163 North Street, Brighton

Building in Brighton, England September 2013 December 2023 163 North Street 163 North Street, Brighton (NHLE Code 1380622) (July 2019) (4).jpg 250px The building from the west-southwest United Kingdom Brighton Location within central Brighton 50.8227 -0.1395 region:GB_type:landmark dec inline,title 163 North Street, Brighton, Brighton and Hove BN1 1EA, United Kingdom 1904 Royal Assurance Society Clayton & Black Edwardian Baroque Grade II No. 163 North Street 26 August 1999 1380622 The building at 163 North Street in Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove, was erected in 1904 for an insurance company and has since been used as a branch by several banks and building societies. It now houses a bookmaker's shop. The distinctive pink granite Edwardian Baroque-style office, embellished with towers, decorative carvings and a landmark cupola, has been called "the most impressive building" on Brighton's main commercial thoroughfare. One of many works by prolific local architecture firm Clayton & Black, it has been described as their chef d'œuvre. English Heritage has listed it at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance. History North Street formed the northern boundary of the ancient fishing village of Brighthelmston, from which the town of Brighton developed.Antram Morrice 2008 4. It was part of the main route out of Brighton towards London, so was well placed to develop quickly once the town started to grow in the 18th century. By about 1800 it was considered the main commercial area of Brighton.Collis 2010 219. The first of several road widening schemes was completed in 1879: it cleared most buildings from the north side of the street and encouraged the development of large banks and offices.Antram Morrice 2008 163. The architecture firm Clayton & Black had been based in Brighton since the 1870s, originally at North Street. By the early 20th century they had designed a wide range of buildings in the town and in neighbouring Hove, where they also carried out surveying work. Their portfolio included churches, schools, residential buildings,Middleton 2002 Vol. 3, p. 70. a convalescent homeBrighton Polytechnic. School of Architecture and Interior Design 1987 71. and a furniture depository, completed in 1904.Brighton Polytechnic. School of Architecture and Interior Design 1987 98. By this time they were working mostly on commercial buildings,Antram Morrice 2008 23. and in 1904 the Royal Assurance Society commissioned them to design a new office on a site next to the Chapel Royal at the junction of North Street and New Road—a prominent corner site.Dale Gray 1976 25. Other banks and financial institutions followed, and the north side of North Street has been "dominated" by them ever since. From 21 April 1936, the building was shared with a branch of Martins Bank. A weather vane decorated with a liver bird—part of the bank's logo—was added to the roof. The branch closed on 5 March 1957 when a new one was opened elsewhere on North Street.http://www.martinsbank.co.uk/11-133%20Brighton.htm Former Branches: 11–133 Brighton Hill Alan 2007 Martins Bank Archive 8 February 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20120507231820/http://www.martinsbank.co.uk/11-133%20Brighton.htm 7 May 2012 live dmy By 1987, the building was occupied by a branch of the Leeds Permanent Building Society.Brighton Polytechnic. School of Architecture and Interior Design 1987 56. On 1 August 1995, this company merged with the Halifax Building Societyhttp://www.bsa.org.uk/consumer/factsheets/mergerschrono.htm Building society mergers and conversions since 1980 1 February 2013 Building Societies Association 8 February 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20121229051333/http://www.bsa.org.uk/consumer/factsheets/mergerschrono.htm 29 December 2012 live dmy and the "Leeds Permanent" brand disappeared; thereafter the branch operated under the Halifax brand.Valley Gardens Conservation Area Character Statement http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/downloads/bhcc/conservation/Valley_Gardens_Conservation_Area_Study.pdf 8 February 2013 Brighton & Hove City Council (Design & Conservation Department) 18 13 September 1995 PDF https://web.archive.org/web/20120906080346/http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/downloads/bhcc/conservation/Valley_Gardens_Conservation_Area_Study.pdf 6 September 2012 live dmy By 2013 the building housed a branch of Metrobet, a bookmaker with several branches in London and southeast England,http://www.metrobet.co.uk/products.html Metrobet Shop Locator 2011 Metrobet Ltd 8 February 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20121211101021/http://www.metrobet.co.uk/products.html 11 December 2012 dead dmy-all but in 2020 it was a branch of the Paddy Power bookmaker chain.https://www.britishracecourses.org/paddy-power-betting-shop-brighton-north-street/ Paddy Power Betting Shop Brighton North Street 2020 British Racecourses 7 May 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200507200511/https://www.britishracecourses.org/paddy-power-betting-shop-brighton-north-street/ 7 May 2020 live Heritage 163 North Street was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 26 August 1999.1380622 No. 163 North Street (North side), The City of Brighton and Hove II 8 February 2013 This status is given to "nationally important buildings of special interest".http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/listed-buildings/ Listed Buildings 2012 English Heritage 24 January 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130126151823/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/listed-buildings 26 January 2013 dead dmy As of February 2001, it was one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.Images of England – Statistics by County (East Sussex) http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/StatisticsPage/default.aspx?StatsCounty=EAST%20SUSSEX Images of England English Heritage 2007 27 December 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20121023073747/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/StatisticsPage/default.aspx?StatsCounty=EAST%20SUSSEX 23 October 2012 dead dmy The building is within the Valley Gardens Conservation Area,http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1001696 Conservation Areas street directory – N 2012 Brighton & Hove City Council 8 February 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20120901052609/http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1001696 1 September 2012 dead dmy one of 34 conservation areas in the city of Brighton and Hove.Conservation Areas in Brighton & Hove http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1103241 1 January 2012 Brighton & Hove City Council (Design & Conservation Department) 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20120830161424/http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1103241 30 August 2012 dead dmy This was designated by Brighton Council in 1973 and covers 92.84 acre ha.http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1175584 Valley Gardens Conservation Area 2012 Brighton & Hove City Council 8 February 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20120902170036/http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1175584 2 September 2012 dead dmy Architecture 163 North Street has been widely praised for its design. Descriptions include "the chef d'œuvre of Clayton & Black, an ebullient essay in Edwardian Baroque",Antram Morrice 2008 165. "an example of Edwardian Baroque at its best: a confident composition" and "the most impressive" of North Street's many banks and offices. The building has a roof of green slate tiles, and the walls are faced entirely in "delicate" pink granite. It occupies the whole New Road/North Street corner, presenting wide façades to both: the nine-window range is arranged as a 4–1–4 composition with the middle set forming an entrance bay at the corner, which is chamfered. This entrance bay has a straight-headed door set in a deep Tuscan-columned porch with a protruding arched pediment and brackets. The building rises to three storeys with an attic storey above (lit by dormer windows); the outermost bays rise one storey higher in the form of small towers, and the entrance bay is five storeys high and topped with an open-sided cupola and weather vane. This tower also has a clock face. The four-storey outer bays have their own entrances set in small porches with arched fanlights. The ground-floor windows are recessed, arched and set in surrounds with deep rustication and large keystones. A cornice between the ground and first floors supports Ionic columns in antis which rise through two storeys. The three bays which form towers are heavily rusticated—the outermost right to the top, and the chamfered entrance bay just at first- and second-floor levels, as far as a flattened semicircular pediment with the Royal Assurance Company's arms and an inscription. Above this is the clock face, then the slightly recessed cupola. Many of the windows have cornices or pediments of different styles. See also Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove: N–O Notes 33em Bibliography Antram Nicholas Morrice Richard Brighton and Hove Pevsner Architectural Guides Yale University Press London 2008 978-0-300-12661-7 Brighton Polytechnic. School of Architecture and Interior Design A Guide to the Buildings of Brighton 1987 McMillan Martin Macclesfield 1-869865-03-0 Collis Rose (based on the original by Tim Carder) The New Encyclopaedia of Brighton 1st 2010 Brighton & Hove Libraries Brighton 978-0-9564664-0-2 Dale Antony Gray James S. Brighton Old and New EP Publishing East Ardsley 1976 0-7158-1188-6 Middleton Judy The Encyclopaedia of Hove & Portslade 2002 Brighton & Hove Libraries Brighton Category:Office buildings completed in 1904 Category:English Baroque architecture Category:Bank buildings in the United Kingdom Category:Office buildings in England Category:Clayton & Black buildings Category:Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Category:Grade II listed commercial buildings