Marlborough House is a mansion at 54,

Old Steine The Old Steine () is a thoroughfare in central Brighton, East Sussex, and is the southern terminus of the A23. The southern end leads to Marine Parade, the Brighton seafront and the Palace Pier. The Old Steine is also the site of a number of Ci ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

on the south coast of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is a Grade I

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 Irel ...

. Initially it was built for Samuel Shergold in the 1760s. After being sold on by both Shergold and its second owner, the

Duke of Marlborough General (United Kingdom), General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an Engl ...

, in 1786 it was bought by

William Gerard Hamilton William Gerard Hamilton (28 January 172916 July 1796), was an English statesman and Irish politician, popularly known as "Single Speech Hamilton". Biography He was born in London, the son of William Hamilton, a Scottish bencher of Lincoln's I ...

and altered to a neoclassical design by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...

. After being owned by the Brighton School Board and

Brighton and Hove City Council Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services ...

, it was sold to a local businessman in 1999. Since then, the building has stood empty and original features have been destroyed, leading to several courtcases.

History

A building was constructed on the site in the 1760s by local inn owner Sam Shergold. In the 1800s, Marlborough House was known as Grove House and the Prince of Wales, later

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

stayed there in 1783, 1789 and 1795, whilst the

Royal Pavilion The Royal Pavilion, and surrounding gardens, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a Grade I listed former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George IV of t ...

was being renovated by John Nash. In 1786, the building was bought by statesman

from the third

. It was Hamilton who employed

to change the features in the neoclassical style. Following Hamilton's death The building was leased in 1870 to the Brighton School Board, which then bought it in 1893. In the 1990s,

used Marlborough House as a tourist information centre before selling it to local businessman Tony Antoniades for £500,000 in 1999. Since then, the building has stood empty, occasionally being

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

Deterioration

Antoniades at first intended to live at Marlborough House but he never moved in. Initial optimism about the planned renovations faded. By 2015, the building was badly water damaged and the original fireplaces had been removed to a warehouse in London, where they perished in a fire. The building was placed on the

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

"at risk" list. A representative of

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

said "Our hands are tied to some extent if a private owner cannot or will not maintain the building – we are an advisory body." By 2017, the Regency Society noted that 18th century roof lights had been taken out and mahogany doors had been destroyed. Further, an oil-based render pioneered by John Liardet had been painted over on the front of the building without an application for Listed Building Consent. Brighton and Hove City Council issued an enforcement notice for the paint to be removed, only to be overruled by the

Planning Inspectorate The Planning Inspectorate for England (sometimes referred to as PINS) is an executive agency of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities of the United Kingdom Government with responsibility for making decisions and providing reco ...

in 2018. By 2019, the Council confirmed it was dropping its legal actions against Antoniades because a new planning application had been made which would correct the illegal changes to the building. Antoniades announced his new plan to turn the building into a wine bar. He had previously stated regarding Marlborough House that "it needs an expert. And that’s not me."

History

Deterioration

References

Further reading