Former film star’s home becomes most expensive Hove house ever marketed
The former home of 1930s Hollywood star Elizabeth Allan on Hove seafront has gone on the market for a cool £4 million.
The stunning five-bedroom house in Courtenay Terrace, with amazing uninterrupted views of the sea across its long sunny garden, is said to be the most expensive house ever marketed in Hove.
As well as being the home of Miss Allan, best known for her parts in A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield, it probably also played host to royalty when it was owned by Dr Edmund Maddick, who was a friend of Edward VII, George V and Edward VIII.
Simon Lemcke, of Brand Vaughan, which is marketing the property, said it was unlike any other house on the market. He said: “It’s the most expensive house that’s ever been listed in Hove.
“It’s stunning – apart from the size of the property, the fact you have got off-road parking for two or three cars and a 120ft south facing garden which leads on to the promenade – it’s unbelievable.
“It’s beautiful – the views are everything.”
Miss Allan and her husband Bill O’Bryen bought the house in the 1960s and it is believed to have played host to parties for fellow stars of the stage and screen. Mr O’Bryen died in 1977 and she lived there until her death in 1990.
Its price tag of £4 million has only been equalled in Hove once when a four-bedroom house in Western Esplanade, aka Hove’s celebrity street, went on the market for the same price in spring last year. However, the price was dropped more than once and it is now marked as under offer with an asking price of £3 million.
Although Western Esplanade is home to some of the city’s most well-known residents, such as Fatboy Slim, Zoe Ball, Adele and David Walliams, it’s understood their prospective new neighbour is not a fellow celebrity.
A six-bedroom house in Lewes Crescent, Brighton, went on the market for £4.25 million in December 2014 but the price has now been dropped to £3 million. A five-bedroom house in Withdean Road, Brighton, was up for sale last June with a price tag of £4.5 million but has since been taken off the market due to lack of interest.
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im not sure this house is on Western Esplanade as the arctile seems to imply.
not sure you could say western esplanade is a neighbour of kings esplanade they are quite far apart.
Hi James, the house is in Courtenay Terrace. The Western Esplanade house is mentioned as it is the only other Hove house thought to have been put on the market for as much as this one.
Courtenay Terrace abutts Kings Esplanade
This is a far superior house than the ‘celeb homes’ – I’ve long coveted the houses in Courtney Terrace. But surely Western Esplanade are actually in Portslade – they are across the Postslade sign?
Western Esplanade is in Hove although just this side of the boundary with Portslade. For an idea of where the boundary crosses the harbour, think about where Boundary Road is.
Some jerk will think….ooooh, 120 foot garden; I can put a house on it and get all my money back. Just a word: Courtenay Terrace is Listed but the Council cannot be trusted to turn down such an attempt.
So, who can’t spell her name right – the people who put up the blue plaque or the Argus? I have my suspicions