[6] The company commissioned architects Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie to design a large block of flats for rent (initially, none were sold for owner-occupation).

[7] Under the guidance of this firm, Maurice Bloom was responsible for the design; he owned Courtenay Gate, a large block of flats on Hove seafront.

[11] The eastern part of Brighton fared worst, and Marine Gate was the most affected building in the whole town: "very tall, very white and an easy target", it was "strafed with machine gun fire", damaged by explosions at the gas works and bombed more times than any other structure.

[16] No residents died, but many were injured,[17] and the artist Percy Shakespeare (who was serving in the Royal Navy and was based at HMS Vernon at nearby Roedean School) was killed as he walked past Marine Gate.

[21] These changes reflected the decline in the demand for hotel-style serviced apartment blocks: longer leases began to be offered, some flats were sold to their occupiers, and residents were able to become shareholders in the leaseholding company,[10][21] Marine Gate Holdings Ltd. Its subsidiary Marine Gate Management Ltd runs and manages the building.

The garaging below the block has allocated parking, bicycle storage and a carwash facility, and there are about 4 acres (1.6 ha) of south-facing gardens in front of the building.

Since August 2007 the private domiciles are majority owned and managed by over 55s including Marine Gate Holdings Ltd Directors appointed by leaseholders, but is not explicitly described as a retirement block.

Leonard Rome Guthrie (1880–1958) joined two years later when the architects were working with Edwin Lutyens on Grosvenor House in London.

It is steel-framed and brick-built; after many changes the brickwork is now painted white, with entrance portals in Bauhaus red, yellow and blue.

[10] The building is now being recognised for its pioneering architecture and landmark status, and in 2015 Brighton and Hove Council added Marine Gate to its Local List of Heritage Assets.

[29] He compared it unfavourably to Embassy Court, noting its similarities but finding "little intrinsic architectural interest" in Marine Gate.

[30] Local historian Clifford Musgrave however drew positive comparisons with Embassy Court, noting that the two buildings provided "the first challenge to the [Regency] architecture of Brighton", and claiming that Marine Gate's "slightly more elegant modern style" was more suitable to its position because unlike Embassy Court it did not clash directly with older buildings.

[32] Other writers have described Marine Gate as a "good example of quality Thirties apartments"[10] and, more generally, "...of the many large-scale flats built along the coast" in the interwar period.