163 North Street, Brighton

North Street formed the northern boundary of the ancient fishing village of Brighthelmston, from which the town of Brighton developed. 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. 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. 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…

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", "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…