The Post and Telegraph

Brighton (originally Brighthelmston) originated as a fishing village bounded by four streets named after the points of the compass. The land to the north, west and east was agricultural. North Street lay on the main route towards London, and it thrived as the town grew in the 18th century: by 1800 it was the centre of commerce, lined with inns, shops and offices. Many buildings on the north side were removed between 1874 and 1879 when the road was widened, and offices and banks were attracted to the area. Large early 20th-century buildings included offices for the Prudential Association and the Royal Assurance Society and a branch of Midland Bank, and the north side of the street was soon…

The stone-built structure is in the Louis XVI style, a derivative of Neoclassical architecture. Elements of the Edwardian Baroque style, which Clayton & Black used in their 1904 commission at 163 North Street, have also been identified. The building has been said to stand "glowering ... across the entrance to Bond Street" at T.B. Whinney's Edwardian/Italianate Midland Bank branch of 1902. The two-storey building has six windows facing North Street, a chamfered corner entrance bay and three windows to each floor facing Bond Street. There are dormer windows set into the slate-tiled mansard roof. There are three entrances: two subsidiary doorways in the outermost bays, and an elaborate…