Prestonville, Brighton
Prestonville is a largely residential area in the northwest of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It covers a long, narrow and steeply sloping ridge of land between the Brighton Main Line and Dyke Road, two major transport corridors which run north-northwestwards from the centre of Brighton. Residential development started in the 1860s and spread northwards, further from central Brighton, over the next six decades. The area is characterised by middle-class and upper-middle-class housing in various styles, small-scale commercial development and long eastward views across the city. Two Anglican churches serve Prestonville—one at each end of the area—and there are several listed buildings.
Brighton and Hove City Council describe the area as a "pre-1914 residential inner suburb whose street pattern, architecture and character have been well preserved", giving a "strong sense of place". "High-quality" Victorian buildings can be found amongst the housing, and two residential streets consist of a homogeneous "railway suburb" built by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway to rehouse people displaced from around Brighton station when the company extended its goods yard. While not successful in this aim, the estate left "a legacy of good-quality housing" which still survives.
Prestonville covers a sloping ridge of land on the western side of the valley through which London Road and the Brighton Main Line run. The land drops down steeply from Dyke Road, the ancient route to Devil's Dyke on the South Downs. Now one of the city's major roads, it formed the historic boundary between the parishes of Hove and Preston. Later, when Preston became part of Brighton, Dyke Road formed the border between the Boroughs of Hove and Brighton. The centre of Brighton is about 1.2 miles (2 km) to the southeast, and central Hove lies to the southwest.
Anticlockwise from the south, the boundaries of Prestonville are defined as Seven Dials, Chatham Place, Howard Place, the Brighton Main Line between Brighton and Preston Park stations, Tivoli Crescent North and Dyke Road. Old Shoreham Road, a major road at the southern end of Prestonville, formed the northern boundary of Brighton Borough, and therefore the boundary between Brighton and Preston parishes, until 1873.
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