Town Hall

TQ 4110 SE LEWES HIGH STREET 10/246 (north side)

25.2.52 Town Hall

GV II

Inn, now Town Hall. C14, rebuilt above ground in the later C18, remodelled in 1893 by Samuel Denman in an eclectic Queen Anne - Baroque style. Red brick with much applied red brick and terracotta decoration. Rusticated pilaster order on ground floor with full entablature to rusticated first floor with raised panels around windows. Heavy entablature with swags in frieze of centre and flutings over windows, to first floor. Moulded cornice over second floor to parapet with recessed blank arched panels. Central aedicular feature over centre, with curved supports and triangular pediment over. Parapet hides slate roof with end stacks. 3 storeys; 8 bays, arranged 2 - 3 - 3, the central 3 projecting and narrower. Sashes throughout, those on ground and first floors without glazing bare. Single thermal window in centre of second floor and tall window with arched glazing directly below. Other windows all with cornice- hoods, those flanking centre with triangular pediments also. Arched window surrounds on ground floor, except to left of centre with plain surrounds. Arch mouldings in striped brick and stone with keystones carved as masks. Arches of centre rise from antae which carry bracket pilasters to heavy Doric entablature with cast-iron lamp holder over entrance. Paired half-glazed doors in centre. Half-glazed door on second bay from right. Interior: Undercroft of C14 with arch and tunnel-vault. Staircase: formerly at Slaugham Place, c.1620, installed in the Inn during the later C18. Almost certainly not in its original form, it is now an Imperial with a long first flight. High newel posts, tapering balusters with capitals, much figural carving. The later C19 and early C20 front of the Town Hall and Corn Exchange can also seen in Fisher Street.

Listing NGR: TQ4154510154