Details
BRIGHTON
TQ3203NW MARINE SQUARE
577-1/48/484 Nos.4-28 (Consecutive)
13/10/52 and attached railings
(Formerly Listed as:
MARINE PARADE
Nos.4-21 (Consecutive))
(Formerly Listed as:
MARINE PARADE
Nos.22-28 (Consecutive))
GV II
Terraced houses. c1824. Possibly designed by Amon Wilds and
Charles Augustin Busby. Stucco to all except Nos 16 and 20,
recovered in rough cast, and Nos 6-8 and 10-12, which have a
stucco basement, first floor and cornice with brick in Flemish
bond and lintels of gauged brick to the first and second
floors. Roof obscured by blocking course. The square is laid
out on a U-shaped plan; the houses in the left and right arms
(Nos 4-12 and 20-28) were originally of identical design,
those in the centre range are of a different design and on a
grander scale.
EXTERIOR: each side unit has 4 storeys over basement, 3
windows each. Steps up to round-arched entry with fanlight.
Ground floor rusticated. To the side of the entrance a
segmental bay with tripartite, flat-arched windows. Verandah
with cast-iron railings, brackets and stanchions to first
floor; in the centre of the verandah is another segmental bay,
this one also with tripartite, flat-arched windows, but on a
different axis and broader than the one below. Convex roof to
bay and lean-to roof to verandah of metal. All windows flat
arched. Cornice and blocking course above.
Individual features include: decorative glazing to fanlights
of Nos 7-8 and 23-25; banded rustication to No.22; doors of
original design to Nos 4, 25, and 28; storey band between
second and third floor of No.5; cornice to second floor
windows of No.10; Nos 6-8; mid to late C19 window guards and
parapet railing to No.23; sashes of original design to ground
floor of Nos 11 and 23; to first-floor bay of Nos 6-8, 11,
23-24, and 27; to second floor of Nos 6, 11, 23-24, 26 (top
sashes only), and 27; to third floor of Nos 6, 11, 23-24, and
27. The verandahs are gone from Nos 12, 26, and 27. Nos 9, 22,
and 28 have been extensively remodelled in the mid to late
C19. In No.9 a full-height canted bay with tripartite,
flat-arched windows replaced the segmental bays; verandah has
a hipped roof; to left of bay on the second and third floors
is a flat-arched, blocked window with floating cornice
supported by console brackets; storey band between second and
third floors; cornice; the round-arched entrance set,
rusticated base, and verandah railings are original. No.22 has
narrowly banded rustication on the ground floor; round-arched
entrance has a hood moulding consisting of a modillioned
cornice and volute keystone; the bay is moulded at bottom with
closely spaced console brackets, and at its corner are fluted
pilasters from which spring brackets supporting the verandah;
2 brackets over the entrance and one at the party wall are of
the same design but larger; rectangular verandah with roof
supported by wood brackets cut in a series of "C" curves; the
fascia of the verandah floor is ornamented by a frieze of
circles; the second-floor windows are intersected by a
panelled blind parapet, and cornice which is interrupted by 3
console brackets supporting ball finials; between the second
and third floors is a storey band ornamented with fluting and
bars, a pattern repeated in the third floor cornice. No.28 has
a round-arched entrance with architrave which intersects at
the springing of the arch a horizontal band ornamented with a
guilloche moulding; this band is interrupted by the bay but
resumes at the far wall; 3-storey porch rising from the first
through the third floors, rectangular in plan, with cast-iron
railings and stanchions in an interlace pattern. No.12A is a
mid to late C19 insertion with flat-arched entry; 4 storeys
over basement. Stacks to party walls of all. Railings to
stairs and areas.
Centre range: each unit has 4 storeys and an attic over half
basement; the central unit, No.6, has 3 windows, the end units
have one broad window each, and the units between centre and
ends have 2 windows each. This group of 7 houses is treated as
a bilaterally symmetrical composition, with the wider centre
unit treated as a projecting pavilion framed by giant Tuscan
pilasters to the first and second floors. The end units
project further forward than the centre, and between them runs
a continuous Doric colonnade forming a porch to the ground
floors of all and a verandah above; the Doric columns are
paired at the line of the party walls, leaving a large space
in front of the ground-floor windows of the intermediate
units; there are separate first-floor verandahs to the end
pavilions. Only the verandah of Nos 18-19 preserves the
original cast-iron brackets, railings and stanchions. The rest
have been enclosed by C20 glazing. The ground floor has banded
rustication, becoming voussoirs and keystones over each
round-arched entrance with fanlight; these are reached by a
short set of stairs. Sill bands to second floor windows;
continuous entablature between third floor and attic;
entablature and blocking course to attic. All windows flat
arched; to the left of end units entries are flat-arched
tripartite windows with a keystone in the centre of the
lintel. Individual features include: decorative glazing to
fanlight of No.18; projecting sill and cast-iron window guard
to ground floor of No.19; sashes of original design to
first-floor French doors of end units.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
The whole of Marine Square (Nos 4-28 consecutive) form a most
important group with Nos 111-119 (consecutive), 122-133
(consecutive), and 133A Marine Parade (qv).
Nos 22-28 (consecutive) Marine Square were listed on 20/08/71.
(Carder T: The Encyclopaedia of Brighton: Lewes: 1990-).
Listing NGR: TQ3243003748
