Architectural history
A 16th century home
The modern history of Preston Manor dates back to 1559 when the Bishops of Chichester were forced to secure property to the Crown under a new Act of Parliament. At this time records suggest that the house would have been a double-pile mansion with one set of rooms placed directly behind another, with a central entrance and three gables.
From modest villa to handsome manor house
In 1738 the then Lord of the Manor, Thomas Western, demolished the house and rebuilt it as a relatively modest villa with four ground floor rooms, four principal bedrooms and four semi-basement rooms housing the kitchen and servants quarters.
In about 1750 two smaller wings were added to the central block of the house giving it a neat and compact fashionable Palladian appearance. This type of design, inspired by Inigo Jones, was typical of the Georgian style.
In 1794 Preston Manor was purchased by William Stanford, son of a local tenant farmer.
There is little record of alterations to the house during the 19th century apart from a flint tower which was added to the front of the house in about 1880. The tower was built in Tudor style in commemoration of Anne of Cleves who was reputed to have stayed at the house before retiring to a convent at nearby Falmer. The tower was demolished in 1905 although the base still survives.
Edwardian elegance
In 1905 Ellen Thomas-Stanford commissioned the architect Charles Stanley Peach to make substantial additions to Preston Manor. These included
- a new servants’ and visitors’ wing
- a new family dining room
- widening the entrance hall
- new attic rooms
- the addition of a Regency-style veranda
The Stanfords entertained in true Edwardian style and hosted many eminent guests, including the young daughters of Queen Victoria as well as the author Rudyard Kipling.
The gardens of Preston Manor are the only surviving example of a true ‘old fashioned’ walled garden in Brighton. The flint and rubble garden walls to the west and south-west of the house date from around 1600 and the layout of the garden with its clipped hedges, gravel walks, and mixture of shrubs, flowers and fruit trees is typical of 17th and 18th century old fashioned small gardens style.
The pets' cemetery, where up to 16 dogs and four cats were buried, adds an unusual element to the pretty garden.
A preservation of Edwardian style
The house and estate stayed within the Stanford family until 1932 when Charles and Lady Ellen Thomas-Stanford sold the house to Brighton Corporation. The house was opened officially to the public in 1933 and has remained to this day a living history museum dedicated to the Stanford family and the Edwardian era.
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