King's Road (3)

James Gray: Similar to previous [and following] photographs but note the remarkable clarity of detail. At the corner of Cannon Place was a large house known as Cannon Mansion, and this name can be seen on the pediment. It also affords the best view I have seen of Westfield Lodge, the building at the extreme left with its large central doorway. This was the focal building of the old block between Cannon Place and Queensbury Mews and behind it was the open ground used for drilling volunteers. In 1884, the Westfield Gardens estate, as it was known, came onto the market. It covered in all 67,000 superficial feet and was sold by Wilkinson, Son and Welch in the July of that year. jgc_01_130

James Gray: This is a very old photograph, probably taken by Edward Fox during the 1850s. It shows the West Battery which was erected here in 1793, and consisted of 8 cannon, 42 pounders, later reduced to 6. The area in which the Battery was enclosed had twice been curtailed for road improvements before it was removed in 1859. The crescent of houses behind Artillery Place housed the officer in charge and the magazines. Hobden’s Baths, originally known as Artillery Baths, were established here in 1813. Note the ‘fly’ (carriage) standing at the kerbside opposite the Baths. jgc_02_119

James Gray: These photographs (they are of course only copies) of 1858 [jgc_02_121 to jgc_02_124] must have been taken not long before the demolition of the West Battery for it was in that year that it was removed. The lower photograph [see jgc_02_122] which, unusually, looks from the west to east, is particularly of interest because it shows the gun magazine (extreme left) and also the extent of the 1846 widening of the promenade (see the protruding wooden railings masking part of the Chain Pier). This widening was from West Street to the Battery. jgc_02_121

James Gray: See caption jgc_02_121 above.  jgc_02_122

2019: Most of the buildings in the 1858 photo have now been demolished but the Old Ship Hotel (now greatly extended) and almost undiscernible Queens Hotel remain. The old view of the Chain Pier has been replaced by a 2019 view of the Palace Pier on the extreme right. From left to right are the Brighton Centre, the Odeon cinema complex, the Harbour Hotel at the bottom of West Street, and the Queens Hotel (immediately to the right of the central lamp post with its twin lamps). On the right, between the eastward looking views of the Queens Hotel and the Palace Pier, the Shelter Hall is undergoing a complete renovation in 2019. (Photographer: Alan Hobden)

James Gray: This is a modern enlargement of a very ancient and small photograph. In the process much of the detail and clarity had been lost. It shows the dismantling of the Battery actually in progress. The flagstaff is being lowered and the muzzle-loaded cannon have already been removed from their mountings. Beyond are the old houses of Artillery Place, which were to be demolished but a year or two afterwards. A gravel bank then led from the pavement to the beach below. jgc_02_123

2019: See text for jgc_02_121 above. (Photographer: Alan Hobden)

James Gray: Clearance of the debris left after the demolition of the West Battery, in January 1858. Copied from a very old original photograph, it lacks clarity, but the entrance to Cannon Place (which took its name from the Battery) can be seen as well as the buildings on the site of the present Metropole Hotel. jgc_02_124

2019: In King’s Road in 2019, the red-brick Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel now stands on the west corner of Cannon Place, with the Grand Hotel on the east corner. Both photos are looking north-west. (Photographer: Alan Hobden)

James Gray: No comment. Additional Information: All four of these photographs [jgc_02_198, jgc_02_199 and 201 below and jgc_02_200 on the King’s Road (5) page] date from the 1920s. jgc_02_198

2019: The James Gray photo was probably taken from a top floor of 90 King’s Road, looking west. It dates from 1920 or earlier as Sanders the diamond merchants on the corner of Cannon Place were no longer there after 1920. The 2019 image was taken, courtesy of the Brighton Centre, from the west terrace of the Brighton Centre restaurant.

James Gray: Photographs taken at different times during the past 50 years and showing a King’s Road very little altered from today. A little to the west of the previous photograph, near Russell Street and the Palladium, in 1923. The sloped serrated part of the road, on the right, was a relic of horse cab days, even then becoming a thing of the past. jgc_01_211

2020: This is one of several images looking east along King’s Road from Russell Street, now buried beneath the Brighton Centre, towards West Street.

James Gray: The view along King’s Road towards West Street during the 1870s. The exact years are unknown but this photograph is of a slightly earlier period than the previous. This shows the protective iron railings without the cross struts added later and seen in the previous photograph [jgc_01_213]. Additional Information: Mutton’s refreshment rooms. jgc_01_214

2020: In contrast to image jgc_01_211 taken in 1923, images jgc_01_213, 214 and 216 show the same stretch of King’s Road, looking east, some 50 years earlier. The Orleans Residential Club, a forerunner of the current Harbour Hotel on the far corner of West Street and seen on the extreme right of the 2020 photograph, was only built in 1882 so does not appear in any of them.

James Gray: The contrast between the pre-1914 and post-war periods. jgc_02_165

2019: Both the Grand and Metropole Hotels have been extended and the Brighton Centre replaces the buildings to the east of the Grand. (Photographer: Alison Meekings)

James Gray: Four photographs [jgc_02_208, 209, 210 and 211] of 1960 which show the entire King’s Road frontage of the West Street redevelopment, and round into West Street itself. Poor though these houses were, it could be argued that they were less offensive than the Top Rank building which succeeded them. jgc_02_208

2019: The Brighton Centre, a conference and concert venue, now dominates the foreground to the east of the Grand Hotel.  Sussex Heights, a residential tower block built 1966-68, is visible behind the extended Grand. The Top Rank building referred to by James Gray is located to the east of the Brighton Centre. It opened in 1965 as the Top Rank Suite and comprised a dance hall with bars but changed its name to the Top Rank Centre in 1966 with the addition of an ice skating rink and bowling alley. It was renamed Kingswest (from King’s Road and West Street at the corner of which it sits) in 1972 and continues to bear that name. It now houses a multiscreen Odeon cinema. (Photographer: Alison Meekings, Text: David Sears)

James Gray: This is the problem area of Brighton seafront, between Russell Street and West Street. The site was purchased by Brighton Corporation many years ago with the intention of developing the entire area, which includes the Stadium Car Park, as a single unit. Since then many suggestions have been made regarding this development. No decision has yet been taken even as to whether it is to be developed by the Corporation or left to private enterprise. Meanwhile the dilapidated buildings are let on short leases and the area remains an irritating eyesore, right at the focal point of the seafront. jgc_02_117

James Gray: See caption to jgc_02_184. 104/105 at the corner of Cannon Place.Formerly the Desmond Hotel, latterly Grosvenor House, a home for the elderly. Demolished, and the site used for an extension of the Grand Hotel. jgc_02_186

2019: The extension of the Grand Hotel which replaced the previous buildings on the corner of Cannon Place and King’s Road. (Photographer: Alison Meekings)

James Gray: King’s Road on a very wet day, period 1900-04. The three lamp-posts are outside the entrance to the Alhambra Cinema, later the Palladium Cinema. The narrow entry seen at one time led to Whitehall Yard which had extensive stabling. All buildings on the right, as far as the tall lamp standard, were demolished in the mid 1960s. Additional Information: © Phillipe Garner. jgc_02_188

2020: On a sunny day in May 2020 there is no trace of the shops, cinema and stabling of a century ago. They have all been replaced by the Brighton Centre which opened in 1977. Designed in the Brutalist style by architects Russell Diplock & Associates, it is a major conference centre and busy live music venue but its future is in doubt. The current Brighton Council city plan proposes that it should be demolished to make way for an extension to the Churchill Square shopping centre. (Photographer: David Sears)

James Gray: The corner of King’s Road and West Street, in the summer of 1956. The tall Daily Telegraph building, built in 1897, replaced the most unusual building that can be seen on other pages. [jgc_02_182 and 187]. The lane between was narrow Kent Street, then devoid of houses. Along with the rest of this block, the building was removed in 1964, to be replaced by the hideous Top Rank Complex. jgc_02_189

2020: The Telegraph Building and Information Bureau, shown here, together with Kent Street and the George Hotel, just visible on the right of the image, were all demolished in the mid-60s as part of the Churchill Square redevelopment. The replacement building, known variously as the Top Rank Suite or Complex, Kingswest or, as now, the Pryzm night club, is currently described as ‘the height of south coast clubbing’.  (Photographer: David Sears)

James Gray: Looking west along King’s Road, from near West Street, in 1909, when the roadway was being completely resurfaced. Note the paved cab-rank adjoining the protective iron railings the last of which were removed in June 1926. The Promenade was as wide then as it is today. jgc_02_192

2020: Roadworks on King’s Road seem to be a feature of almost every decade.

James Gray: Note the policeman who controlled the traffic at the bottom of West Street, from his wooden stool. August 1926. Additional Information: All four of these photographs [jgc_02_198 above,  jgc_02_199,  jgc_02_201 below and jgc_02_200 on the King’s Road (5) page] date from the 1920s. jgc_02_199

James Gray: View from King’s Road, about 1895, showing the narrow entrance to Kent Street. The very unusual building at the corner of King’s Road was rebuilt in 1897 but has long since been demolished. jgc_02_182

2020: The James Gray images show a very interesting building on the corner of King’s Road and West Street. It was built in 1883 in red brick, seven years before the nearby and equally ornate Metropole Hotel, to house the Orleans Residential Club. It later became the George Hotel and then the Hotel Victoria and was still operating as such in 1926, as the lettering on the side shows. Later it became in turn the Sheridan, Belgrave and UMI Hotel, before its most recent incarnation as the luxurious white-painted Harbour Hotel. The policeman in the 1926 image has been replaced by traffic lights and the fingerpost sign points the way to tourist attractions inland. The red barricade is guiding traffic through some ongoing road repairs. (Photographer: David Sears)

James Gray: This photograph shows the semaphore signal arms that preceded the introduction of traffic lights. Note the old kerbside railings had not been removed. jgc_02_201

2020: The 1929 image shows this corner of West Street with King’s Road, probably at its best, just over 90 years ago. The Daily Telegraph building stands on the corner: the ground floor has not yet been converted into an Information Bureau (see jgc_02_189).

James Gray: Demolition of the block of old shops, 67-86 King’s Road, between West Street and Russell Street, April – June 1963. jgc_02_215

2020: The original image shows the start of the demolition of the area between West Street, in the middle distance, with the distinctive outline of what is now the Harbour Hotel at its end, and Russell Street, just out of the shot on the near left. The architecturally dismal replacement buildings housing the Odeon Cinema and Pryzm nightclub are in turn also scheduled for redevelopment. (Photographer: David Sears)

James Gray: Four photographs (jgc_02_208 to jgc_02_211) of 1960 which show the entire King’s Road frontage of the West Street redevelopment, and round into West Street itself. Poor though these houses were it could be argued that they were less offensive than the Top Rank building which succeeded them. jgc_02_209

2020: This is one of around 25 images in the James Gray collection showing the line of shops facing King’s Road between the Grand Hotel, just west of Russell Street, and West Street, in or around 1960.

James Gray: A very much later photograph [than jgc_04_005 on the King’s Road (5) page] looking west along the beach and King’s Road. The year is not known, but the bathing machines and the profusion of fishing boats, particularly those opposite Russell Street, suggest a period before the 1914/18 War and possibly as far back as the late 1890s. jgc_04_007

2020: This image looks west along the King’s Road seafront. The various buildings now comprising the Old Ship Hotel can be seen on the right (east).

James Gray: Photographs of W A Delamotte’s, which were made in 1855 [see also jgc_04_001 below]. The sections shown here are from near Russell Street to Middle Street. The hotel mentioned at the extreme left is Mutton’s, which remained here until 1929. jgc_02_190