Hove in the Past: Montefiore Road, Hove

Judy Middleton 2002 (revised 2025)

The Name

The road was built on land that formerly belonged to the Wick Estate, and it acquired its somewhat exotic name because the Wick Estate’s original owner – Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid – had a daughter who married into the Montefiore family.

Archaeology

It is interesting to note the land has yielded evidence of former occupation in two items; a polished flint celt, re-chipped, found during excavations on the west side of Montefiore Road; and a rare form of an artificially pitted quartzite pebble found in the vicinity of Montefiore Road.

Development

In 1895 Hove Commissioners passed a plan submitted by H. J. Gimblette on behalf of Sir Julian Goldsmid. However, it was not all plain sailing because the plan was deferred in March, disapproved of in April, amended and deferred in May before the amended plan was finally approved.

Sir Julian Goldsmid died in 1896, and that led to another delay because the Wick Estate was inherited by Osmond Elimd’Avigdor Goldsmid and the lad had not yet reached the age of 21. The first house approval was in 1897.

Then, after the turn of the century young Goldsmith began to sell plots of land on the Wick Estate. Perhaps he had neither the experience nor the inclination to enter the commercial fray himself, and so instead entrusted the deals to a company, who naturally enough extracted a hefty fee for their pains. For example, on 11 January 1911 1906 Goldsmid transferred number 16 Montefiore Road (freehold land on the corner of Addison Road) for £147-17-6d and the company sold it on for £250 to Arthur Dean of 25 Ditchling Rise. The company remained heavily involved in deals at Addison Road, and most probably acted for other Wick Estate sites.

Street Lamps

On 4 January 1900 the borough surveyor reported that five houses had been built and occupied in the road, and that six street lamps had been in operation since 5 May 1897. Messrs J. Eade Butt & Son requested that Hove Council should pay for the gas consumed by the lamps and the surveyor supported it because Montefiore Road was the approach road from Goldsmid Road to Highdown Road.

Water Pillar

Water pillars were to be found throughout Hove, and were a vital part of the ongoing maintenance of the roads – for example spraying roads with water in the summer in order to keep the dust down. But not everybody wanted one near them.

In September 1905 Revd S. B. Lane requested that the water pillar opposite the main entrance to the Bible Christian Church should be removed; his request was granted.

Housing Development

In December 1909 the borough surveyor stated that 21 houses had been built on the east side and all were occupied, while on the west side there were seven buildings including a warehouse and a church.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Brighton Herald 22 October 1910
A newspaper article from 125 years ago, on the state of the roads,
a topic of complaints that is still with us today.

In 1914 the road was declared a public highway.

There are some unusual street trees in the road – namely silver birch, mountain ash, and London plane.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Brighton Herald 23 February 1918
These Montefiore Road houses could be rented for £42 and £60
per annum in in 1918

Allotments

In 1921 it was reported to the council that the allotments on the south-east corner of Montefiore Road were a danger to children because the land was unfenced.

Numbering

In 1925 Mr P. S. Carden asked the council if they would number the west side as he did not think there would be any more building on that side for many years. Numbering was introduced the same year.

House Notes

Number 2 - The Hannington’s Depository, had a famous department store in North Street, Brighton. But the business became diversified, with one branch being concerned with furniture removals and the firm undertook delivery to any part of the country.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Hannington’s Depository in 1900, at the junction of Montefiore Road and Davigdor Road.

The magnificent building was designed by architects Clayton & Black, and Hove Council approved the plans on 16 March 1899. It seems the cart came before the horse, because the land in question was not purchased from the Goldsmid Estate until 11 November 1901, and it cost the considerable sum of £3,750.

The frontage to Davigdor Road was 120-ft while the frontage to Montefiore Road was 277-ft. Since Hannington’s Furniture Depository was situated on a corner site, its red-brick structure embellished by white stone and fine arched windows, became a prominent feature in the neighbourhood. To cap it all there was a dome at the south-east corner. Clayton & Black also designed an extension in 1915, as well as stabling and a workshop that was added to the Montefiore Road side in 1925.

In 1972 the building was converted into offices for the Legal & General Insurance Company, in 2012 the office block site was converted into the Montefiore Hospital, for private healthcare.

Number 5 – The Lucknow Tandoor, an Indian takeaway restaurant, opened here in 1995. Mr Choudhury was the owner and he was a main importer of Indian spices and herbs, and in addition he ran an Oriental food store in Hove. By May 1998 the establishment was called the Balti Dome.

Number 6 – Revd Richard Hippisley Domenichetti was given sole charge of the newly-created conventional district of St Thomas the Apostle in Davigdor Road from 1909 until 1922. While studying at Oxford, Domenichetti was awarded the 1885 Newdigate Prize for his poem The Thames. In 1890 his book The Quest of Sir Bertrand and Other Poems was published. He became a Roman Catholic for a short while before he was ordained in the Church of England. In 1916 the Revd Domenichetti changed his surname to ‘Markham’ although it was not until June 1919 that the London Gazette reported that the Revd Richard Domenichetti and his brother Lieutenant Colonel Francis Domenichetti, late of the Indian Army, had adopted a new surname. (the reason for the surname change is not known)

Numbers 11/13 – In August 2000 Pat Mountain was the owner of The Diner in these premises where a new product called Angel Food was launched. It was smooth and creamy, and each portion was dispensed in its own tube. Entrepreneur Michael Green from High Wycombe had devised it. Today the premises are occupied by Harrison’s.

Number 16A – This shop situated on the corner of Addison Road had been home to a cobbler/shoe-repairer business since 1935. At first Mr H. J. Lyne was in charge. By 2002 Dennis Manville was the cobbler, and had been one for 50 years, being still hard at work. He began his apprenticeship at the age of fifteen, and still used the same sort of tools he used then. It is a task that requires precision, and in the early days he suffered many a cut from the machine because he was not paying sufficient attention. He and his wife Ann have ran the business ‘Manville’s of Hove’ for 21 years at Montefiore Road. Mr Manville confessed he was not very keen on modern foot-wear, and he still believed that leather was best for health because it allowed feet to breathe.

In 2000 he received an unusual commission because he was asked to repair special shoes belonging to Tweedy the Clown from Zippo’s Circus. The shoes were 16-in custom-made black shoes for size 11 feet. Leather was not an option in this case because Tweedy was a vegetarian.

Miscellaneous

Colonel Thomas Chatfield (1845-1899) moved to Cottsmore House in Montpelier Road before his death there in 1899, aged 53. Colonel Chatfield a long term resident of Lewes and owner of a timber merchants, he was elected one of the first councillors of the new Lewes Borough in 1881, and immediately promoted to the rank of Alderman, a role from which he retired in 1885.

Colonel Chatfield, was the first Captain commanding the Lewes Battery of the Sussex Artillery Volunteers, from which role he was promoted to become the commander of the whole Sussex County Regiment.

Sammy Bass – In the 1970s Sammy Bass lived in the road. He was the brother of actor Alfie Bass, star of Bootsy and Snudge and The Army Game.

Austen Shelbourne Hill – He was born in Hove in 1889, being the second son of William Hill whose name became a byword in Hove because of the famous department store, Hill’s of Hove, he founded in Western Road in 1893. At first it was small concern at number 58, but eventually the store occupied numbers 48-59. Mr and Mrs Hill had a large family – there being two other sons, Leslie and James, and two daughters, Ruth and Parthenia, as well. At first they lived over the shop, but later moved to 88 Sackville Road, and by 1912 Austen lived in Montefiore Road.

During the First World War Austen Hill served as a 2^nd lieutenant in the 6^th (City of London) Battalion (Rifles). Sadly, he was injured in France and died of his wounds on 3 June 1917.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Brighton Herald 5 June 1915
Evelyn Padwick trained as a soprano with the Brussels Conservatoire,
she taught at the Preston Park College of Music and was
well known on the Brighton & Hove concert circuit.

Methodist Church

This building is situated on the north west corner of Montefiore Road and Old Shoreham Road. It was founded by the Revd Samuel B. Lane who purchased the site for £800 in 1900. Strictly speaking the congregation was an off-shoot of the Methodists, and called themselves Bible Christians. Apparently, there was a small group of them in Hove dating back to 1827 but they never had a church of their own until this one was built. Revd Lane was president of the Bible Christian Conference from 1905 to 1906.

He set about raising funds to build the church, and by 1904 nearly £4,000 had been subscribed or promised. Other free churches also made donations and William Stevens, president of the Band of Hope Union made one too. Important donors were as follows:

Robert Horne Penney, £100

William Willett, £100

Sir Joseph Ewart, £50

E. J. Hamilton drew up plans for church and schoolroom, which gained the approval of Hove Council on 21 April 1904. On 5 December 1904 memorial stones were laid by the following people:

Mrs R. J. Campbell

Mr T. W. Cole

Sir Joseph Ewart

Mrs Fisk

Mrs Forster

Mr Fowkes

Mrs Gates

Councillor Gillett

Miss Ivy Green

Miss Harmer

Mrs E. A Ridsdale

Hon. Mrs Villiers

Master Wesley

Mrs Williamson

The church opened on 14 September 1905, having cost between £6,500 and £7,000 to erect. There was a staff of three – Revd S. B. Lane, Revd H. Bolitho, and Revd W. S. Welch. Great hopes were entertained for the future of the church, which had 400 sittings, especially because of the recent growth of population in the area, and because the site was a 2-minute walk away from the Dyke Road trams.

However, there were already two handsome Bible Christian churches in Brighton – one at Bristol Road, and the other in Stanford Avenue.

Unhappily, the Hove church never really did flourish. By 1908 Revd Welch had left and by 1910 only Revd Lane was still there, and he died in 1912, no doubt a disappointed man. For example, in 1907 there were only 44 church members in that vast space.

In 1907 the Bible Christians merged with two other Methodist denominations to become the United Methodist Church, while in 1932 there was a final reunion of the various British Methodists sects.

In 1915 there was a brief glimmer of hope when the Brighton Herald (2 October 1915) reported ‘a gratifying increase in the vitality and progress of the church’ since J. G. B. Corin took the helm. Magnus Volk attended the Harvest Festival, and on Monday between 30 and 40 wounded soldiers were entertained to tea.

One reason for the impoverished fortunes of the Hove church was the abrupt suspension of building activity in the neighbourhood due to the recession and the war. As late as 1925 the church still had a debt of £1,450, and there was no resident minister.

When Revd Henry Smith retired, he became a part-time pastor at the church; he had been a leading figure in the movement towards Methodist reunion.

A resident minister was appointed in 1930, and in 1934 the church could boast of 56 members. In the Methodist Minute Book (26 February 1936) the problem of the Hove church was again discussed at considerable length but the ‘prospect of closing the church was unthinkable’.

By the 1940s the Revd Thomas May was the minister, and he lived at 197 Nevill Road. This was the last hurrah because the church closed for good in March 1947.

Guardianship Society

The church building was sold for £6,500 to the Guardianship Society, which moved in during 1950. The Guardianship Society dates back to before the First World War, after the Mental Deficiency Act was passed in 1913. Its principle aim was to provide care and support for adults with learning difficulties. In 1914 the Society opened a day centre in Brighton – probably one of the first of its kind in the country, if not the first.

Victor Hudson, who was Mayor of Hove from 1932 to 1934, was on the committee of the Guardianship Society, and he was able to secure the disused church and supervise its conversion into offices and other rooms.

At that time the Guardianship Society was located at 3 Buckingham Place, Brighton, and there was an occupational and social club at 61 Dyke Road. Some of the money accrued from these premises was used to finance a new manse for the Patcham minister at 31 Stoneleigh Avenue, Patcham.

J. Parsons & Son of 176 Church Road, Hove, undertook the task of converting the Hove church and the final bill dated 14 February 1951 came to £1,765-6-7d. The bill included some extra work such as taking down the pulpit and removing the stone base, but there is no mention of any work being done on the stained-glass windows.

Grace Eyre Foundation

Although still based in the same building, it was decided in 1988 to change the name to the Grace Eyre Foundation. It was in 1898 that Miss Grace Eyre Woodhead embarked on her work to improve the care of people with a mental handicap. She launched a scheme to arrange holiday homes in the Brighton area for London children with special needs. She was ahead of her time in establishing the practice of taking people out of institutional care and into the community. She died in 1935.

It was a graceful title but for some reason it was decided later on to rename it the Avondale Centre while at the same time changing their official address to 31 Avondale Road. Thankfully today, the foundation has reverted to being the Grace Eyre Foundation.

In January 1998 the centenary was celebrated with a reception at Westminster hosted by Hove MP Ivor Caplin. The occasion was used to inaugurate a new appeal called the Amazing Grace Centenary Appeal to try and raise £100,000 for a second day centre in Hove for elderly people with learning difficulties. Assisting in the campaign were footballer Peter Shilton and TV chef Charles Metcalf – the latter having devised a special cocktail to be sold in pubs throughout Sussex in aid of the appeal.

In February 1999 it was stated that recently the Body Shop had sponsored the Grace Eyre Foundation to produce four large animal sculptures to be displayed in the courtyard of the Conquest Hospital, Eastbourne.

On 9 May 2000 Jenny Langston, Mayor of Brighton and Hove, opened the new centre at 70 Walsingham Road called Walsingham House; the enterprise was paid for with the help of a lottery grant of £350,000.

Hove Planning Approvals

1897 – One tree for W. H. Crossley; two semi-detached villas, east side

1898 – W. Taylor, detached house, east side

1898 – W. Taylor for Colonel Chatfield (see above in House Notes), detached villa, east side

1898 – Messrs Loader & Long for Mr Rivers, house, shop and store, west side

1898 – T. Garrett for Brighton, Hove and Sussex Auxiliary Supply Association, stores, stables, etc

1901 – H. Parsons for F. Parsons, two villas, east side

1901 – F. Parsons, four houses, east side

1901 – T. H. Scutt for R. Parsons, one pair semi-detached villas, east side

1902 – Messrs Anthony & Dixon for R. Parsons, one house, north-east corner

1903 – Mrs G. Lynn & Sons, four houses and shops, east side

1904 – Messrs Denman & Matthews for A. Dean, house and shop on corner of Addison Road

1907 – Messrs Overton & Scott, for A. Cruttenden, two pairs semi-detached houses, west side

1925 – Messrs C. Simmonds & Son for R. Gillett, detached house, west side

1926 – Messrs Denman & Son for T. R. Braybon, three houses, east side at Colbourne Street

Sources

Argus

Brighton Herald (2 October 1915)

Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade

Hove Council Minutes

Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

Smith, Colin A, & Nurcombe, Peter B. New Life Still Flows; a History of Methodism in Hove (1996)

Street Directories

page design by D.Sharp

04 February 2025

Montefiore Road, Hove