THESE pictures were all taken in 1929 and some show Brighton as a bit of a construction site.

While some would argue that is still the case today, it is interesting to see what is different in these photographs.

Our main image is taken, we believe, from the top of St Bartholomew’s Church in Ann Street. Well, we say “we believe” but it is hard to see how else in that era this picture from this angle could have been achieved.

The fact it is next to our upright image of the church lends more credence to the idea. But who wouldn’t take the opportunity to capture Brighton from the top of one of the tallest churches in Europe?

Legend has it the brick-built structure was designed to the scale of Noah’s Ark and it is also claimed to be the tallest church in the UK – if other buildings’ towers, steeples and spires are excluded.

Either way, its interior is breathtaking in its vastness and draws many visitors.

It was Arthur Douglas Wagner (1824-1902) who was responsible for building several churches, including St Bartholomew’s.

His focus at the time was on the poorer areas of Brighton and he paid for them himself.

Wagner first built a small mission church of St Bartholomew in 1868 and a school in 1871, both long-since demolished. But their success allowed him to buy the rest of the site and the big church seen today was planned. The building cost was £18,000. The foundation stone was laid in 1872 and it opened two years later.

The architect of St Bartholomew’s was Edmund Scott who was born in 1828 and lived in London until moving to Brighton in 1853. He died in 1895. He designed a number of churches and other buildings in Sussex, of which this church is his most celebrated.

The Clock Tower in Brighton is another landmark and is seen here beyond a large gap where Waterstones now stands.

The buildings to the left appear almost unchanged whereas the ones on the right were demolished to make way for a shop. Note too how the slip road that bends round from Queen’s Road towards Western Road is now a raised paved area.

The bottom two pictures here could be Brighton – but any good guesses are welcome.