Kings House is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

that was previously used as offices by Brighton and Hove City Council. It is situated in Grand Avenue.

History

Kings House was built between 1871 and 1874 by James Knowles; originally it was built as seven mansion blocks, and was based on the style of

Osborne House Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Albert designed the house himself, in ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

. It then became a hotel, called the Prince's Hotel, before being used by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. In 1948, the building was bought by SEEBOARD to use as the company headquarters, before being bought by Brighton and Hove City Council in 1996. In 1974, the building became a Grade II listed building. In July 2014, Kings House was put up for sale for £10 million, as part of a cost saving plan. By 2015, the valuation of the property had increased to around £20 million, with staff being relocated from the building to Hove Town Hall by December 2016. It was sold for £26 million in July 2017 to Mortar Nova Grand Avenue, a joint venture development vehicle between developer Rego Property and Pacific Investments. The buyer plans to turn the building back into housing. In July 2018, new partners joined the joint venture with the original partners exited. The new partner is a REPE Fund managed by a Hong Kong based asset management company - Tianli Financial Limited, whereas Rego Property remain as the development manager. In September 2019, the development work kicked started, and it completed in July 2021.

References

{{coord, 50.8246, -0.1682, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Brighton and Hove City Council Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Grade II listed office buildings Hove