James Gray: Four photographs of parts of Church Road, covering the period from 1890 – 1908. Two are easily recognisable. The shop in this photograph No. 102, became South Coast Dairies. Additional Information: Originally Hunter’s Dairy, for a brief period this was a Cullens store. jgc_13_018
James Gray: Church Road looking west, 1912. Note the road sweeper’s barrow, left right in the middle of the road. jgc_13_022
2018: This image of Church Road looking west from the junction with The Drive shows buildings that have changed relatively little over 106 years. The square concrete clock tower of Hove Town Hall (built in 1970) stands out as a comparatively recent addition.
James Gray: View of the Town Hall in 1890. It had been built only 8 years previously. It is interesting to note that at this period that part of Church Road between Third and Fourth Avenues had yet to be built. This was developed some 15 years after the blocks on either side, and was built of red brick to tone with the town hall. jgc_13_024
2018: The Gothic red-brick Victorian Hove Town Hall, built in 1882, was demolished after a fire in January 1966. The replacement concrete and glass town hall in the Brutalist style was designed by the Brighton-born architect John Wells-Thorpe and officially opened in 1974.
James Gray: Another view of Church Road. jgc_13_019
2018: As with many other images of Church Road, the outlines of the buildings and the upper façades have barely changed, although the ground and some of the first floors of buildings on both sides of the road are now in use as offices, shops, cafés or restaurants.
James Gray: View looking west. Hove Town Hall & horse-drawn buses. jgc_13_020
2018: This is a duplicate of image JGC_13_044, dated differently (1890 or 1910?) and in this case incorrectly labelled as ‘looking west’: it is, of course, looking east.
James Gray: Looking east along Church Road, from Hova Villas. Externally these buildings have changed little despite the passage of 63 years. That on the corner of Hova Villas, then occupied by W.O. Slatter, Ironmonger, was later removed and replaced by the Midland bank building. In the same block, the building now used as Hove General Post Office was then a private house, with a basement. Even in those days Hove seems to have favoured central islands. jgc_13_027
James Gray: Ironmongers shop of William O. Slatter. Additional Information: William Slatter had retired by 1901 and was living in Preston Road. jgc_13_030
James Gray: Church Road in the horse-bus era. Photographs near the foot of Hova Villas. This photograph was taken in the 1890s when there was a central cab rank, while the next is of several years later. jgc_13_043
James Gray: View looking east. jgc_13_044
2018: This is a duplicate of image jgc_13_020, in this case correctly labelled as Church Road looking east. There is also, however, confusion on when the original image was taken – 1890 or 1910? Otherwise the content remains the same (see jgc_13_020 above). (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: The date of this photograph is not known, it may have been 1960. jgc_13_025
2018: Apart from new street lighting in the centre of the road and, on the left, the concrete and glass replacement for the original red-brick Hove Town Hall which was demolished after suffering severe fire damage in January 1966, little has changed since 1960 in this view looking east along Church Road from the junction with Norton Road.
James Gray: Dating from 1921 it shows the large houses at the corners of the Drive and Tisbury Road before they were converted into the present Banking premises. A familiar sight in those days was the bathchair in which wealthy elderly people slowly traversed the roads. jgc_13_026
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
James Gray: West Brighton horse bus, proceeding east in Church Road and passing the bottom of Hova Villas. Period not known. The large house at the left was Oxford House, part of the old Oxford Terrace built in the 1850s. jgc_13_104
James Gray: Hove Town Hall, photographed during summer 1964, some months before its total destruction by fire in January, 1966. jgc_13_017
James Gray: A view of Hove Town Hall. jgc_13_014
2018: This view from the south-east shows the original red-brick Hove Town Hall, in ‘Victorian Gothic perpendicular‘ style, which opened in 1882 and closed after a devastating fire in January 1966. The replacement, as a lower ‘brutalist’ style set of concrete and glass blocks with a distinctive square tower and clock on Church Road, opened in 1974, with the main entrance now on the western side in Norton Road. It is currently being refurbished. The buildings to the west, on the northern side of Church Road, are largely unchanged. The trees, to the right in Tisbury Road, have been removed. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: In this photograph is shown one of the few buildings which has undergone a major reconstruction. No 2, The Drive, a handsome mansion, with its entrance in Church Road flanked by two lamp standards, was converted in 1936, to provide ground floor premises for Martins bank, with other shops built over its back garden. Additional Information: Barclays Bank signs are visible in this photograph. jgc_13_007
2018: The description attached to this image is the same as that for jgc_ 13_006 (see Church Road 1) and, like that one, does not match the view in the photograph. This image shows the junction of Church Road with Norton Road on the left and Fourth Avenue to the right. The Drive is much further down (and out of sight) on the left-hand side.
James Gray: A familiar enough sight. Hove’s old Town Hall, but a strangely quiet road, looking east towards Brighton, and an early motor bus well patronised on the top deck. The year is 1908, and Hove’s principal street is still lit by gas from many lamp-posts. jgc_13_049
2018: The original Hove Town Hall burnt down in January 1966. Its replacement, officially opened in 1974, is a concrete-faced building in the ‘brutalist’ style designed by the architect John Wells-Thorpe. Its distinctive square tower and clock have become a local landmark.