96, Western Road, Brighton

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 25 Mar 2016

Built in 1823 by Wilds and Busby in a Georgian Gothic style and one of six listed buildings on Western Road (see also Image,Image, Image, Image and Image). Still called Gothic House it has also been known as Priory Lodge or The Priory, the latter during the late 19th century. From the 1850s it was used as offices by Crouch & Stevens who extended the building eastwards over the former garden in the early 1880s, see Image The building was converted into a shop in 1898 by AC Sharman who also extended into 97 in the same year, 95 in 1911 and 98 in 1916. The large shop was acquired by Plummer Roddis, a growing chain of department stores, in 1920. They would complete the extension westwards with the acquisition of 99 in 1931, see Image The chain was purchased by Debenhams in the early 1960s who initially kept the name until rebranding the store in 1972. Debenhams themselves stayed until 1998 when they acquired a flagship store in the new Churchill Square development after which the store was broken up into smaller units and flats. Number 96 opened as a branch of the video rentals store Blockbuster in 2004 but had closed by 2010 since when the shop has been empty the windows still retaining the former shade of blue used by Blockbuster. Old Images Number 95-97 c.1912-14 - http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume19/source/jg_19_015.html 1854-1896 - ESTATE AGENTS (Crouch & Stevens) 1898-1919 - MILLINER, DRAPER, OUTFITTER (AC Sharman) 1920-1998 - DEPARTMENT STORE (Plummer Roddis 1920-72, Debenhams 1973-98) 2004-2010 - VIDEO RENTALS (Blockbuster)

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