“This is Marlborough House in the Old Steine. It was built by the Duke of Marlborough although I understand that he never actually lived there. It was the home of the Education Offices when Brighton was a borough council.
Immediately after the war I went to see Mrs Langley Moore’s collection of costume and she offered it to Brighton Corporation. They were willing to have it and everyone suggested that the ideal place would be Marlborough House but the education department were quite unwillng to move out and so she eventually offered it to Bath.”
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I think it looks nice.
Although latterly housing the Brighton Tourist Office (before that moved to a site nearer the Town Hall), my first encounter with Marlborough House was when I sat the second part of my 11-plus exam. I had been ill with chicken-pox, so two of us sat the exam in the august surroundings of the Education Office amid polished tables and mirrored walls.
At the turn of the 19th to 20th Century, the house was the office of the Brighton Hove and Preston United Omnibus Company.
During the mid to late nineties I had a friend who was a security guard at Marlborough House which enabled me to go there and have a look around. The fireplaces were splendid but the fabric of the building was falling apart. The building itself had a unpleasant feel to it, probably the only building that I have ever been in that has made me feel uncomfortable, has anyone else ever had such a feeling about it. I certainly am very sceptical about anything to do with the supernatural and have been to some supposedly haunted houses before but Marlborough House was certainly a bit strange.
During the 1850s Marlborough House was the residence of Charles Sabine Augustus Thellusson, his wife Georgiana and their six children. Amongst other things he was Commodore of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. In 1859 he inherited half the estate of his great grandfather Peter Thellusson after a long running court case which led to the Accumulations Act 1800, and inspired Dickens’ writing of Jarndyce v Jarndyce in Bleak House. Charles Sabine built a new house for himself at Brodsworth near Doncaster S. Yorkshire, which is now an English Heritage property and open to the public.
While working there in the 90s I had the misfortune to have to work alone one Sunday to system test. I was locked in about 9am by Security and they said they would be back about 1pm. While there I heard footsteps, doors opening and closing and whistling yet I was alone in the whole building. (I did check with Security later that they hadn’t been back). So yes there is something strange there.
I lived next door, which at the time was the YMCA, until 1971 before moving to Kemp Town.
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