Brighton's new library (lce architects) and the whole of the Jubilee Street redevelopment
scheme has been well-received (Panos here)... but it wasn't always so.

In 1971 the demolition of the National School was underway; described by one eminent
commentator as the greatest architectural crime to have been perpetrated in Brighton,
it was all in the name of road widening ...

But for 30 years, this was how it was.
A carpark

And New Road was just another strip of asphalt and parking meters.

The current appearance of New Road is more than skin deep - little chance of these mighty
granite blocks being moved by anything other than the Service Undertakers.

There is a panorama of New Road here.

To the North were the printing works and offices of the Evening Argus.

In 1975 the offices were revitalised with new works by John Wells-Thorpe

and, following the move of The Argus to Hollingbury, the vacant factory underwent the
changes to form the loft apartments of today.

But by August 2003 progress was being made on the Library

The hotel followed - after a while.

And this is simply a sign that things aren't always what they seem ...

Bricks and mortar give an impression of permanence in a changing world ...
but this skin came off badly from an encounter with some burning rubbish.