Archway and Railings 15 York Place, Brighton

Conservation Area (CA)

Valley Gardens

Local Listing Reference

LLHA0274

Description

The distinctive castellated red brick archway, with stone dressings, and associated cast iron gates and railings on York Place originally gave access to the girls’ school of the York Building (Pelham Street Schools). This was developed between 1883 and 1901 by Thomas Simpson and Sons, with the entrance from York Place existing from the earliest buildings. The York Building itself was considered for local listing in 2015 but although that building had some architectural and historic interest it had little or no townscape value and was not considered to meet the criteria for local listing in the context of other Brighton Board Schools surviving in Brighton & Hove. It has since been demolished.

A. Architectural, design and artistic interest

ii. This is a good quality and seemingly unique example of this type of archway related to the Brighton Board Schools style. None of the other Board School buildings appear to have had similar entrance gateways, or certainly not on this scale.

iv. Thomas Simpson was a notable architect of the period in a local regional context.

v. It retains aesthetic interest and is distinctive from the rest of York Place and appears to be an original feature of the school.

B. Historic and evidential interest

ii. The arch appears to be an original feature of the school which, was part of the Brighton Board School major school building programme post the 1870 Act and illustrates social interest in the way in which state education was first delivered and the separation of girls and boys.

C. Townscape interest

i. The arch is located within the Valley Gardens Conservation Area and is part of the street frontage of York Place. It is an attractive and distinctive feature that is considered to contribute positively to the appearance or character of the conservation area and is atypical of the other properties on the frontage.

D. Communal value (non-compulsory)

i. The York school remained in educational use until the early 21st century as part of Brighton Technical College.

E. Rarity and representativeness

i. Although it forms part of the Brighton Board Schools group it is a distinctive feature not shared with the other buildings and is uncommon in the local context.

F. Intactness

i.  Whilst the school building which it served has been demolished the archway itself remains largely unaltered.

Date of inclusion

2023