numbers 9 and 11 (6 × 6 panes); ground floor of number 1, first and third window ranges (4 × 4 panes); second floor of number 9 (6 × 6 panes); and attic of numbers 10 and 13 (3 × 3 panes). Composite capitals are missing from the pilasters of number 7, where the cornice section below each attic window has been removed to increase window size; a similar alteration was made to the attic windows of number 2.

The interior has not been inspected.

This terrace has been home to many notable figures. Thomas Cubitt, the noted builder who worked on the development of Kemp Town, lived at number 13 from 1846 to 1853, commemorated by a blue plaque to the left of the entrance. Fife House, number 1 Lewes Crescent, together with 14 Chichester Terrace, was the residence of the 6th Duke of Devonshire from 1828 to 1858. Between 1896 and 1924, number 1 was home to Princess Louise, daughter of Edward VII, and her husband, the Duke of Fife. Edward VII stayed here during his convalescence in 1908.

Kemp Town constitutes an important group comprising Arundel Terrace, Chichester Terrace, Lewes Crescent, Sussex Square and related structures.