Description

BRIGHTON

TQ3104SW NORTH STREET
577-1/40/605 (North side)
04/11/94 Nos.166-169 (Consecutive)
Norwich Union House

GV II

Office headquarters. Built 1935-36. By HS Goodhart-Rendel.
Ground floor on North Street and return altered in mid to late
C20. Structure fills west half of block, returning down
Princes Place and having an elevation to the Pavilion Grounds
to the north.
EXTERIOR: 5 storeys over basement. 5-window range with broad
corner range and a return of 11-window range; rear elevation
of 6-window range. Steel frame sheathed in hand-made,
sand-faced bricks arranged in soldier courses vertically and
horizontally; at the intersection of joists and studs the
sheathing laid in a star pattern; broad joints between
sheathing bricks filled with blue mosaic tiles. Window infill
spandrels filled with brick in header bond. Top storey is
brick in Flemish bond with blue brick diapering. On rear
blue-green stone sheathing to ground floor. Some lead flashing
around top of tower, otherwise the roof is parapeted. All
windows steel casements of original design. The main and
return elevations are arranged to express the structure's
orthogonal grid, each bay is near forming a cell of identical
dimensions and design. The corner range is composed of 4
windows, narrower than the rest, which slope obliquely turning
the corner; the corner casement windows are zig-zag in
section; the whole arrangement suggests the pleated fold of a
curtain. All the windows are flat arched with sloping sills.
The frank expression of the frame is left aside for the top
storey, which jetties out over those below by one brick's
thickness and has a sheer surface broken only by the shallow
projecting bays of broad top-floor windows which alternate
with narrower windows flush with the front wall. Parapet to
roof treated as bracketed eaves, which are interrupted at the
corner by a short cylindrical tower, its zig-zag walls echoing
the treatment of the corner windows below. The rear elevation
is notable for retaining the original sheathing of the ground
floor, a green stone revetment which angles back to header
bond brick walls. The arrangement of the orthogonal grid is
varied here, having very narrow corner and end bays; the
first-floor window nearest the corner with a zig-zag plan,
then, to the left, 3 tripartite windows set in a green stone
surround.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
The Brighton and Sussex Permanent Benefit Building Society was
founded in 1865; in 1945 the name changed to the Alliance and
in 1985, the Alliance and Leicester.
(Carder T: The Encyclopaedia of Brighton: Lewes: 1990-: 112;
Brighton Polytechnic: The Buildings of Brighton: Macclesfield:
1986-: 56).

Listing NGR: TQ3117304185

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Princes House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q28365431

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)