There is a set of detailed maps of much of St Leonards and Hastings, surveyed 1873 and published 1875, on the (free) National Library of Scotland website. This post discusses the map for the West Hill Road (west half) , some of which is shown below, and there is also a map that includes the street further to the east in the West Hill Road (east half). It is very interesting to compare the area then with what it is now. Later many more houses were built further to the west; there were only a few at the time further to the west than shown in this image.
Most if not all of these houses are still there today. The map shows house names, and below is my attempt to relate the current house numbers to those house names, together with details of the household heads in the 1871 census. The census enumerator used the same house names except where I indicate, such as with the current 20 and 22 being 6 and 7. Going from east to west, south side first:
19 Westhill House. John Charles Young, widower, 50, retired Australian merchant, born Northumberland Alnwick
21 Salingen. Otto Hertzog [?] Louis Carl Schippenbach, married, 63, Prussian count, baron & chamberlain to the Emperor of Germany, born Prussia Ulkenmarke [?]
23 Burlington. No entry for this house in the census.
25 Walton House. Mary Caroline Hadden, married, 50, school mistress, born Northampton Hazelbeach
27 Norfolk Villa. Thomas Lloyd, married, 62, physician FRCS London, MD St Andrews, born Middlesex London
29 Cowper Villa. Susanna Fullerton, widow, 49, income from dividends, born East Indies Madras
31 Milton Villa. George Quinn, married, 57, lodging house keeper, born Yorkshire Hull
33 Elderslie Villa. Sarah Jacosha Alford, married, 54, wife of Bishop of Victoria, born London St Stephen Walbrook
35 Marazion House. William John Rodda, married, 50, builder, born Cornwall Marazion
37 Rocksley House. [Possibly listed in the census as 1 Seaview Terrace, as no Rocksley House] William Frederick East, head, single, 60, lay Rector of Wilmington, born Essex
This household is listed separately with its own head within 1 Seaview Terrace, so presumably part of that house ? Sophia Mary Bonsall, widow, 33, lodging house keeper, born Middlesex Hampton Court
39 Seaview Terrace. As 2 Seaview Terrace ? John Kemble Martin, married, 47, colonial produce broker, born Berkshire Farrington
41 Seaview Terrace. As 3 Seaview Terrace ? Mary Ann Milliard, widow, 71, housekeeper, born Sussex Reborough
43 Seaview Terrace. As 4 Seaview Terrace ? Caroline Keys, widow, 40, independent, born London Middlesex
45 Seaview Terrace. As 5 Seaview Terrace ? Richard Stanford, married, 32, gardener, born Berkshire Waltham St Laurence
47 Gladstone House. Anna L. Stubbs, single, 46, lodging house keeper, born Surrey Rotherhithe
North side, east to west:
20 Westhill Lodge. As no. 6, Claudius P. Norris, married, 34, landowner, born Surrey Wandsworth
22 [Unnamed]. As no. 7, Emma L. Mason, widow, 65, born India Lucknow
24 Davenham. William Stephen, married, 34, annuitant, married Middlesex Westminster
26 Clarence House. George E. Morphett, married, 43, private tutor, born Kent Woodchurch
28 Laura House. William Thornthwaite, married, 53, shareholder in gas and other cos., born Middlesex Limehouse
30 Cumberland House. George F. Crossthwaite, married, 67, retired British Consul at Prussia, born Middlesex London
32 Challingsworth Place. As 1 Challingworth Place. Uninhabited.
34 Challingsworth Place. As 2 Challingworth Place. Susan Ragsdell, single, 47, house & mortgage, born Northamptonshire Oundle
36 Portland House. As 3 Challingworth Place. Uninhabited.
38 Calverley Villa. Elizabeth Gilson, wife, 33, fishmonger’s wife, born Middlesex Bethnal Green
40 Newby Villa. Charles Henry Gausden, married, 45, auctioneer, born Kent Brasted
I had a problem with Rocksley House and Seaview Terrace, and my attribution is tentative. The map shows Seaview Terrace consisting of four houses, yet the census shows nos. 1 to 5. As Gladstone House at the west end is listed in the census, and Rocksley House is absent. If Rocksley House was no. 1 this problem would be solved.
Of the 23 occupied households, 10 had heads born in the London area, 9 elsewhere in England than London or Sussex, three overseas (two in India, one in Germany), and only one born in Sussex — and that was a housekeeper, whose master or mistress was absent.
Turning to occupations, the road was not like say The Lawn, where most were living off dividends and rents and the like, nor like the roads north of Norman Road, where nearly everyone worked for a living, or was retired. By my calculation 16 worked or had worked or were wives of workers, and 7 lived off rents etc. Most houses were probably rented, and it is possible some occupants were only doing so for a year, or perhaps a few months.
William John Rodda at no. 35 was I suspect responsible for building some if not most of the street. In 1861, as of 13 Stanhope Place, he wrote that he was building “some villas” on the south side of West Hill, which may have extended from no. 19 to no. 33, in the former gardens of the Royal Victoria Hotel. This was on land leased from Decimus Burton. He was at the time building houses on The Mount. In 1862 he was selling off Milton Villa (no. 31) [Surrey Gazette, 21 October 1862], but that is an isolated instance of his naming the house, as he offered a sea facing house on West Hill at various times in the 1860s, possibly the same one each time.
By 1864 he was living at Cowper Villa (no. 29). In both the 1871 and 1881 censuses census he was at no. 35. He was in no. 28 in the 1891 census, where he died in 1895. Some of my readers may be aware that 55 West Hill Road has ‘Marazion’ and ‘1880’ in bold black on white stonework, and this house may have been built by Rodda too. He was a builder on a big scale: in 1878 he took 50 of his workers on an outing to Cranbrook.
Further research could be carried out by looking at directory street listings at the top floor of Hastings Library, but there are only a few of those before about the mid 1880s. Otherwise, checking for the relevant house name in newspapers on the British Newspaper Archive, which allows some free access, may help.