Before the Museum was created in 1991, the arches under the bridge that we now occupy were a boarded-up and derelict empty shell. Although the filled-in arches and the Brighton Belle Mural were a distinct improvement, the Trafalgar Street route to the North Laine still has a somewhat dark and neglected look, with the bricked-in arches encouraging graffiti.
We would like to return several of the arches to an approximation of how they would have looked in the 1930s, with glassed fronts, and ornamental window framework and lighting. The museum main entrance would become a large, airy, inviting arched space, and the fire exit would provide a similarly inviting view of the other end of the museum. The two central “Brighton Belle Mural” archways would remain unchanged, and the front of the fifth arch (which we currently use for a woodworking workshop) would be fronted by a matching glassed false shopfront. This would just leave two more smaller archfronts that are part of the station infrastructure, which would ideally also be refronted to match.
With the architectural plans at an advanced stage, we now need to raise the funds to proceed (.pdf).
The Project now has its own fundraising page on JustGiving:
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/TrafalgarStreet
