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.
Buildings at the south end of Prestonville include late-19th-century villas, terraced houses and the red-brick St Luke's Church.
In this view from Tenantry Down, the suburb of Prestonville runs across the background below the skyline, and its position on the side of a high ridge is apparent.
The Prestonville Arms pub is in the older southern part of Prestonville.
Exeter Street Hall, formerly the church hall of St Luke's, was bought in 2012 by Prestonville residents in order to secure it as a resource for the community.
Thomas Simpson (architect)
Thomas Simpson (1825–1908) was a British architect associated with the seaside town of Brighton. As architect to the Brighton and Preston School Board and the equivalent institution in neighbouring Hove, he designed "a distinguished group of board schools" during the late 19th century, when the provision of mass education was greatly extended. Many of these schools survive and some have listed status. He also worked on five Nonconformist chapels for various Christian denominations, using a wide variety of materials and architectural styles. He was the father of Sir John William Simpson and Gilbert Murray Simpson, who both became architects.
A blue plaque commemorating Simpson was erected in Hove in 2015.
Elm Grove Board School at Elm Grove, Brighton (1893)
Clarendon Mission (1885)