James Gray: This rather unusual view of the doomed chimney [of the town’s original electricity works in North Road] is from the Queen’s Road burial ground looking across the houses of Spring Gardens. On the left is the high rear wall of the Grand Theatre. jgc_25_022
2019: The huge chimney was demolished in 1929. The burial ground is now an open green space attached to the Brighthelm Church & Community Centre – the gravestones have been repositioned around the edges. In 2019 the Street Diner streetfood market is held here. The Grand Theatre and nearby housing have gone but the long building that was formerly the Royal Sussex Regiment Drill Hall is now an antiques warehouse. (Photographer: David Jackson)
James Gray: This photograph, copied from a blurred and indistinct one, dates from 1876. It looks north to Brighton Station from the junction with Gloucester Road. Until 1878, Queen’s Road here was only 40 feet wide with no pavement on the east side, but just a low wall and hoardings. This is the one photograph I have seen which does not show the present tall buildings on the right side.
James Gray: A snapshot photograph of a fish hawker and his barrow, at the west kerb of Queen’s Road, near the Station. jgc_31_160
James Gray: The terminus at the Station, in 1919. On the right can be seen Whale’s the tobacconist, removed with the Terminus Hotel in 1924. Additional Information: Four boys standing by the tram. jgc_31_186
James Gray: Two buildings, Nos 93 and 94, dating from the period 1878-79, when this part of Queen’s Road was widened and developed, photographed on 10 February 1974, since when they have been demolished. It has always been a mystery why the low building to the north was not erected in a much larger form. jgc_31_175
James Gray: In the year 1879, not long after the widening of Queen’s Road on the east side, this tall building with its four towers was built for Alderman E J Reeves (Mayor of Brighton 1866-88) and chiefly occupied as stores for this extensive business as Wholesale Grocers and Provision Merchants, and also as offices. There was living accommodation on the upper floors but it is doubtful whether Mr Reeves himself ever lived there. After his death the business continued here, though under names other than Reeves, until early 1950s. jgc_31_167
James Gray: This occasion is said to be the visit of the Shah of Persia, in 1889, but I have some doubts. The Fire Brigade is obviously leading a procession, but who can tell what it was. The names visible on the buildings suggest that the photograph, from the Dispensary, could have been taken about 1889. jgc_31_193
James Gray: Nos 96 and 97, beyond Gloucester Road, were older buildings dating from the 1840s, when Queen’s Road was first laid out. They were photographed almost a year earlier, on 7 February 1973, and were removed in the same year. jgc_31_176
2020: These buildings on the corner of what was North Quadrant/Queen’s Road and is now Gloucester Road/Queen’s Road have been replaced by offices and shops – a favoured location within a few minutes’ walk of the station. (Photographer: Alan Stratford)
James Gray: This photograph needs no comment, as it is similar to the one overleaf. jgc_31_177
2020: Whilst the buildings on the right-hand side of the image remain largely recognisable externally, the remainder of this part of Queen’s Road has been replaced by offices with shops at street level. (Photographer: Alan Stratford)
James Gray: A prosaic part of Brighton, just five houses with ground floor shops, which joined Gloucester Road and Queen’s Road. Much older than they may have looked, they were built before Queen’s Road was laid out; they appear in Leppards Directory of Brighton for 1845. At first this small block was called North Quadrant, but the name was changed in 1914, possibly to avoid confusion with North Street Quadrant by the Clock Tower. No 1, shown here, was for many years a Public House, first called the Cork Cutters Arms, and latterly the Lord Clyde. The public conveniences came much later, in 1926, on the site of a small shrubbery, laid out when Queen’s Road was widened in the 1870s. Photographed on 31 May 1982, the five buildings were demolished in June/July 1984, and yet another office block will arise in their place. jgc_31_178
James Gray: View looking south. Additional Information: © Phillipe Garner. jgc_31_181
2020: This view looking north to Brighton Station was wrongly labelled as ‘looking south’. Most of the buildings on the left (west) side of this part of Queen’s Road remain as photographed before, but those on the right are newer offices following on from the widening of the street. (Photographer: Alan Stratford)
James Gray: (One of) two photographs taken about 1905, during the early days of the trams. Note the horse and bus almost hidden from view behind the tram. jgc_31_182
2020: Another image of the front of the station – with International House now in place of the Hudson’s Depository on the right. Trams and horse-drawn buses have been replaced by diesel and now electric/hybrid buses. Taxis used to dominate the station forecourt but have now been relegated to the back of the station. (Photographer: Alan Stratford)
James Gray: In this photograph it is interesting to see the long line of balconies and that some of the houses still had basement railings. jgc_31_183 and jgc_31_148
2020: This image of the western side of Queen’s Road with the station in the distance shows that many of the buildings remain largely intact, although many of the balcony railings and all the basement railings have disappeared. (Photographer: Alan Stratford)
James Gray: Tramcars were in Queen’s Road for 36 years, from 1903 until 1939. This postcard taken from North Road in 1905 seems to show the same policeman as appears in the previous photograph. jgc_31_184
James Gray: The view up Queen’s Road, looking from North Road to the Station. The year is not known but from the shops and the dress of the pedestrians the decade is probably the 1880s and nearer the end of those ten years. jgc_31_152
2020: Similar to the view above but showing the east side of Queen’s Road as well. The absence of traffic is perhaps misleading as this road is usually very busy. (Photographer: Alan Stratford)
James Gray: Taken from the top of Gloucester Road, showing the Alexandra Hotel, 54 Queen’s Road, removed in 1920. jgc_31_185
2020: The Alexandra Hotel on the left foreground in the original image was demolished for the one-way system in front of the station. The buildings on the right-hand (east) side of the road have all been replaced by commercial buildings. (Photographer: Alan Stratford)
James Gray: George Ruff’s shop, 45 Queen’s Road, as it was in 1872. His studio was on the first floor, where he had started as a photographer in 1855. One half of the shop on the ground floor was for artist’s materials; the other half was an old-fashioned sweet shop with all the sweets made on the premises. Next door, even then, was the Imperial Hotel. Additional Information: © Philippe Garner. jgc_31_187
James Gray: Look now at the same two buildings a century later, on 7 February 1973 [see jgc_31_187 above]. The boarding-up has masked the window space, but both ground floors must have been extensively altered. However the pillars and doorway of the hotel entrance seems unchanged. In the present uncertain economic climate it is probable that the buildings will remain in this state for some years, before comprehensive redevelopment takes place. jgc_31_188
James Gray: William Moon’s House, 104 Queen’s Road, where for many years he carried on his work of embossing books and pamphlets for the use of the blind. On the left can be seen the old Brighton Eye Infirmary, built in 1846, after having been in Boyces Street for 14 years. The date, 1847, which now appears below the first floor centre window is misleading. This does not indicate the age of the building but the year when Dr Moon commenced embossing with a wooden press. The house was built in 1858, a small workshop at the rear having been built two years earlier. jgc_31_189
2020: The site of 104 Queen’s Road and adjoining buildings have all been replaced by the large office block, Queensbury House. (Photographer: Alan Stratford)
James Gray: This large garden formerly stood to the rear of 104 Queen’s Road, and adjoining premises and extending back to Frederick Street. Dr William Moon and his wife, Anna, are the central seated figures. The garden space is now covered over with buildings. Unfortunately there is no clue to the age of this photograph and that on the preceding page [jgc_31_189]. The huge building now flanking No 104 to the south which does not appear on the previous photograph was built in 1883, so all on can say is that both photographs were after 1858 but before 1883. Additional Information: Moon Society. jgc_31_190
James Gray: Nos 104, 108 and 109 photographed before their demolition. The Moon building, in this photograph, was erected in 1883 as an extension of the low building next to Moon’s House, seen on one of the previous pages. The others were originally private houses, built about 1850, and lately in use as private hotels. This photograph was taken in January 1960. A large block of offices is now being built on the cleared site. Additional Information: Advertisement hoardings, Gladys Cooper and Ian Hunter are starring at Theatre Royal. jgc_31_191
2020: The Moon building and private homes have been demolished and replaced with a large office block known as the Regus building. The first image shows the entirety of the new large building that replaced several smaller ones. The other image is a direct shot at a street level façade that attempts to mimic Gray’s original. However there is no way of knowing whether the shot is in exactly the same spot. (Photographer: Kate Ormond)
James Gray: 110 and 111 Queen’s Road, private houses at the corner of North Road. These houses were probably built in the late 1840s when Queen’s Road was formed as a link between Brighton Station and Windsor Terrace (now part of Queen’s Road). Additional Information: Brighton Sussex Mutual Provident Society, Bloater Paste, Oliver Weston, Daily Telegraph. jgc_31_197
James Gray: This photograph shows the same spot [as jgc_31_197], a year later. No 111 had been rebuilt as offices for the Brighton and Sussex Mutual Provident Society and renamed Sundial House. It has remained unchanged externally to this day. jgc_31_198
2020: Sundial House is now the home of one of two Sundial Clinics in Brighton, offering chiropractic, physiotherapy and massage treatments. The building remains much the same as it was in 1896, even including the sundial on the south wall. (Photographer: Kate Ormond)
James Gray: Above is a photograph showing the window display at the tailor’s shop of T K Farr and Co., 34 Queen’s Road in 1935. This family business was started in Trafalgar Street in the 1860s, moved into Surrey Street, and then to Queen’s Road in the 1880s. Study some of the prices, with the aid of a magnifying glass, and compare them with those of the 1970s. Additional Information: Aquascutum. jgc_31_199
James Gray: Looking down North Road, about 1958. This shows three prominent buildings all of which have now gone. The old dispensary building at the corner was built in the 1960s. The Presbyterian Church Hall was destroyed by fire in 1981, while the Grand Theatre, lower down, suffered the same fate in the disastrous fire in June 1961. jgc_31_201
2020: All the buildings in the 1958 photo have now gone. In 2020, the Community Kitchen occupies the corner site on the right, whilst next down North Road is the Brighthelm Centre, followed by Tower Point at No 44. The corner of Sundial House, at 111 Queen’s Road, can just be seen on the extreme left of both photos. It has a large vertical sundial on its south-facing wall in North Road. (Photographer: Alan Hobden)