Dyke Road (3)

James Gray: At the other side of the Dials, and on the opposite side of the road, 126 Dyke Road, photographed in 1962. The old building assumed this appearance after the 1928 street widening. Demolished in 1986, when about 130 years old and replaced by the present Security Pacific House. Compare this with the 1920 photograph when the building was used as a Repertory Theatre. jgc_26_175

2018: The doorway shown in the James Gray image would have been on the far right of the modern image of Pacific House, built in the mid-1980s. See also jgc_26_161. (Photographer: Tony Bailey)

James Gray: The building above, photographed in 1920, is now put to a very different use. It is the building in Dyke Road, No 126, housing the Women’s section of the Labour Exchange. Built in the early 1850s and then known as 6 Peel Terrace, it was used for more than 60 years as a girls’ preparatory school. After the 1914-18 war, for one brief year – 1920, it was a Repertory Theatre, and then the Ministry of Pensions offices. jgc_26_161

2018: See jgc_26_175. (Photographer: Tony Bailey)

James Gray: A view of Dyke Road and Prestonville Road in the 1870s. This area started to develop about 1850. The houses on the left had all been built by 1855, and were then known as 1-7 Peel Terrace. Most of these buildings still stand, though in a different form, as they were long ago converted to shops on the ground floor, with Barclays Bank at the triangular corner.

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26-152

James Gray: This photograph is an extension of image jgc_26_165 on Dyke Road (2) and shows the range of buildings known as Peel Terrace. This included all the buildings up to Russell Crescent. jgc_26_162

James Gray: Three photographs [jgc_26_152, 153 and 154] of this junction, though not so busy in those days. View up Dyke Road. Period unknown – probably about 1930. jgc_26_154

2019: It is surprising how few of the buildings visible in this view up Dyke Road from Seven Dials are new, the exceptions being – to the right of centre – the red-bricked Good Companions pub with the prominent chimneys and Pacific House, a pedimented but modern office block which is just visible behind the red ‘To Let’ sign. (Photographer: Mathia Davies)

James Gray: In the year 1846 a large house was built here with an extensive garden and named Belvoir Lodge. In 1850 this name was changed to Hove Place and later to Hove Place House. At this time, and, in fact, until 1928, this plot of land was in Hove, hence the name.

James Gray: Girls in the grounds of Westcombe School, about 1907. This was a popular middle-class private school for girls from the mid-1890s until about 1936, after the building stood empty for several years. For later views of this old house see previous page. jgc_26_118

2018: This modern image of Westcombe was taken from the corner of Dyke Road and Old Shoreham Road. It shows the north-west corner of the largest block of flats.

James Gray: Dyke Road, above Old Shoreham Road, was built to a greater width than the older stretch of road near Seven Dials. These photographs of July 1958 [jgc_26_122 to jgc_26_127] shows the narrow part which has long been a hindrance to traffic and which, before long, Brighton Corporation will have to widen. The removal of Westcombe with its attendant trees provides the opportunity, but the grounds of the school, now in Hove Villa, will have to be curtailed in the process. jgc_26_123

James Gray: See caption for jgc_26_123 above. jgc_26_124

2018: In 1963, the remaining stretches of Dyke Road between Old Shoreham Road and Seven Dials were widened. In the 2018 image, 130 Dyke Road can be seen to have lost part of its front garden.

James Gray: See caption for jgc_26_123 above.  jgc_26_126

2018: The mid-1950s image includes the flint wall in front of Hove Villa, 134 Dyke Road, before the road widening in 1963. Beyond it is the wall in front of Westcombe, 136 Dyke Road, before its demolition in 1959. On the right of the 2018 image Cadogan Court (partly occupied in 1983) and behind it the block containing 32-63 Prestonville Court (partly occupied by 1973) are on the site of Hove Villa. To the left of them is one of the three blocks which took the name of the house they replaced, Westcombe. (Photographer: Jane Southern)

James Gray: See caption for jgc_26_123 above. jgc_26_127

2018: This view is of the Dyke Road junction with Old Shoreham Road looking towards Seven Dials. The aspect is slightly different from the mid-1950s image, as Dyke Road in front of Westcombe was widened when that house, built on a triangular corner plot, was demolished in 1959.

James Gray: After the setting back of the pavement opposite Westcombe, the Good Companions, and Russell Crescent, two narrow stretches remained. Above, the length from Hove Villa to Belmont, with below, the last of the old trees outside the two houses 128 –130 Dyke Road.

James Gray: See caption for jgc_26_128 above. jgc_26_129

2018: The effect of the 1963 road widening in Dyke Road outside Nos 128 and 130 can be seen here, although the houses themselves are hidden behind the evergreen tree. No 128 is where inventor Magnus Volk lived from 1914 until his death in 1937.

James Gray: On this and several succeeding pages are photographs of this house [Hove Villa] with the surrounding grounds. The house, with its surrounding grounds, was built for Mr Bright about 1840, probably at the same time as the Prestonville railway tunnel was cut through beneath it. At this time the only other house in Dyke Road west of Seven Dials was Port Hall, further to the north west.

James Gray: See caption for jgc_26_130 above.  jgc_26_131

2018: The front door of Hove Villa, demolished in 1970, was roughly where the end of Cadogan Court, 134a Dyke Road, is now. Behind Cadogan Court is the eight-storey block which contains flats 32-63 Prestonville Court.

James Gray: The private family garden which was immediately behind Hove Villa and which could be approached through the gate seen at the end of the garden. To the left can be seen the windows of Westcombe Flats. jgc_26_138

2018: Some of the trees here were once in the private family garden of Hove Villa, 134 Dyke Road, which was demolished in 1970. On the left is the old wall which was between the house and Westcombe next door at No 136. On the right is the block containing flats 32 to 63 Prestonville Court, built in 1972.

James Gray: Photographs [see also jgc_26_141 below] of the tennis court and cricket nets. The courts were in a triangular piece of ground hard against the backs of the houses in Prestonville Road (left above) and Belmont (right above). jgc_26_140

2018: The old tennis courts, once used by the boys at Prestonville School in 134 Dyke Road (formerly Hove Villa), are now part of the grounds of Prestonville Court, two eight-storey blocks containing a total of 63 flats built in 1971-2 after the house was demolished in 1970.

James Gray: This photograph is of the extensive gardens between the Hove Villa and Old Shoreham Road. Here, the view is north-east to the backs of the houses in Prestonville Road. jgc_26_142

2018: This is the view across what was, until 1970, the garden of Hove Villa. The eight-storey block of flats containing 1 – 31 Prestonville Court now blocks part of the view of Prestonville Road clearly visible in the 1969 image.

James Gray: This house, now numbered 152, was built in the 1890s and was for about a dozen years the vicarage of the Vicar of Brighton. Meantime a school had been opened by Miss E Blaine at 36 Dyke Road, called St Wilfrid’s and it moved to this house in 1936 when the vicarage was moved. The school closed in July 1963. Soon afterwards the building was gutted and converted to flats. It now bears no resemblance to this photograph of it. Date of photograph: 8 September 1963. jgc_26_144

James Gray: Stables and outbuildings, in rear of the house, which were approached through a gap between the main building and the Cottage, which is seen on the previous page. They were a mixture of original and later buildings, some of which were used as stores.   jgc_26_139

2019: All the buildings which comprised Hove Villa, 134 Dyke Road, were demolished in 1970. This is one of the two blocks of 63 flats, called Prestonville Court, which were built on the part of the site nearest Old Shoreham Road and were partly occupied by 1973. Someone standing on the spot from which the 1969 image of the stables and outbuildings was taken would see the front of this block, which contains Nos 32-63. (Photographer: Jane Southern)

James Gray: In 1901 this large house was built on land virtually on the top of the short railway tunnel. To the left can be seen the backs of houses in Addison Road. About 1918 it ceased to be privately occupied and after that was used as offices by various Government departments. Finally it was found to be too small so a new office was built behind it and the house was demolished in early 1965. Photographed March, 1953. CORRECTION: This house was much older than I had said. I discovered my mistake when studying a map of 1892, which clearly showed it. In fact its original name was The Lawn and it was built during the 1860s. It was renamed Totteridge after a change of ownership in 1901. The rest of the caption is correct. jgc_26_145

James Gray: View towards Old Shoreham Road from opposite Addison Road. The large house on the right was Chichester Lodge, demolished in 1937 and replaced by the Good Companion Inn. The object of the dotted line was to denote the boundary between Brighton and Hove. Until 1928, the boundary ran between the gardens of Windlesham Gardens and Osmond Road, across Goldsmid Road. It then passed through 10 and 5 Melville Road, and through 2 Addison Road. Incidentally the marks of the boundary can still be seen in the kerbstones outside these three houses. It then crossed Dyke Road, passed through the garden of Chichester Lodge, took in the end house of Russell Crescent and the whole of Belmont, before emerging at the boundary stone at the junction of Prestonville Road and Old Shoreham Road. jgc_26_146

James Gray: The photographs on the previous page [jgc_26_130 and jgc_26_131] show the front of the house, the lawn, and the entrance porch and the doorway. This and the next photograph [jgc_26_133] show the eastern end of the frontage, the conservatory, the lawn and the comparatively recent brick wall which replaced the original flint and stone boundary wall, removed in 1963 when Dyke Road was widened. jgc_26_132

James Gray: The photographs on the previous page [jgc_26_130 to jgc_26_132] show the front of the house, the lawn, and the entrance porch and the doorway. This and the next photograph [jgc_26_133 and jgc_26_134] show the eastern end of the frontage, the conservatory, the lawn and the comparatively recent brick wall which replaced the original flint and stone boundary wall, removed in 1963 when Dyke Road was widened. jgc_26_133

James Gray: A view of the side of the original building, from the east. The building with the entrance porch to the right of the van was a much later addition to the house. jgc_26_134

2018: Cadogan Court, 134a Dyke Road, seen on the left of this image, occupies part of the site of the much larger Hove Villa, 134 Dyke Road, which was demolished in 1970.

James Gray: A view from the garden, looking south-west, and showing the conservatory, the later addition and the ivy-clad cottage at one time used as living quarters. jgc_26_135

2018: Prestonville Court comprises two blocks built in the garden of the former Hove Villa, 134 Dyke Road, which was demolished in 1970.

James Gray: Another view of the private family garden showing in rear the most westerly part of the original house. On the right is the massive flint wall, which divided the garden from the equally large grounds of the old house, Westcombe, demolished some years previously. jgc_26_136

2018: On the right of this image is the original wall between the gardens of Hove Villa (134 Dyke Road, demolished in 1970) and Westcombe (136 Dyke Road, demolished in 1959). The apple trees are all that remains of the private family garden of Hove Villa shown in the 1969 image.

James Gray: The Cottage. This was said to date only from 1910 but it had the appearance of a much older building. At one time it was used residentially. In the rear a house in Old Shoreham Road. jgc_26_137

2018: All the buildings which comprised Hove Villa, 134 Dyke Road, were demolished in 1970.

James Gray: 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. jgc_26_143

James Gray: Photographs [see also jgc_26_140 above] of the tennis court and cricket nets. The courts were in a triangular piece of ground hard against the backs of the houses in Prestonville Road and Belmont. The nets were to the north of the courts and this photograph looks to the west and to one of the blocks of Westcombe flats. jgc_26_141