23-30, HIGH STREET

Council houses at 23–30 High Street, Brighton, designed by Charles E Clayton and Ernest Black and dated 1910 (a shield bearing this date appears on No. 29). The plans were dated 16 September 1909. The building is constructed in brick laid in stretcher bond with pebble dash, mock half-timbering, and stone dressings, with gambrel roofs of tile and porch roofs sheathed in lead. The style is Arts and Crafts.

The eight units are arranged to form an irregular and picturesque grouping through simple variations on a common type, with No. 27 serving as the central point of emphasis and the only truly unique design. The other units are assembled from a limited repertoire of features and finishes. All units share a brick dado with pebble dash above, interrupted by stretches of half-timbering that extend into the gables. All entrances and ground-floor windows have stone dressings.

Nos. 23–26 and No. 29 are two storeys with gabled dormers. Nos. 27 and 30 are two storeys with gabled bays extending into the roof. Round-arched entrances to Nos. 23, 26, 27, and 30 feature chamfered jambs and voussoirs with projecting keystones. These entrances are framed by stone brackets supporting plain flat lead-sheathed canopies. No. 23A has a flat arch entrance with an overlight. Nos. 24 and 25 share access through a broad round arch springing from the brick base, with chamfered jambs and voussoirs with run-out stops and a glazed foyer. Nos. 28 and 29 share access through a glazed foyer with a flat arch.

Adjacent to the entrances of Nos. 23, 26, 27, and 30 are triple windows with chamfered mullions. To the right of the entrances to Nos. 28–29 is a double window with chamfered mullions. First-floor windows are fitted with original wooden casements, each light containing 8 panes. Over the entrances of Nos. 23, 26, 27, and 30 are double windows with chamfered mullions; all other windows are triple with chamfered mullions.

No. 27 features two first-floor windows with hood moulding in the profile of Venetian windows, their tympana filled with stone inset panels. The wall above each rises into full dormers with triple flat-arched windows. The gables have kneelers and coping, with heads ornamented with quatrefoil stone insets. Party walls of Nos. 27–30 are expressed above the roof and terminate in brackets just below the eaves. No. 30 has a symmetrical facade with two first-floor triple casements beneath half-timbered gabled dormers with barge boards. Between Nos. 28 and 29 is a round gable bearing a shield inscribed with the date and the Corporation's arms.

Nos. 23–26 are more informal in arrangement, with half-timbering to full and half gables as well as to some stretches of the first floor. No. 26 has a small dormer with a hipped roof. Downspouts are original. Stacks are positioned at party walls.

The interior was not inspected.

Clayton and Black made two proposals for council houses on this site. For the first, they proposed converting a group of early 19th-century terraced houses. These were instead demolished in favour of complete rebuilding.