James Gray: [Panoramic views of King’s Road by William A Delamotte. See also jgc_02_190, jgc_04_001 and 002 on the King’s Road (3) page and jgc_02_191 on the King’s Road (4) page]
13-14 King’s Road – Silvani – goldsmith and jeweller Mahomed’s Baths, later Brills Hotel Stafford House Queens Hotel Warwick Mansion Brills bath (this was the original bath, known as “Brill’s Bunion” which was removed in 1868) Clarendon Mansion Pool Valley Clive House Albion Rooms Albion Hotel Old Steine. Additional Information: The original drawings are in the Museum of Brighton’s collections and a photographic copy is stored in Brighton’s History Centre [now in The Keep]. jgc_04_003
James Gray: King’s Road and Lower Promenade, in the early 1920s, before the removal of the kerbside railings. jgc_03_074
2019: The 1920s photo actually shows Grand Junction Road and the Upper Promenade. On the extreme left is the Palace Pier Hotel (on the west side of the entrance to Pool Valley).
James Gray: View of the beach and Palace Pier. Despite the postmark dates on the cards I think the photographs were taken about 1910. jgc_03_076
2019: The 1910 photo was taken from what is now called the Doughnut Groyne, looking north-east towards the Royal Albion Hotel on the extreme left, and the Palace Pier on the right.
James Gray: No explanation needed, as this scene is familiar and the location easy to place. 26 July 1904. Additional Information: Professor P. Car-Cass’ Punch and Judy Show, opposite the Queen’s Hotel. jgc_03_128
2020: James Gray thought his image familiar and self-explanatory. For today’s young people, this may no longer be the case.
James Gray: This could have been taken in 1864 or 1865. jgc_03_150
2019: The central building in the 2019 photo, where the bicycle is parked against the railings, was originally built as the Lion Mansion Hotel in 1856, on the site of the former Williams Royal Baths. It later became the Adelphi Hotel, but has been part of the Royal Albion Hotel since around 1963.
James Gray: Here the building of the Clarendon Hotel at the corner of East Street provides the clue to the year of the photograph –1870. Note the kerbside railings, erected just a few years previously. jgc_03_173
2020: This 1870 photograph is one of a series of very similar images taken between 1869 and 1873 of the west-facing front and entrance of the recently opened Markwell’s Hotel. It was absorbed into Queens Hotel, behind it, to the east, in 1908. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: The building on the island site at the sea side end of the street, photographed on the same day as the previous photograph [jgc_09_085] in 1966. This was erected in 1870 on the site of small baths known as Brill’s Bunion (seen in old photographs in the sea front section). Originally it was a hotel called Clarendon Hotel but before long the ground floor was used for business purposes and the remainder as flats. As it approached its centenary there was talk of replacing it with a new tall block of flats (hence the photograph) but instead it was internally reconstructed and the new flats individually sold. One has the feeling though that it may not be very long before it is replaced by a modern building. jgc_09_086
James Gray: As can be seen, at this period the entrance [to the Royal Albion Hotel] was facing the sea in Grand Junction Road. Note that the street name plate on the wall merely reads Junction Road. The dining room now covers the site of the old entrance, and it is evident that the floor level must have been raised by several feet. jgc_04_035
2019: Since the 1873 photo was taken, a full width canopy has been added above the second floor windows and the southern entrance removed to make way for the dining room. A mansard roof has also been added. Immediately to the left of the dining room in 2019 is the Bar Rogue which serves food all day and drinks at night. To the right is a further ground floor extension, above which the original ironwork has been removed. The Grand Junction Road sign is now sited further to the east, to the right of the red car. (Photographer: Alan Hobden)
James Gray: [One of] two photographs by the late Mr A H Fry taken from the East Street promenade groyne, which was constructed in 1867. These could have been taken in any year between 1906 and 1911. They afford a very good view of the buildings previously on the site of the Savoy Cinema. jgc_04_011
James Gray: One cannot date this with accuracy. It affords a clear view of the esplanade leading to the Chain Pier and, by means of glass, the Western Gates and Toll House can be discerned. These, together with the esplanade, went in 1872, with the building of the Aquarium. Note that at this period, before the construction of Madeira Drive, the sea washed right up to the Marine Parade Sea-Wall. jgc_04_013
James Gray: One cannot say much more about this photograph, except that it must have been taken a year or two later [than the previous photograph] because the kerbside railings had been erected and the roadway straightened and widened. This widening took place between 1864 and 1867. The Gates to Chain Pier Esplanade are seen, however, so the photograph must be after 1866 but before 1872. jgc_04_014
2020: See caption for jgc_04_013 above. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: This photograph shows the recently widened and straightened Grand Junction Road, with an extremely dirty pavement. Probably taken a short while after the photograph on the previous page, as in that one the gas lamp does not seem to be there. jgc_04_016
2020: See caption for jgc_04_113 above. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: Another good photograph of this short road. Obviously a copy of an old photograph which looks to have been taken in the mid 1860s. Probably it dates from a period between the two views on the previous page. Certainly the road seems to be wider and straighter but the kerbside railings had not then been erected. Note the north brick pavement, possibly the original pavement when the road was laid out in 1829. jgc_04_018
James Gray: A much later view of the same area. Again, difficult to date with any accuracy, but what clues there suggests a period between 1886 and the early 1890s. The road seems still to be gas-lit, with no sign of the 1893 electric light standards. Rowells were in East Street for a very long time so their advertisement does not help. jgc_04_019
2020: See caption for jgc_04_013 above. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: Taken by the same photographer, between 1900 and 1904, these (following) pictures show a subtle social contrast. The children skipping on East Street Groyne are probably middle-class and reasonably well attired. Photographer: Phillipe Garnier. Additional Information: Ruff. jgc_04_026
2020: As seen today, the social contrast between the young children in jgc_04_026 and jgc_04_027 is anything but subtle.
James Gray: 10, 11 and 12 Grand Junction Road were then known as Junction Houses and were occupied as a private hotel. It will be seen that at some later date, another storey was added to No 12 that extended into Pool Valley. Additional Information: Brill’s Baths visible at right-hand edge. jgc_04_030
2020: The new image taken in May 2020 shows this Grade II listed building on the corner of Pool Valley with the additional floor mentioned by James Gray.
James Gray: Another view [of the beach opposite Grand Junction Road]. Additional Information: From the Chain Pier? jgc_04_032
2020: The Albion Hotel, now the Royal Albion Hotel, built in 1826 and extended in 1847, still stands on the corner of the Old Steine and Grand Junction Road. The Aquarium clock tower, just visible in front of it in the James Gray image, was demolished in 1927. The pier in the far distance in the 1875 photograph is the West Pier, opened in 1866. Work on the nearby Palace Pier seen in the 2020 image did not start until 1891. It opened in 1899. More recent additions to the skyline include the large white residential block of Sussex Heights (1966), the British Airways i360 viewing platform (far left) and the conical white tower of the 300m long Brighton Zip Ride (on the right). The beach now seems much wider and the wooden groynes have largely vanished. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: Grand Junction Road and King’s Road, in the late 1890s, or perhaps 1900. The only feature worthy of comment is the Palace Pier under construction. jgc_04_033
2020: See caption for jgc_04_013 above. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: See caption for jgc_04_033 above. jgc_04_034
2020: This image was taken looking west towards the West Pier. On the far side of King’s Road at the junction with West Street is the distinctive cupola of what is now the Harbour Hotel, and on the far right (east) Belvedere Mansions, also shown and named as such in the 1855 drawings by W A Delamotte, in jgc_02_191 and 002. (David Sears)
James Gray: The peaceful scene around the Aquarium. This photograph dates from about 1881 and as it was 11.15 on a summer morning it is remarkable that so few people should be about. Note the men with the penny farthing bicycle, the ornate gas lamp, the water cart filling from the stand pipe and the young girl both selling and eating ice-cream. jgc_04_036
2020: This 2020 image shows the entrance to the new aquarium, now trading as Sea Life Brighton.
James Gray: Opposite the Steine and Aquarium. There is no sign of the Palace Pier and the streets are gas-lit but Volk’s railway terminus can be seen. From these facts we can assume the period as 1885-1890. The massive gas lamp standard at the kerbside was the only one of its type in Brighton. jgc_04_038
2020: The streets are no longer gas-lit but Volk’s railway terminus remains though hidden behind the parked vehicles.
James Gray: These three photographs [jgc_04_039, 040 and 041] are all of the early 1920s period, before the roadway and promenade were widened. jgc_04_039
James Gray: These three photographs are all of the early 1920s period, before the roadway and promenade were widened. Note the squat face of the groyne. It had been built like this during the 1870s but in later years heavy spray from the face of the groyne swept across and damaged the Palace Pier. It was reconstructed in its present form between 1919 and 1924. jgc_04_040
James Gray: See caption for jgc_04_039 above. jgc_04_041
2020: The James Gray image shows the changes to this end of Grand Junction Road compared to earlier images on this page. The Royal Albion Hotel still sits on the corner with the Old Steine and Marine Parade stretching away to the east. See also caption for jgc_04_013 above. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: On the pavement outside the Palace Pier, summer 1934. The horsed carriage and the goat carts were relics of a passing age and we are unlikely ever to see them again, particularly on the busy sea front. jgc_04_052
2020: Horsed carriages and goat carts have certainly gone but the ornamental lamppost in the foreground still stands proudly on the edge of the roundabout in front of the Palace Pier, minus the sign pointing the way to the Ladies Cloak Room for a wash and brush up!
James Gray: This interesting photograph shows an area of the beach which is now covered by the Palace Pier. The Aquarium sea wall built some 10 years earlier still preserves its new appearance. jgc_04_054
2020: In 1881, the date of the James Gray image, work was about to start on the Palace Pier which now obscures the view of the aquarium, now called Sea Life Brighton, from the beach, in addition to which beach levels have also changed. The clock tower seen in the James Gray photograph was demolished in 1928. (Photographer: David Sears)
James Gray: It is a great pity that this ancient panoramic photograph is so indistinct, because it shows two old buildings of which few photos can have been taken. I refer to the buildings immediately above the red lines. 1 is the original Brill’s Baths, an awkward excrescence at the bottom of East Street, known as “Brill’s Bunion”, which was removed in 1868. 2 is the western tollgate of the Chain Pier, which gave access to the Esplanade leading to the Pier. This was removed in 1872. jgc_06_001
James Gray: Fortunately, several years later I acquired this other much clearer photograph of the same scene, in which the buildings mentioned above can be identified quite easily. jgc_06_002
James Gray: Grand Junction Road and King’s Road, in 1886, at the time when considerable widening was taking place. Note the large contractor’s shed and, further west, scaffolding at beach level. jgc_06_003
James Gray: An even older photograph, dating from the 1860s. Its remarkable sharpness and clarity reveal, in the distance, the backs of a row of houses and an open space. This may well have been the empty site of the old Workhouse, removed in 1866, and the houses, those in West Hill Road. jgc_06_004