James Gray: Photograph of the Lodge at the corner of Lorne Villas, in the bitter winter of 1963. This was the first house built in Cumberland Road, having been erected in 1889. It has since been demolished and replaced by the flats known as Lynden Court. jgc_18_224
James Gray: I do not know in which year this house was built. No doubt it was mid-Victorian because it is mentioned in the Brighton Directory for 1867, under its original name of Stanford Villa.
James Gray: A group of people outside the Church Hall, period about 1920. This was the original hall. jgc_18_228
2019: Today, the church hall is occupied by the Preston Park campus of The Brighton Academy (TBA), a performing arts college. Here, the students are standing by the same arched doorway, now sympathetically restored. The stone plaque inscription above it is dated July 1926. See also jgc_18_229, 232 and 234. (Photographer: Jane Jordan)
James Gray: The Congregational Church as it was in 1928. This shows the complete spire erected with the church in 1877-78. The wooden top portion of the spire, which had become unsafe with age, was removed down to the stone base in 1951. jgc_18_229
2019: Clermont Church now stands empty. Opened in 1877, it has not been used regularly since 2006 and has now received planning permission to be converted into flats. (Photographer: Jane Jordan)
James Gray: This fine photograph of the church dates from 1886, the year of its erection. It was taken from a large house, Clermont, which later gave its name to this area. This house stood well back from the Preston Road, while its gardens, front and rear, occupied the full length of Cumberland Road.
James Gray: Taken from the corner of Clermont Terrace. jgc_18_234
2019: See also jgc_18_229 and 232. (Photographer: Jane Jordan)
James Gray: About 1955, a friend of mine, with a keen interest in Preston, took a number of photographs of the houses on the west side of this road, between the roads mentioned above. He was unable to gain easy access to them all. On this and the succeeding page these views are shown with the names and street numbers to identify them.
James Gray: By the time this photograph was taken on 25 June 1978, the massive trees had all but obscured the individual houses from the roadway though some entrances are visible. The view is from the corner of Cumberland Road looking north. One wonders what will be the fate of these ten houses, two of which, Nos 235/237, in 1961 were used to house the first students at Sussex University.
James Gray: I do not know in which year this house was built. No doubt it was mid-Victorian because it is mentioned in the Brighton Directory for 1867, under its original name of Stanford Villa. For many years the only other house in Cumberland Road was Cumberland Lodge. The house was empty when photographed on 2 March 1969, and it was demolished later in that year.