Somerset House

Somerset House is a house, originally built as a hotel, dating back to around 1840 and extended around 1860. It was commissioned for the Duke of Somerset and has been converted into apartments around 2010. The building is constructed of rendered or painted brick with slate roofs. The main facade faces the sea and is raised and set back from Brunswick Terrace.

The original house was L-shaped, with two main rooms to the east and the staircase positioned off-centre at the rear. A further range was added after 1857, fronting onto Greenhill, and containing the new main entrance. The Greenhill range is constructed separately but connects to the earlier building.

The sea-front range has two storeys, an attic, and a basement, with two windows. It features a mansard roof with a modern three-light dormer, and two-storey flat-roofed canted bays with 4:12:4 pane sash windows. A balcony, raised on the basement, has two bowed sections and central doors, protected by a full-width ogee tent verandah with multi-pane glazing and a modern balustrade. Below the balcony are concave recesses mirroring the bows above, with central doors flanked by windows. A deep mid-band, a thin moulded cornice at the head of the bays, a blocking course, a parapet, and end stacks are also present; the stack on the right is particularly tall to clear the adjacent building. A modern dormer is also visible to the south.

The Greenhill range is two storeys with two windows, featuring plain sash windows and a wide central arched opening above a panelled door with sidelights and a radial fanlight. An inner door has margin bar glazing, and the original cast-iron footscraper remains in place. It also includes a plinth, mid-band, cornice, blocking course, parapet, and end stacks; a coped half-gable rises above a later flat roof on the left side.

Inside, the two ground floor front rooms have palmette cornices. The south room has a marble fire surround with decorative tiles, while the other room features a veined marble fire surround. Good quality original six-panel doors with panelled doorcases are found throughout. The generous open-well staircase has Portland stone treads, a decorative iron balustrade, and a swept handrail. An inner door, possibly the original main entrance, has a particularly large radial fanlight.

Somerset House was originally a private house for the Duke of Somerset, but was owned by Mr Vinings according to a map from 1857. It represents the earliest development in this direction, marking the northern extent of development along the Esplanade.