• About
    • Ethics policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Ownership, funding and corrections
    • Complaints procedure
    • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Newsletter
Brighton and Hove News
12 July, 2025
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Opinion
    • Community
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Food and Drink
  • Sport
    • Brighton and Hove Albion
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Opinion
    • Community
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Food and Drink
  • Sport
    • Brighton and Hove Albion
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
Brighton and Hove News
No Result
View All Result
Home Brighton

Buyer wanted to help restore crumbling Brighton gem – popstars need not apply

by Jo Wadsworth
Wednesday 12 Aug, 2015 at 3:20PM
A A
4
Buyer wanted to help restore crumbling Brighton gem – popstars need not apply

Marlborough House before its latest paint job

The owner of one of Brighton’s most magnificent Regency buildings is seeking a new owner who can carry out his dream of restoring it – but only the right candidate will do.

Tony Antoniades last month secured planning permission to convert the Grade I listed Malborough House in the Old Steine back into a family home after many years of neglect.

But at 74, the company director says he is now too old to carry out the project himself, instead vowing to find the right person to pass the baton onto.

However, he warned that while he might be willing to drop his price for the right buyer, he would not be selling to any Tom, Dick or Harry.

Mr Antoniades said: “Am I going to have time to do it? I think the person who needs to do that needs to be of high net worth, but younger than me.

“I want to see it sold as a finished project where we can control the outcome and avoid gold taps, use modernisms which are non intrusive.

“It’s not going to be young Mr Boyband or a DJ getting involved to heighten their profile – any individual will be carefully vetted. In this case I think less is more. I would be prepared to accept less to find the right man or family.”

The house has lain empty since the 1990s, when the town’s tourist information office moved to the Royal Pavilion building.

Mr Antoniades bought it from Brighton and Hove City council ten years ago, when it was already showing signs of neglect, and says he has not been able to do anything with it in the meantime as all proposed uses were rejected.

He said: “I didn’t want to buy it, I just wanted to stop it becoming a pub. I bought it for £550,000 about 10 or 11 years ago. At that time I was advised that it wasn’t worth a £1 and that’s because of the state the authority left it in.

“The council opposed all approaches from 15-20 potential tenants – everything from casinos to therapies to offices.

“In 2012, the council tried to compulsorily purchase it, but they didn’t have the funds. Two years ago, we had three squatter camps.”

Originally built in about 1765 as a guest house, Marlborough House is one of the most architecturally and historically significant buildings in the city.

It was sold in 1786 to William Hamilton MP, who commissioned Robert Adam to enlarge and model it in the neoclassical style. Adam extended the house to the south, giving it a fashionable facade featuring a detailed doorway and Tuscan columns.

The Prince of Wales, later the Prince Regent and then George IV, came to stay in 1789 and 1795, while his Pavilion was being converted from a farmhouse into Nash’s whimsical Indo-Saracenic masterpiece.

However, although the interior designed by Adam is described by the council’s heritage team as “equally fine”, the fireplaces were lost when the warehouse they were stored in was destroyed by fire.

And Adam himself never completed Marlborough House, with just three rooms on the ground floor his own work.

Mr Antoniades is now talking with Savills with a view to putting it on the market, and is also putting out tenders within the next six to nine months for the restoration work.

And he has raised the prospect the house might one day be open to the public, saying: “I’m certain we can agree something with the authorities where the building could be given access for 21 days a year.”

He also strongly rebutted speculation it might be turned into a party house, sparked in part by the lavish details of the approved application, which included a jacuzzi and sauna as well as lodgings for staff. Marlborough House

ShareTweetShareSendSendShare

Comments 4

  1. Phoenix says:
    10 years ago

    ‘Man or Family’??

    Are we to take it that Women need not apply?

    Reply
  2. James says:
    10 years ago

    I thought the same Phoenix. A pretty shocking attitude.

    Reply
  3. Christopher Hawtree says:
    10 years ago

    Er, so he doesn’t want it bought by a boyband but would have been happy for it to become a casino?

    When he bought it, he would surely have discussed uses for it that would be allowed?

    Reply
  4. Anti Snob Brigade says:
    10 years ago

    What a snob! A certain DJ has done a lot for Hove, I’m sure he could help here too, snobs permitting. No gold taps? So no women, nouveau riche, lottery winners or Arabs then?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Most read

Rough sleeper banned from station for playing piano

Bob Dylan to open UK tour in Brighton

Buyer wanted to help restore crumbling Brighton gem – popstars need not apply

Brighton and Hove Albion sell winger to Sunderland for £21m

Charlotte Tilbury opens new store in Brighton

Officials to look at bringing back dog-free area in park

Woman banned from keeping dogs after attack

Drugs seized from stopped car

Council given £21m to shore up more seafront arches

Three libraries set to close

Newsletter

Arts and Culture

  • All
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Food and Drink
Love Supreme Festival 2025: Day One Report

Love Supreme Festival 2025: Day One Report

11 July 2025
Felix and Friends Make Everyone Welcome

Felix and Friends Make Everyone Welcome

11 July 2025
Ebbb drop their ‘Manners’ and then announce concerts

Ebbb drop their ‘Manners’ and then announce concerts

11 July 2025
Are Legss ‘Unreal’?

Are Legss ‘Unreal’?

11 July 2025
Load More

Sport

  • All
  • Brighton and Hove Albion
  • Cricket
We have an awful lot of work to do, says Sussex coach

Sussex must up their game in T20, says disappointed Farbrace

by Alex Smith - ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
11 July 2025
0

Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace said: “It is a hugely disappointing night. We haven’t been consistent in the last three...

Sussex Sharks open T20 Blast with a win

Sussex Sharks flounder against Essex in T20 at Chelmsford

by Alex Smith - ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
11 July 2025
0

Essex 148-4 (16.1 overs) Sussex Sharks 145 (18.2 overs) Sussex Sharks lost to Essex by six wickets Michael Pepper’s pyrotechnical...

Brighton and Hove Albion to receive freedom of the city

Brighton and Hove Albion sell winger to Sunderland for £21m

by Frank le Duc
10 July 2025
0

Brighton and Hove Albion have sold international winger Simon Adingra to Sunderland in a deal reported to be worth about...

Sussex Sharks open T20 Blast with a win

Sussex pipped by Kent in T20 thriller at Hove

by Bruce Talbot - ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
9 July 2025
0

Sussex 148 (19.5 overs) Kent Spitfires 151-8 (19.3 overs) Kent Spitfires win by two wickets Joey Evison was Kent’s hero...

Load More
August 2015
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  
« Jul   Sep »

RSS From Sussex News

  • Water company brings in hosepipe ban after dry spring 11 July 2025
  • Police officer spared prison after being caught with child porn 11 July 2025
  • Airline fined for flying puppy to Gatwick before it had rabies jab 10 July 2025
  • Cross-Channel ferry service to Dieppe at risk 9 July 2025
  • Police officer admits sexually assaulting four women 9 July 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy
  • Complaints
  • Ownership, funding and corrections
  • Ethics
  • T&C

© 2023 Brighton and Hove News

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Opinion
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
  • Sport
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Contact

© 2023 Brighton and Hove News