Bridging interfaces, add IP address to port or to bridge1?

Does it make any difference? It seems to work both ways, only thing I notice, is if any of the interfaces go down, there is a packet loss throughout the rest of the bridged network. So, is it better to assign the IP block to say “Ether2”, while Ether2 is bridged all the way to Ether8, or just assign it to Bridge1.

Always wondered this…