Opened in 1927 by the Hove Corporation, the museum is located in a late 19th-century villa originally known as Brooker Hall.

The museum also includes local history displays, and a collection of early cinema artifacts from the 1890s and 1900s.

Brooker Hall was constructed in 1877 by the architect Thomas Lainson for Major John Vallance.

The building is in the Italianate style made popular by Osborne House, Queen Victoria's residence on the Isle of Wight.

[3] During the First World War, the hall was used to house a contingent of German prisoners of war who were put to work at the local gas works or on nearby farms.