The hidden histories and fascinating features of Brighton & Hove are being enshrined in a new official record of the city’s heritage assets.
The new revised Local List has around 450 buildings, parks and items of street furniture deemed to be of historical or architectural interest.
Local listing carries less weight than full statutory listing from Historic England, such as Grade 1 or grade 2. However it must be taken into consideration when such an asset is affected by a planning application.
The latest list has been updated and amended after an appeal for residents to contact the council nominating features, spaces and buildings.
The list includes homes ranging from flint cottages to the imposing block of 1930s flats Marine Gate overlooking the Marina. Parks include The Level, Kipling Gardens in Rottingdean and Hove Lawns. Among many pubs listed are the green-tiled Montreal Arms and former Horse and Groom premises in Hanover.
Unusual street features include two 1950s petrol pumps in Bath Street, Seven Dials, a boundary stone dated 1875 in Elm Grove and two 19th-century bollards at St Nicholas Church, in the city centre.
Also included are walls, a phone box, an 1840s cattle tunnel under the railway in Portslade and a selection of the city’s early gas and electric street lamp columns. Tram shelters, churches, seafront railings, schools and colleges also feature.
Some buildings are included for their interesting former uses. Shoppers passing a café at 85 George Street in Hove might not know it was a fire station between 1879 and 1926. It still bears the Hove civic crest high on its front wall.
The current fire station at Preston Circus and London Road railway station are popular local buildings also registered.
Portslade Police Station from 1908 is designated for features such as its original interior including cells, a police phone box and East Sussex County Council crest on the exterior.
The Local List is expected to be approved at the first economic development and culture committee of the new Brighton & Hove City Council administration on June 18.
Its chair and council leader Warren Morgan said. “These buildings, spaces and features tell the city’s story. So it’s very important we protect them wherever possible to keep that story alive for residents and visitors to treasure. The list is a really valuable tool for doing that.
“The city’s past and its heritage is very important to me, as is its future. It’s vital that we add to the city as past generations have done but at the same time preserve the best of what we have inherited.”
View the list and officer’s report on the council’s website among a pack or reports to the committee.
Below, the cafe in George Street, Hove, which was once a fire station