Details
BRIGHTON
TQ3004NE QUEEN'S ROAD
577-1/32/730 (North side)
30/04/73 Brighton Station including train
sheds
(Formerly Listed as:
QUEEN'S ROAD
Brighton Station (original portion)
& Train Sheds on Covered Platforms
to north)
II*
Railway station. The original station, of which only the
forebuilding remains in part, is of 1841 by David Mocatta; it
was enlarged, and the platforms extended, in 1852-4; the train
sheds date from 1882-3 and were designed by HE Wallis, and the
canopy in front of the station is of the same date. Stucco to
the original building, roof obscured by parapet; additions in
yellow and brown brick in English and Flemish bonds with red
brick dressings, and some timber; the train sheds of cast- and
wrought-iron with a roof of glass and timber.
EXTERIOR: the forebuildings of 2 and 3 storeys, 15-window
range to the original building, with an addition of 3-window
range to the west.
The original building was Italianate in style, with
single-storey wings of 3-window range with a round-arched
colonnade between, and shallower wings, also of 3-window
range, to the upper floors; the ground floor now consists
simply of a flat, stuccoed front with round-arched openings
and no original features, except that the (now stuccoed)
ground floor of the western addition retains C19 round-arched
metal glazing bars. The first floor has flat-arched windows
with moulded stucco architraves and alternating triangular and
segmental pediments, and long-and-short quoins to the wings;
and segmental-arched windows to the western addition. The
original building has a modillion cornice, and an attic storey
to the wings, with flat-arched architraved windows between
pilasters; balustraded parapet between the wings except for a
centrepiece, of later date than the original building,
consisting of a clock set in a giant foliate moulding resting
on the parapet.
The iron canopy in front of the station is of 7 equal bays
from west to east, with a further longer bay covering the
space between the forebuildings and the range of buildings to
the east; the first 2 bays from the west are one bay deep from
north to south, and the rest is 2 bays deep; the roof is
pitched, so that the canopy presents one gable end to Terminus
Road and 2 to Queen's Road. The cast-iron columns are fluted
in their lower part and rest on an octagonal base, with
arcaded capitals; spandrel brackets decorated with sexfoils;
the light trusses between bays are decorated with openwork and
have Brighton dolphins at their apex; wrought-iron scrolling
frieze along the outer faces of the canopy. 3 cast-iron
columns flank the traffic entrances to Queen's Road.
The train shed is laid out on a slight curve, and consists of
cast-iron columns carrying iron trusses and a roof of glass
and timber; it is 2-and-a-half bays wide from east to west,
and 21 bays long, from north to south, in the principal bays;
the half-bay is on the east side and is 12 bays long,
narrowing to its northern end; on the west side there is a
shallow extension, 9 bays long, to the south, and the 10 bays
to the north of that have a screen wall of yellow brick with
blank arcading. The cast-iron columns are quatrefoil in plan
on octagonal bases,with fluted capitals; they are stamped
'PATENT SHAFT AND AXLETREE CO 1882 WEDNESBURY'; the
north-south spandrels are filled with openwork decorated with
Brighton's dolphins, and the main trusses form segmental
curves under a pitched roof with scissor-trusses between.
East of the forebuildings is a range of mainly single-storey
buildings, in yellow brick with red-brick dressings, and
round-arched and segmental openings: 7 openings to the
shallower, southern end, 12 to the northern end; flanking
piers and a cornice and parapet form frames around these
openings; there is a wooden, first-floor addition over the
northern end.
Return in Terminus Road: probably largely designed by HE
Wallis, 1882; yellow brick laid in English bond with dressing
of red brick; there are 3 stages, starting from the south: (1)
a 2-storey range of 13 windows, divided into 5 bays, with
various ground-floor openings now much altered, and
first-floor windows in groups of 2 and 3 with stepped
segmental arches in gauged red brick; stepped red brick
parapet; (2) a single-storey range of 4 bays windowed as for
the 2-storey range and with stacks rising from the piers; (3)
a screen wall of 4 bays divided into bays with a red brick
cornice as in the earlier stages. North of this the wall is
largely rebuilt.
The station is built on a steep slope from east to west, and
there are underbuildings in Trafalgar Street and on the east
side of the building, in brown brick with red brick dressings;
the easternmost range of the station forecourt buildings,
designed by HE Wallis, 1882, is carried out over the yard on
cast-iron columns with decorative openwork brackets.
David Mocatta was architect to the London and Brighton Railway
Company, and designed many stations and bridges on the
London-to-Brighton line.
(Carder T: The Encyclopedia of Brighton: Lewes: 1990-).
Listing NGR: TQ3102604922
