Developed with red-brick villas c1880

Removal of Railings from Preston Park Avenue, 1936: In 1928 Captain B. Maclaren launched a campaign to remove Victorian iron railings from Preston Park, as part of the former mayor Herbert Carden's plans to open up Brighton's parks and open spaces.

Image reproduced with kind permission from Brighton and Hove in Pictures by Brighton and Hove City Council

Villa in Preston Park Avenue

Photo by Tony Mould

Villa in Preston Park Avenue

Photo by Tony Mould

Whistler's Court

Photo by Tony Mould

f) PRESTON PARK AVENUE: This road was developed from the 1880s with large red-brick villas, many of which still remain, but several have been replaced by blocks of flats. Whistler Court commemorates the artist Rex Whistler who was stationed in the road with the Welsh Guards during the Second World War. During his posting he decorated the wallpaper of the squadron mess at no.39, where two of his paintings were the famous ‘Allegory: H.R.H. the Prince Regent awakening the Spirit of Brighton’ of June 1944, and a silhouette of the Prince Regent . Whistler himself was killed during the D-Day landings, but the two pictures were presented to the town and were physically removed on the plaster-work to be framed; they now hang in the tea-room of the Royal Pavilion . Other Chinese decoration remained in the house as it was considered too difficult to remove. {3,294}