James Gray: The Drive, looking North 1919. Very little change here despite the passage of 35 years. jgc_13_023
2018: As with images jgc_13_004 and 009, this peaceful scene, looking north up The Drive from the top of Grand Avenue at the junction with Church Road, is hard to imagine today. Traffic lights and pavement bollards have been installed to guide and protect cars and pedestrians.
James Gray: Eaton Road looking west, at the corner of the Drive. This is postmarked 1909 but the photograph may have been taken somewhat earlier. The closely planted trees soon had to be thinned out. jgc_13_082
2018: This image of 50 The Drive was taken around 1909 and should be compared with image jgc_13_084 (below) taken in 1979. At some time in the intervening 70 years, the three-storey building to the extreme left (south), which was in The Drive, was replaced by a plain-sided block of flats, seemingly built to be extended northwards over the site of No 50. This duly occurred in the second half of 1979 to give the nine-storey block, also No 50, shown in the modern image. The mirror image of the original No 50 still stands on the opposite corner of The Drive and Eaton Road. The trees have indeed been thinned but most have survived and are now carefully tended. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: During the post-war years many of Hove’s large Victorian mansions, having outlived their usefulness, were demolished and in most cases replaced by blocks of flats. Two that escaped! 73 and 75 The Drive seemed likely to suffer this fate. In anticipation of this, I had this photograph taken on 21 February 1960. However as I write in 1983, they still stand. jgc_13_083
James Gray: The corner property, 50 The Drive, empty and ready for the demolition gang on 10 June 1979. It seems likely that the intention was that the high flats should cover the sites of 46, 48 and 50. Now the mansion has gone and a comparable block erected, with the same number, 50. jgc_13_084
2018: This James Gray image of 50 The Drive taken in 1979 should be compared with image jgc_13_082 (above) taken some 70 years earlier.
James Gray: The home of Mrs Pollak (inset) who was a great benefactor to the wounded servicemen, going to untold trouble to minister to their needs. The house, which is seen to better effect at a later period on a nearby page, has now been removed. jgc_13_078
2018: Images jgc_13_078 and 086 show the unusual asymmetrical east-facing front of 18 The Drive, built in 1894 in the Dutch decorated style. The first image is from 1914-18, the second from 1958: little had changed in between. The building was demolished in early 1959 and the site is now occupied by a more functional nine-storey block of flats known as Normandy House. James Gray’s description of image jgc_13_086 refers to another private house nearby that suffered the same fate. This was Coombe Lea in Grand Avenue (jgc_13_087), a short distance to the south on the same (west) side of the road, but below Church Road. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: These two buildings (this and jgc_13_087 in Grand Avenue) had much in common. Both were large private houses, close to each other, and when they outlived their original purposes, both were demolished to make way for blocks of flats. This late Victorian mansion, built in 1894, stood in a large garden and its last occupant was Mr. Fielden, the Surgeon. Photographed January 1958 – Demolished early 1959. jgc_13_086
2018: See text for image jgc_13_078 (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: 37 The Drive was an Edwardian mansion built in 1903 which despite its size remained in single occupation until the end of its life. No 39 had a life of only 32 years. It was built as recently as 1928 and at the rear had a chauffeur’s house and garage. Demolished in 1960 to make way for Grove Court Flats. jgc_13_088
2018: The original image shows two very different west-facing properties in The Drive, 39 to the left (north), 37 to the right (south). Both were demolished to make way for the ten-storey block of flats known as Grove Court.
James Gray: No 31 built by Willetts in the early 1880s, a large Victorian mansion, with a garden, which took in two adjoining plots, so that there has never been a 33 or a 35, The Drive. Bowen Court Flats now cover the entire site. jgc_13_089
2018: The large west-facing Victorian mansion and garden were immediately to the south of numbers 37 and 39 The Drive, shown in image jgc_13_088. The building was demolished, along with many others, in 1959.
James Gray: Two photographs (this and jgc_13_091) of the same period, 1908 – 1910, this one looking from Church Road to the railway bridge. Note the significant gap on the left beyond the flats. Here were built during 1928-1929 the five large red-bricked detached houses, so different from all the others in this road. jgc_13_090
2018: Images jgc_13_090 and 091, both taken in 1908-10, show two stretches of The Drive looking north, from its junctions with Church Road and Eaton Road, respectively.
James Gray: Looking Northwards from Eaton Road. jgc_13_091
2018: The new tall block, just visible on the left (west) is Hereford Court. Beyond that, a line of red-brick mansions also shown in jgc_13_ 083 has, contrary to expectation, survived and one at least is currently being renovated. See also text for image jgc_13_090 (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: Children in procession on Empire Day, but in which year? From the photographer’s name – Foster – we can say between 1905 and 1911. They were walking up the Drive, between Church Road and Eaton Road, on their way to Hove Park for the celebrations. jgc_13_142
2018: Parades of children do still take place in both Hove and Brighton – but sadly not down the centre of The Drive which is now blocked with parked cars. On the positive side, the west-facing buildings in the background on this stretch of The Drive remain virtually unchanged more than 100 years after the original photograph was taken.
James Gray: Brighton’s first Motor Bus, CD 103, is seen travelling west along Church Road, at the junction with the Drive in May 1903. The public service of Motor buses commenced on December 14th, 1902. The route was from Castle Square to Sackville Road (Hove Street) the fare for that long journey being 2d. jgc_12_006