Browsing estate agent listings, even if you’re not moving, is so addictive and today I came across a particularly special property in Brighton, in large part due to its location, location, location!
This four-bedroom Art Deco beach house has a backstage pass to one of the most exclusive addresses in Brighton, along a hidden terrace on the Western Esplanade. This is where you get your own private beach to lie around on and can count Adele, Paul McCartney, Norman Cook and David Walliams as your neighbours…
It’s one of eight houses on the row all built in 1910 for wealthy Londoners, who would pay four guineas a week – over £1500 in today’s money – for the privilege of an upstairs bathroom, running hot and cold water, and even a telephone! In winter, the prices rose to seven guineas a week. Today, they rarely go up for sale. When they do, they sell for several million.
The master bedroom looks right out to sea, with its own balcony for morning yawns and stretches or intimate candlelight dinners with a bottle of fine Sussex wine…
Fun facts: The houses were painted black during World War Two to camouflage them from enemy aircraft, and restored to their original white soon afterwards. If you lived here in the 1950s when the row was in its heyday, you’d have been partying with the likes of old Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, as well as Shirley Bassey… apparently.
