Church of the Annunciation, Brighton

Arthur Wagner was ordained in 1850. For the next 20 years, until his father's death, he had some degree of freedom to choose the sites and designs for new churches in Brighton, which was growing rapidly at the time. Having paid for the construction and opening of one chapel of ease in 1862, in a working-class area in what is now the North Laine area, he decided to do the same in 1864 in another poor area which was being constructed on high ground between the Old Steine (site of the Royal Pavilion) and Queen's Park. The chosen site, on Washington Street, was narrow and offered little room to expand. Nevertheless, a local architect named William Dancy designed a building similar to St Mary…

The main (eastern) side of the church consists of twin gables decorated with flint facings and red-brick surrounds. The western side has three sets of triple lancet windows, the centre set of which is above the high altar. The overall style suggests a revival of Early English Gothic. The Annunciation stained-glass window was designed by Edward Burne-Jones and made by Morris & Co. In 1882, the church was presented with the east window from St Nicholas' Church, which had been designed for that church 29 years previously by the ecclesiastical architect Richard Cromwell Carpenter. It was built into the centre of the eastern face when the church was being rebuilt by Scott. A tower was added by…