Details
BRIGHTON
TQ3203NE CLARENDON TERRACE
577-1/49/156 (North side)
13/10/52 Nos.1-6 (Consecutive)
and attached walls, piers and
railings
II
Terraced houses, now flats. 1850-1855. By Cheesemans; George
Cheeseman Jnr may have been the designer. For W Percival
Boxall of Belle Vue House on land purchased from Thomas
Cubitt. Stucco. Roof obscured by blocking course.
EXTERIOR: 4 storeys and attic over basement. 4 windows each to
Nos 2-5; the end units, Nos 1 and 6, have 3 windows each and a
6-window range to their respective returns. The elevation
presents a uniform appearance which is orchestrated by a
succession of 6, one for each unit, full-height segmental
bays, each 3 windows wide. The entrances are flat arched,
those to Nos 2-5 originally followed a common type, a
description of which follows: up steps to entrance; door with
over- and sidelights, framed by Doric attached columns and
entablature with triglyph and metope frieze. In the conversion
of the block into flats, the entrances to Nos 2 and 5 were
blocked, the entrance aedicules filled with windows of C20
design, the corresponding steps and landing removed. Entrances
to these now through Nos 1 and 6 on returns. Entrances to Nos
3 and 4, however, are intact; paired at the party wall their
aedicules share one Doric column. The original stairs and
landings were exceptionally broad in keeping with the grand
scale of this group so near to Sussex Square and Lewes
Crescent. Entrance to No.1 has ample side- and overlights and
an original 2-panelled door with bead and reel moulding to
panels. The entrance is set under porch consisting of a
tetrastyle Doric portico, with columns coupled near the
corners to provide a broad gap for the entranceway;
entablature with triglyph and metope frieze identical to those
already described; mutules under soffits of boldly projecting
cornice; blocking course and roof of metal; side walls of this
porch have large flat-arched openings and pilaster responds.
Entrance to No.6 set under porch consisting of hexastyle Doric
portico: the columns are paired at corners and in centre, and
its plan is not rectangular, the right half is in fact a
diagonal return. The original entrance was set in the
left-hand bay of the porch; now blocked, the entrance is
through the right-hand bay; the side walls to original
entrance have one round-arched window in each with a panelled
dado below.
Returning to the main elevation: the alternation of flat wall
and segmental bay is quite complex adding a subtle rhythm to
the facade which can be notated thus: a, b, a, a, b, b, a, a,
b, a, where "a" equals a bay of 3-window range and "b" a
stretch of flat wall one window wide. Several repeated
features help to give the group a unified appearance: ground
floor treated as a rusticated base; continuous first-floor
balcony with cast-iron brackets and railings; entablature with
dentil cornice above runs as a continuous attic-sill band;
each attic window framed by a continuous pilastrade with
entablature; attic pilasters to end and party walls of Nos 1
and 6 and to party wall between Nos 3 and 4 are doubled; above
each attic pilaster is an antefixe finial filled with a
sunburst. All windows are flat arched, 3 to basement and
ground floor; all first-floor openings are floor-to-ceiling
with architraves and individual entablatures; second-floor
windows are treated similarly and have, in addition, sills
projecting on a pair of corbels. The few sashes of original
design which remain are in the attic: No.1 to side windows of
bay; Nos 3, 5 and 6 are complete; the design 2/2.
The treatment and features found on the main front appear on
the returns with the exception of the balcony, cornice and
entablature and attic pilastrade; to the left of the entrance
to No.1 rises a full-height segmental bay; single window to
each floor in entrance range set in plain, tripartite
aedicule; all windows in first- and second-window range are
blocked except for the first-floor window of the former, which
has a cast-iron window guard, and the second floor in the
latter; 2/2 sashes of original design in attic of entrance
range; to the rear of return is a single storey block,
rusticated with entablature, steps down to a rusticated,
moulded wall in front of which is a railed area with piers and
walls. The return of No.6 is in much better repair than No.1.
The overall arrangement of both is similar except that the
whole block of No.6 sets back after 4th-window range so that
the full-height segmental bay to the right does not project
beyond the wall plane to the corner; all windows in first- and
second-window range are blocked except for the ground- and
first-floor windows in the former; sashes of original 2/2
design to attic only. Rear elevation has segmental bay each to
Nos 2-5 with many sashes of original design.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
Cast-iron railings to steps and very wide areas. Stacks to end
and party walls. Full floor-through flats were installed in
Nos 5 and 6 in a c1980 conversion.
Listing NGR: TQ3287203571
