Royal Crescent Hotel and Attached Walls and Railings

Details

BRIGHTON

TQ3203NW MARINE PARADE
577-1/48/457 (North side)
20/08/71 Royal Crescent Hotel and attached
walls and railings

II

The first 2 storeys built as a private house in the early C19;
between 1848 and 1857 converted into a hotel; current
appearance dates to the late C19. Stucco. Roof obscured by
parapet. 5 storeys over basement. 3-window range on main
elevation; left return has 9-window range and right 11-window
range. Main elevation treated as 3 full-height bays, the
centre segmental, the sides canted, all with tripartite
windows. Ground floor has banded rustication taking the form
of voussoirs and keystones in the window lintels; corner
quoins rise full height. The ground-floor bay windows are flat
arched with overlights filled with decorative wood pelmets;
flat-arched windows to all floors but the first. Entablature
blocks articulate each pier of the bay as a pilaster, the
shaft of which is panelled. A 3-storey porch rises from the
first to the third floors; cast-iron brackets to the first
floor with heavy, square ones to the second and third; the
railings and colonnettes are cast-iron; the third floor has a
verandah roof of metal which is concave in section. Each
first-floor bay window is arranged as a Venetian window, with
round-arched centre and flat-arched sides; continuous
architrave around each is interrupted by an entablature
running across the window head. At the top is a broad
entablature and high parapet; the parapet bears an escutcheon
framed by rustication and topped by a Dutch. The parapet over
each side bay is surmounted by stilted pediment. Raised panels
decorate the parapet between the crestings of the bays, as
well as balustrade. At the ground there are 2 low walls; area
enclosed by cast-iron railings. The flat-arched entry is in
the right return set within a prostyle porch consisting of 4
Tuscan columns; there is a marquee above bearing the words
"Royal Crescent Hotel". The ground-floor windows are round
arched with continuous architraves; first-floor windows are
flat arched, except for the one over the entrance which is
Venetian; all have continuous architraves; second-floor
windows are flat arched with eared architraves, projecting
sills supported by pairs of brackets; continuous sill band to
third-floor windows; third- and 4th-floor windows have
continuous architraves. The area between the third- and
4th-floor windows in the first, third and 5th bays of the
right return is enclosed by pilaster strips, each area
decorated with a garland. The windows in the second bay from
the first to 4th floors are blocked. There is a break between
the 5th and 6th bay of this elevation, the rear 6 bays are
slightly lower than the front, the ground-floor windows round
arched, the rest flat; ground- to second-floor windows have
continuous architraves. 2 full-height bays to rear block, the
first has segmental with Doric porch in antis, the second
canted. The same arrangement of windows and architraves is
found on the left return; the rear block here is very plain
and has scattered fenestration. Cast-iron railings to areas
and cast-iron window guards to first floor windows on the
returns. Near the entrance on the right return is a white
plaque bearing the following legend: " In a house now part of
this building lived George Canning, Statesman, born 1770, died
1827".

Listing NGR: TQ3220903752

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

482119

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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