Tower House

Withdean was originally an outlying hamlet in the large Sussex parish of Patcham, adjacent to Preston parish which was itself immediately north of Brighton. The area was merely "a scattering of farms" until the 19th century, when its position on the main road to London and extensive tree planting carried out from the 1790s made it an attractive place for wealthy people to build large houses and villas. The road was originally a turnpike and had a tollgate at Preston; after it was moved north of Withdean in 1854, people living to the south no longer had to pay tolls to travel into Brighton, further improving the desirability of the largely undeveloped land. Around the same time, the Withdean…

Tower House, "Brighton's finest example of a grand Edwardian house", The auction particulars of 1934 stated that there were eight "principal" and four "secondary" bedrooms, "three bathrooms, four reception rooms, spacious hall, billiard room, ... garage, conservatory and outbuildings". Unusual features typically seen only in much more modern houses included an underfloor heating system and a combined bath and shower unit.