Details
BRIGHTON
TQ3203NW PORTLAND PLACE
577-1/48/676 (West side)
13/10/52 Nos.1-11 (Consecutive)
and attached wall, pier and railings
GV II
Terraced houses. c1826. Designed by Charles Augustin Busby.
Stucco with stock brick in Flemish bond; artificial stone.
Roof to Nos 3-4, 6-7, 9, and 10 of slate; No.1 of asphalt
shingles; the rest obscured by parapet.
EXTERIOR: Nos 2, 5, 8, and 11 three storeys and attic over
basement, the rest 3 storeys with dormers over basement. 3
windows each. The front of No.11 at the north end of the row
curves for 2 bays and sets back to the depth of one bay. The
entire row is given a monumental character by the treatment of
every third unit, Nos 2, 5, 8, and 11, as porticoed bays, the
front walls set forward from the rest with a giant pilastrade
of the Composite Order rising through the first and second
floors; each also has a complete entablature with an attic and
blocking course above. The entrances and ground-floor windows
of these porticoed bays are round arched, the doors with
fanlights; the rest are flat arched.
Several features help to bind the units into a single
composition: ground floors of banded rustication, French
windows to first floors, storey bands between first and second
floors, and a common cornice to the second floor of each, the
last much altered on Nos 6-7, and 10; projecting sills to all
windows; originally tawny stock brick walls would have unified
the composition further, but several fronts are now painted.
No.5 has been altered more than the rest, having lost many
original features. There are first-floor balconies with
cast-iron railings and brackets to Nos 1, 6-7, and 9-10;
first-floor windows of the rest have cast-iron window guards.
The end unit, No.11, is the most elaborate and unusual in
plan; the entrance bay is set back behind a curving front of
2-window range; the Composite pilasters are applied to each
corner. The entrance is set under a first-floor balcony
supported on a large fluted bracket; to the right of the
entrance is a low wall emblazoned with an heraldic ornament,
terminating in a moulded and chamfered pier with scroll
finial. Glazing of original design to ground floor of No.8;
first floors of Nos 4, 6-9, and 11; second floors of Nos 1, 4,
6, 8-9, and 11; and attics or dormers of Nos 1, and 6-9. The
right return of No.11 is executed in glazed black, red, tan
and blue brick, and reproduces the design of the main
elevation as a colour diagram. Dormers to units are segmental
arched. Stacks to party walls.
INTERIOR: not inspected. Railings to stairs and areas. This
Terrace, which forms a most important group with Nos 127,
128-133A Marine Parade (qv) and Marine Square (qv), was
Busby's last work in Brighton and built on land owned by Major
Villeroy Russell.
Listing NGR: TQ3246603736
