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This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 5 October 2023 to update the name, amend description due to change of building use and to reformat the text to current standards

TQ2804NW 579-1/16/71

HOVE KINGSWAY (north side) No 157, Barford Court

(Formerly listed as No.157 KINGSWAY)

14/10/86

GV II Formerly known as: School of Nursing KINGSWAY.

House 1931, formerly school of nursing, (closed 1989) and care home from 1994. Architect Robert Cromie. Built for Ian Stuart Miller, film director and tycoon. Grey-purple hand-made thin bricks laid mainly in Flemish bond, grey granite plinth, hipped clay tile roofs, tall double stacks linked with arched openings on courtyard elevation, also east and west gable ends. U-plan with entrance courtyard on north front, former vehicle entrance through east wing now blocked with infill additions.

South front: two storeys plus attic, 4:3:4:2 bays, original fenestration survives intact, twelve-pane hardwood sash windows, three hipped roof dormers set behind high parapet, first floor three windows either side of three square-headed openings forming recessed balcony set above slighly projecting three central bays to ground floor, doors glazed as windows (the lounge cum entrance hall), flanked by four windows with projecting single storey two bay range with two bay returns, part of the library. The original entrance is on the north front, a curved door with the wheatear motif used on the gates in the perimeter wall (qv). The front door was reached via the carriageway entrance in the east wing (now blocked) and across the courtyard which has five engaged columns on the facade of the west wing; others no doubt surviving behind the additions to the east range. Two curved bays at first floor level flank a balcony above the front door. The stone paving of the courtyard is laid with patterns of banded brick and there is a raised flowerbed of polygonal design, brick with stone coping, with inset electric lights to assist evening visitors alighting from their motors.

Interior: the original interiors are largely complete and finished to a high standard. Most floors at ground level have quarry tiles with cream tiles laid in parallel lines which are continued on the flush panelled doors veneered in two woods. Flush panelled hardwood walls to rooms on south front, original moulded ceilings, doors, architraves and door furniture. Library in south-east range with built-in furniture and marble chimneypiece but no bookcases, probably film library. Lounge-cum-entrance hall with built-in banquettes flanking tiled chimneypiece, probably original firebasket, double doors opening into dining room with full-height marble chimneypiece, fluted surface incorporating mirror, small room opening off to north with curved, pargetted walls, art deco style built-in clock, no longer functioning. Staircase with solid stepped balusters, quarter circle bronze strip balusters and bronze globe newel, moulded ceiling. First floor built-in bedhead with veneered panel surviving in now-partitioned room. Sitting room-cum-dressing room of elliptical plan, painted white, fluted surface to curved wall containing built in wardrobes with flush panelled hardwood interiors, similar interiors to drawers in curved bays opposite.

An austerely sophisticated interior in a house built by an architect who specialized in cinema and theatre building. It is unusual in that it was designed with the motor car very much in mind; all visitors were assured of a 'grand entrance'.

Listing NGR: TQ2808704559