James Gray: Contrasting photographs with 50 years between them. (See following.) Here a tram turns from Dyke Road into Chatham Place, thought to have been about 1905. Note the overhead electric wires at the right, leading from the main wires in use. These were intended for use with a short double track spur in Goldsmid Road as far as the then Hove boundary. This was never used though the rails remained until the 1920s. jgc_26_155
James Gray: This picture taken in 1955 needs no comment. It is very similar to the larger photograph on another page [jgc_26_152]. jgc_26_156
2019: At the time of the 1955 photograph, the corner building on the left was still a bank; it now houses a Small Batch Coffee Roasters café. The shop premises built in front of Selbourne House (central in both pictures, between Prestonville Road and Chatham Place) is a launderette. The beautiful clock crowning the building has been lost. Gone too are the overhead electric wires. (Photographer: Mathia Davies)
James Gray: Three photographs of this junction [jgc_26_152 and 156 and, on the Seven Dials Roundabout page, jgc_26_153], though not so busy in those days. In this view in 1907, when the traffic was hardly enough to keep the policeman occupied. jgc_26_152
2019: Selbourne House, in the centre of both images, at the corner of Prestonville Road and Chatham Place, still had a garden in 1907. The property gives the impression of being a private house, but it had been for many years a private school. Today the ground floor extension houses a launderette. (Photographer: Mathia Davies)
James Gray: A view of Seven Dials in 1906, looking from Vernon Terrace across to Chatham Place. A tram can be seen ascending the hill. Contrast this scene with that in the previous photograph [jgc_26_150]. jgc_26_148
2019: Despite the changes of more than a hundred years, this vista is instantly recognisable today.