Hove Railway Station and footbridge

Hove Railway Station comprises an earlier building dating from 1865-66, the main station constructed in 1879, a footbridge from the 1880s, and a station forecourt from 1905. The main station was likely designed by F.D. Bannister, and shares a similar Tuscan villa style with Portslade Railway Station.

The main building is constructed of red brick with a grey brick plinth, stone dressings, and quoins, topped with a hipped roof covered in bitumen slate and featuring a skylight. The forecourt has corrugated plastic sheeting over its hipped roofs and is supported by cast-iron columns. The station’s plan includes a booking office with an L-shaped forecourt to the south, two platforms connected by a pedestrian bridge—now linking Station Approach with Hove Park Villas (the platform entrance on the far side is closed)—and the earlier station located to the east of the booking office.

The main building is single-storey and seven bays wide, featuring quoins to the openings which are linked by a continuous entablature. It has sash windows with six-pane upper lights and lower lights without glazing bars. Two pedimented entrances with panelled double doors lead into the booking office, with additional double doors alongside. A canopy is supported by ornate cast-iron columns with fluted capitals and decorative brackets, along with ornate stanchions leading to the roof. The ironwork entablature includes shields displaying the initials LBSCR (London, Brighton and South Coast Railway), although some of the ironwork is believed to be replacements.

The earlier station is rendered over brick with a hipped slate roof covered in bitumen and a bracket cornice and is two storeys high, with 2:4:2 bays. The end bays project slightly. It has segmental-headed window openings with moulded surrounds and sash windows lacking glazing bars. The main block is flanked by two-bay, single-storey rusticated wings featuring similar fenestration. At the junction of the two stations, there’s a single-storey, two-bay painted brick kiosk with a hipped roof and cresting to the ridge.

The interior of the main station is notable for its console brackets supporting the five-bay queen-post roof, cast-iron columns supporting the platform canopies, a plasterwork ceiling in the waiting room, and remnants of the original pedestrian bridge, which includes twisted columns with acanthus leaf capitals and original cast-iron balusters.

The original railway station, originally named Cliftonville, was closed in 1879 when the new station – then known as West Brighton – was opened. In 1895, the station was renamed Hove.