Details
BRIGHTON
TQ3303NW LEWES CRESCENT
577-1/50/374 (East side)
13/10/52 Nos.15-28 (Consecutive)
and attached railings
I
Terraced houses, most now converted into flats. Facades
completed between 1823 and 1828. Designed by Amon Wilds and
Charles Augustin Busby for the developer Thomas Read Kemp; the
builder Thomas Cubitt is known to have erected 10 houses of
the total number in Lewes Crescent. Stucco; painted brick in
Flemish bond to first and second floors of first- through
third-window ranges of No.28. Roofs to all but No.22, which is
obscured, of slate; slate turnerised to No.23.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and attic over basement; Nos 20, 21, 26
and 27 have 3 dormers each instead of an attic storey; Nos 17
and 18 have a C20 storey above the attic. Nos 17-27 have 3
windows each. No.16 has a 9-window range and No.28 has a
6-window range. The west (Nos 1-14, qv) and east halves of
Lewes Crescent are laid out as arcs forming the debouchment of
Sussex Square (qv) to the north and acting as transitions to
Chichester Terrace (qv) and Arundel Terrace (qv) to the south.
To provide a transition, the end units in the Lewes Crescent
Terraces, that is, Nos 15-16 and 28, are convex in plan,
reversing the curve along which the intermediary units are
laid out.
Although the scheme is similar in general conception to that
for Nos 1-14 (qv), the treatment of individual units varies
sufficiently to warrant a detailed description. Every third
unit treated as a porticoed bay, that is, Nos 15-16 (which
have a continuous portico), 19, 22, 25 and the first- through
third-window ranges of No.28. The centre of the terrace,
No.22, is marked by a slightly stilted attic storey. There are
straight joins between every 3 units, 17-19, 20-22, 23-25, and
26-28, and a corresponding level change thus negotiating the
slope of Lewes Crescent from north to south. Features common
to each unit are repeated from Nos 1-14. The roof of each
entrance porch enclosed by an extension of the verandahs or
balconies; broad areas enclosed by cast-iron railings of
similar design; all openings are flat arched, except for the
dormers, which are segmental arched. All entrances have
overlights and are reached by a short flight of stairs, which
are set within porches designed as variations on prostyle and
tetrastyle porticoes, the latter being found on Nos 18-19 and
21-22 which are paired.
Here follows a description of the entrance porches. No.16 has
a prostyle porch of fluted Doric columns; its straight side
walls, which are in the same plane as the columns, end in
antae just short of them; entablature with projecting cornice.
Porches of similar plan can be found throughout the terrace.
There is a 4-panel studded door of original design which can
be found on many of the units. This door is set in doorcase of
4 Tuscan pilasters with sidelights; the entablature to the
doorcase has a cornice cast in a leaf and dart pattern, this
same moulding being used as the springing band for the
segmental vaulted roof of the porch. There is a balustrade in
stucco cement enclosing a first-floor balcony on the roof.
Porch and door of No.17 similar to that of No.16 except that
the right-side wall is pierced by a round-arched opening.
Paired entrances to 18 and 19 are set under tetrastyle portico
of unfluted Doric columns, the centre pair of which are
coupled to make broad gaps for the entrances; straight side
walls run from responds to antae stopping just short of the
columns; wall on axis with party wall pierced by one
round-arched window; No.18 only has a door of original design.
Porch of No.20 prostyle with fluted Doric columns on same plan
as that to No.16; each side wall pierced by one round-arched
window. Entrances to Nos 21 and 22 are paired and set under a
single tetrastyle portico with fluted Doric columns, the whole
following the same plan as that to Nos 18 and 19; the side
walls are pierced by one round-arched window each; the
entablature has a triglyph and metope frieze; the ceiling of
this porch is coffered, its cornice moulded with a palmette
and lotus pattern; each 6-panelled door is of early to mid C19
design and set in doorcases of 4 Tuscan pilasters. Porches to
Nos 23 and 24 each with fluted Doric columns and following
pattern established by No.16; each side wall of No.23 pierced
by one round-arched window with a sill band below. The right
wall of No.24 porch also formed the left wall of No.25, the
porch of which follows the pattern established by No.16. Same
plan to porch of No.25, with the right wall only reduced to a
parapet and glazed to underside of entablature. Porch to No.27
similar to that of No.16, each side wall pierced by one
round-arched window. Porch to No.28 unique in the terrace:
distyle in antis with Ionic columns attached to antae in plane
of front wall; banded rustication to interior walls of porch
which is nearly square in plan, the corners near the door
being chamfered; right- side wall pierced by round-arched
window with margin glazing of original design; a sill band to
this window runs between antae and responds; 6-panel door of
early to mid C19 design.
Many windows in the group have architraves: ground through
second floors of Nos 16, 19, 20, and 21; to ground and first
floor only of No.26; to second floor only of No.25; and to
No.27 there are remains of an architrave to the transoms of
the first-floor windows only. All these windows have
projecting sills, with the obvious exception of the
first-floor windows; each second-floor window of No.22 has a
moulded sill supported by a pair of console brackets. A
considerable number of sashes of original or early to mid C19
design survive. Basement sashes of 6 x 6 design to Nos 23, 25,
26 and 27; of 8 x 8 design to Nos 19, 22 and 24. Ground-floor
sashes of 1 x 1 with margin lights to Nos 19, 23 and 28; of 2
x 2 design to Nos 20, 21 and 22. French doors to first floor
with 3 panes under 2 light transom to Nos 19 and 23; the
transoms only of No.26 have margin lights. Second-floor
windows with sashes of 3 x 6 design to window-ranges one
through 3 and 7 through nine of No.16; of 2 x 2 design to Nos
20, 21 and 22. Attic windows of 3 x 3 design to same window
ranges of No.16; of 2 x 2 design to No.22 only. The attic
window in the fifth-window range of Nos 16 and 28 is blocked.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Lord Frederick Elwyn-Jones (1908-1989), a
Labour MP, prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials and Lord
Chancellor in the 1970s, lived at No.17. No.18 bears a
commemorative plaque with the following inscription: "Dame
Anna Neagle, 1904-1986, Actress, and Herbert Wilcox,
1890-1977, Film Producer, lived here, 1953-1969".
(Carder T: The Encyclopaedia of Brighton: Lewes: 1990-: 81D).
Listing NGR: TQ3323903528
