James Gray: The empty Ministry of Labour buildings, 130a, Western Road, on September 8th, 1963. Together with the adjoining cinema it was built not long before the 1914-18 War on the site of West Hill Lodge, seen in other photographs. [See jgc_19_016 on the Western Road (4) page.] One time motor showrooms it was opened by the Ministry during that war and remained the Labour Exchange for more than 40 years. jgc_19_012
James Gray: This large house may have been built in the 1830s. It is named in the 1845 Directory as Montpelier House. Ten years later it was being used as a Boarding School. It had a very large garden, which ran back to the garden of Arnold House. Photographed 28 January 1962. jgc_19_020
2020: The large building in the foreground calling itself Montpelier House is now No 99 Montpelier Road and let as commercial office space with a design that is best described as Brutalist.
James Gray: View of the side windows of Debenhams (formerly Plummer Roddis) premises, looking up Montpelier Road towards Western Road. Note the bow windows of the former private house 99 Western Road, which occupied the corner site. jgc_29_022
2018: Debenhams department store as shown in the 1970s image occupied Nos 95-99 Western Road. This block of property has now been converted to private flats (the Montpelier Apartments) on the upper floors, accessed via Montpelier Road. Taj the Grocer now occupies No 98 and the corner site at No 99 with shops and restaurants in the other ground floor units facing Western Road. The Montpelier Road building seems to have acquired a new upper floor during the flat conversions. (Photographer: Shan Lancaster)
James Gray: Demolition of 99 Montpelier Road. This was one of the finest single houses in this part of Brighton. It stood immediately to the north of Sillwood Hall Hotel. The adjoining house, No 98, had its entrance in Montpelier Road, but faced into Western Road. The two houses were demolished at the same time and the whole area used for an extension of Plummer Roddis shop. jgc_19_023
2020: 98-99 Western Road is on the south-east corner of Montpelier Road and is now the home of Taj the Grocer. Rounding the corner into Montpelier Road are Montpelier Apartments, where the original image was taken.
James Gray: But for unmistakable Christ Church, it is hard to realise that the photographer was looking across a quiet Western Road into the lower part of Montpelier Road. The pillar-box was one of the first boxes to be installed in Brighton, in April 1858, the other three being on Old Steine, Marine Parade and Sussex Square. This is another recent print from a waxed paper negative. jgc_29_027
2018: The bulk of Waitrose supermarket has replaced the flint wall on the left. The lamp post on the corner has been replaced by a traffic light (but the original decorative seafront lamp post defining the southern end of the road can still just be seen). The corner building on the south side of Western Road opposite Waitrose (95 Western Road) has grown a storey higher and is now Taj the Grocer. The gothic spire of Christ Church on the eastern side of Montpelier Road has been replaced by the stairwell of a block of flats. (Photographer: Shan Lancaster)
James Gray: This small sepia photograph was probably taken at least ten years later [than jgc_29_027 above]. jgc_29_028
2018: The spiky gothic spire of Christ Church has been replaced by the stairwell of flats built on the site after the demolition of the church in the 1980s. (Photographer: Shan Lancaster)
James Gray: Christ Church, Montpelier Road, seen from the corner of Western Road. Built in 1838 at the modest cost of £4600. jgc_31_096
2019: Christ Church, with its spire modelled on Chichester Cathedral, was destroyed by fire in 1978 and finally demolished in 1982. Gray’s sepia toned monochrome print shown here appears to be a duplicate version of jgc_29_028 above. (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, because the centre of the roadway is now occupied by a roundabout.
James Gray: A rare picture of this seldom photographed road. One wonders about the period. Certainly the iron railings along the curved side had gone although the wall facing Vernon Terrace still remained. The garden looks unkempt and unattended, while the two old cars may have been abandoned. All this evidence suggests a photograph taken during the 1939/1945 war, or very soon afterwards. The Crescent was designed by Amon Henry Wilds, in the mid-1840s, and was built on the site of a previous cricket ground. jgc_26_169