Summary
Cottage, the north-west part is late C17 or early C18, heightened in the later C18 when it was also doubled in size by being extended to the south-west.
Reasons for Designation
Puget's Cottage is listed for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: contains a significant proportion of late C17 or early C18 fabric heightened and extended in the later C18 and with some later C18 or early C19 sash windows. The two phases of the building show the transition of the ancient town into the fashionable seaside resort;
* Interior features: late C17 or early C18 good quality first floor cornices and joinery;
* Plan form: readable externally and to some extent internally;
* Historic interest and rarity: a very rare survival of an old town building which pre-dates the mid C18 and later development of Brighton as a seaside resort. The curved external wall of the property is a rare survival of the local strip field system, which was superseded by later grid development;
* Group Value: group value with 15 North Street and the paved yard.
History
Puget’s Cottage was originally a detached property built to the south-west and at right angles to North Street but by 1876 had become attached to an 1830s adjoining building, 14 North Street.
North Street was built on the line of an older drovers road between Brighthelmstone and Steyning which formed the northern limit of the town. The curve in the external wall of the property reflects the shape of a strip field known locally as a ‘paul piece’ which pre-dated the development of Brighton as a seaside resort from the middle of the C18 onwards. Developers of Brighton as a seaside resort customarily divided extensive areas of Paul Piece into a grid so the shape shows the earlier origin of the property, considered of late C17 or early C18 date. The earliest occupants may have been farmers or possibly seafarers as it is known that a number of master mariners owned properties on the south side of North Street prior to the great storm of 1703 and these properties were still in the ownership of these families in 1744.
The property was extended to the south in the later C18 with an elliptical first floor bay facing south-west and the existing part was also likely to have been heightened by a storey at this time. It is shown on Budgens map of 1769 with extensive gardens to its east and north, probably market gardens. It is possible that the plot was divided and a further property, 15 North Street, was built to the north-east. A paved yard and a narrow paved passage with a gully between the two properties, probably of the 1830s, gave access onto North Street.
By the 1876 Ordnance Survey map Puget’s Cottage is shown hemmed in by Hampshire Bank constructed against its south-east wall and Puget’s School, a church school to the south-west. No change is shown in the outline of the building on either the 1898 or 1911 editions but by the 1931 edition the property has been subsumed in the outline of 14 North Street and both 14 North Street and the earlier cottage had become part of Hanningtons department store.
Details
DATE: the north-west part is late C17 or early C18, heightened in the later C18 when it was also doubled in size by being extended to the south-west.
MATERIALS: the ground and first floor of the north-east side and the two lower floors of the northern half of the south-west side and the lower part of the northern half of the south-west side are constructed of large cobbles, incorporating some pieces of ironstone, and brick quoin, including some reused C16 bricks, set in lime mortar. The upper parts of these walls and the remaining sides of the building are in brick laid in English garden wall bond. The mansard roof is tiled with end brick stacks, the southern one rendered.
PLAN: originally two storeys, possibly with attics, with the entrance on the south-east side, probably consisted of one room on each floor with a staircase and landing to the north-west side. Later heightened by a further floor and extended to the south-west with an additional room on each floor. An entrance was later added on the north-east end when, owing to the later construction of surrounding buildings, access became impossible from the south-east.
EXTERIOR: the south-east side has at its southern end a flat-roofed dormer with a three-over-three-pane sash window, a second floor four-over-four-pane sash with a cambered head and brick lintel, and a first-floor elliptical bay later adapted to a canted bay with a smaller C20 sash window. The remainder of this side has been concealed by a later building built alongside, but behind this is a further flat-roofed dormer at the northern end and the curved wall at the northern end, although not visible externally, is visible internally.
The north-east end is constructed of large cobbles with some pieces of ironstone and has a brick outline to the end chimney. The line of the original mansard roof is exposed with brickwork above. The ground floor has a blocked doorway with a flat lintel and similar blocked sash window. The first floor has a three-over-six-pane early C19 sash window and the second-floor window has a later C19 sash in an earlier opening.
The north-west side has cobbles to the two lower floors of the northern half and the lowest part of the southern half but is otherwise of brick in English Garden wall bond with a number of window openings of various sizes. The shadow of a demolished building with mansard roof is shown at the southern end.
The south-west end is mainly concealed behind a later building.
INTERIOR: the first floor retains a north room with a deep moulded late C17 or early C18 cornice and transverse beams, skirting boards and wide floorboards. The staircase lobby has a curved wall at the northern end, with similar cornice and some transverse beams of a similar date, moulded skirting boards and wide floorboards.
