between St Nicholas Church and Seven Dials
James Gray: This postcard needs little explanation, for the caption describes and dates it. VISIT OF DUKE & DUCHESS OF YORK TO CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, DYKE ROAD. The visit was one of many ceremonies performed by the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) who visited Brighton on this day in connection with the Greater Brighton celebrations. Other visits were to the Pylons, on the extended Borough boundary and to Devil’s Dyke. Additional Information: Mayor of Brighton. jgc_26_117
2018: In 2007 the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital moved to Eastern Road behind the Royal Sussex County Hospital. The Dyke Road site had been sold to Taylor Wimpey the year before. The developer wanted to demolish all the existing buildings but there was strong local opposition. The extent to which the red-brick Victorian building designed by local architect Thomas Lainson had been altered over the years made it impossible to obtain listed status, but a decision to keep it and convert it into flats was taken in 2010. By the end of 2013 some of the 99 new flats built on the site around it were occupied. The original red brick building was redeveloped in 2015 and named Lainson House, 40 Dyke Road. The bay shown in the 1928 image now belongs to one of the 20 residential units. (Photographer: Jane Southern)
James Gray: [Photographs of the extensive gardens between Hove Villa and Old Shoreham Road.] This view is to the south east in the direction of Seven Dials. One final comment. The name HOVE VILLA, may cause some confusion, but when the house was built, and in fact until 1928, it was within the Hove boundaries. In that year Brighton exchanged a parcel of land with Hove the result being that from then on the house stood in Brighton. Additional Information: JSGray himself, in left corner of photograph. jgc_26_143.
2018:
James Gray: A later view [than jgc_26_148], about 1925, taken from Dyke Road. By then, increasing traffic had led to the installation of an island lamp standard, though the tall trees had yet to be removed. jgc_26_149
2018: In this view of Dyke Road, looking north, flanked by shop premises then as now, almost every building in the old picture is still standing and easily recognisable.
James Gray: This photograph [of Seven Dials roundabout] is an extension of image jgc_26_165 [below] and shows the range of buildings known as Peel Terrace. This included all the buildings up to Russell Crescent. jgc_26_162
2018: On the extreme left of both the old and the new image is the garden wall of the former 1 Goldsmid Road – now 123-125 Dyke Road and currently an estate agent’s office. The rest of the view shows the façades of the section of Dyke Road originally known as Peel Terrace.
James Gray: The Compton Arms, at the corner of Bath Street, in 1925. Built about 1850, it was reconstructed in its present form in 1934 – 1935. jgc_26_163
2019: Nearly 100 years later, this building, at the south corner of Dyke Road and Bath Street, is still a pub, currently named The French Horn. Despite James Gray’s mention of its reconstruction since the 1925 photo, it remains easily recognisable. (Photographer: Mathia Davies)
James Gray: Cutress’s baker’s shop at 4 Dyke Road just above Clifton Terrace. Period not known but it could be any time from the 1870s onwards. This is now a private house known as 45 Dyke Road. jgc_26_164
2019: As James Gray says, the building is no longer a shop; the display window and signs have gone, but this private house just above Clifton Terrace at the southern end of Dyke Road otherwise shows no signs of change. The glass light above the door of what is still 45 Dyke Road is engraved The Old Bakery. (Photographer: Mathia Davies)
James Gray: Looking across the tram lines into Dyke Road, with the wall of the large private house, 1 Goldsmid Road on the right. Period – about 1912. jgc_26_165
2019: It is no longer safe to stand in the precise same spot and match the angle exactly.
James Gray: Photographs [jgc_26_166 and 167] taken at what seems to have been a rally or demonstration of the uses of motor cycle sidecars for commercial purposes. jgc_26_166
2019: So little has changed in 90 years. The corner building is still a pub. Behind the blue van remains the entrance (now a vehicle exit) to Dyke Street Mews which leads through from Bath Street. (Photographer: Mathia Davies)
James Gray: [See caption for jgc_26_166 above.] Note the miniature fire engine. jgc_26_167
2019: This little mixed cluster of picturesque shop-fronted buildings on the west side of Dyke Road has survived intact and currently includes fast food outlets, a physiotherapist, an off-licence and restaurant. (Photographer: Mathia Davies)
James Gray: This was erected in 1870 at a cost of about £11,000, and the adjoining institute was built in 1881. A building in the Romanesque style, the clock tower was 130 feet in height. The last services were held in June 1968, and the building was sold at auction for £30,000 on 19 May 1969. Demolished May 1972. This view looks down Dyke Road, towards Seven Dials from the corner of Albert Road. jgc_26_171
2018: The Dials Congregational Church was demolished in 1972 and replaced in the 1980s by Homelees House, a five-storey block of retirement flats built in 1986. (Photographer: Tony Bailey)
James Gray: This was erected in 1870 at a cost of about £11,000, and the adjoining institute was built in 1881. A building in the Romanesque style, the clock tower was 130 feet in height. The last services were held in June 1968, and the building was sold at auction for £30,000 on 19 May 1969. Demolished May 1972. The church and Institute Hall in Compton Avenue. Date of all photographs 29 September 1968. Additional Information: Clifton Road not Compton Avenue. jgc_26_172
2018: As the additional information states, the Dials Congregational Church was on the corner of Dyke Road and Clifton Road. In the same position today is Homelees House, a five-storey block of retirement flats built in 1986. (Photographer: Tony Bailey)
James Gray: This was erected in 1870 at a cost of about £11,000, and the adjoining institute was built in 1881. A building in the Romanesque style, the clock tower was 130 feet in height. The last services were held in June 1968, and the building was sold at auction for £30,000 on 19 May 1969. Demolished May 1972. The head-on view of the church as it stood at the angle of Dyke Road and Compton Avenue. Additional Information: Clifton Road not Compton Avenue. jgc_26_173
2018: See jgc_26_172 above. (Photographer: Tony Bailey)
James Gray: Two photographs [jgc_26_174 and 175] of buildings on either side of Seven Dials. This view shows 61 and 63, Lee House Nursing Home, photographed from Albert Road on 29 May 1983. Built in the 1860s, they were large Victorian houses, occupied privately for many years. They adjoined the Dials Congregational Church, demolished in 1972. The cleared site then stayed empty for many years until December 1984, when the two houses were also removed. This clearance increased the size of the site, on which was later built the present Homelees house. jgc_26_174
James Gray: Three photographs [jgc_26_176, 177 and 178 on the Clifton Hill page] taken at the same time and by the same photographer. Those above are of adjoining houses in Dyke Road, now numbered 56 and 54, while that below is of No. 1 Clifton Hill. The only clue to the period was the nameplate to the left of the doorway. The name of S. Gourley MRCVS is found at this address in Directories from 1927 until 1930, so this establishes the period. jgc_26_176
2018: 56 Dyke Road has lost its attractive railings at ground floor level and has more conventional sash windows on the ground floor but otherwise remains much as it was in the late 1920s. (Photographer: Tony Bailey)
James Gray: [See caption for jgc_26_176 above.] jgc_26_177
2018: Originally the door to 54 Dyke Road would have been where the narrow window is placed (compare door surrounds on jgc_26_176). The extension to the house containing the ‘new’ front door is still clearly visible in the recent photo. The garden wall on the right-hand side of the building is that of 52 Dyke Road / 1 Albert Road. (Photographer: Tony Bailey)
James Gray: Originated in 1869, when it was known as the Hospital for Sick Children, the old building was soon superseded by the above which was erected in 1881 and renamed the Royal Alexandra Hospital, after the Princess of Wales. The photograph dates from 1900. jgc_26_179
2018: An open-air veranda was added to the hospital’s southern frontage in 1906. In 1915 this was replaced by open-air wards, later covered with vita glass (see jgc_26_ 180). In 2007 the hospital moved to a new building on the Royal Sussex County Hospital site.
James Gray: Originated in 1869, when it was known as the Hospital for Sick Children, the old building was soon superseded by the above which was erected in 1881 and renamed the Royal Alexandra Hospital, after the Princess of Wales. An open-air verandah was provided in 1906. In 1915 this was replaced by open-air wards on the south frontage, later covered in with vita glass. The west wing was added in 1928. This photograph was taken in the summer of 1958, shortly after the high wall had been removed and rebuilt at half height. Additional Information: Moved 2007, awaiting redevelopment. jgc_26_180
James Gray: Not very far away from the site of the old windmill stood these buildings, 53 Dyke Road. They ran back between Bath Street and Compton Avenue and were originally known as Montpelier Mews, a long range of stabling, dating probably from about 1850. In 1919 Mr P Tuberville Smith opened a motor school and garage here many of the old stables being converted into lock-ups. About 1927 the premises were reconstructed internally and the present buildings fronting Dyke Road, consisted of flats on the upper floors, were erected. Due to renumbering the address is now 76/80, Dyke Road. jgc_31_035
2020: The gap now leads to Dyke Road Mews – a partially hidden row of houses where the lock-ups once stood. This aerial view shows the mews entrance in Bath Street. The addresses on either side of the Dyke Road exit end are now Nos 72 and 78. (Source: Google Earth)
James Gray: The second detached burial ground, west of Church Hill, now Dyke Road, brought into use when the Church Street ground was full. The entrance gate bore the date 1846, but interments started a few years earlier. It was laid out by Amon Henry Wilds. Years of disuse led inevitably to dilapidation so a century later, on 15 October 1946 to be precise, it was opened as a Garden of Rest. jgc_31_101
2019: This photo shows the Grade II listed Coade stone tomb of prominent London stage actress and singer Anna Maria Crouch (1763-1805) who became a principal in the regular company of the Drury Lane Theatre, and also a mistress of George, Prince of Wales (later George IV.)
James Gray: [See caption for jgc_31_101 above.] jgc_31_102
2019: Much of what can be seen in the historic winter view is obscured by foliage in the contemporary summer scene. The tower of the central building can be barely made out through the trees. The beautiful 1840s villa St George’s House later became Clark’s College and is currently the Brighton and Hove Pupil Referral Unit.