Amon Henry Wilds, an important and prolific local architect, took the original commission on behalf of promoter John Colbatch.

The site itself is connected with the life and career of Richard Russell, a doctor who advocated sea water as a cure of ailments.

[2] Russell House, as it became known, was used as lodgings for visitors such as the Duke of Cumberland, and later became an entertainment venue with activities such as a puppet theatre, a camera obscura and resident jugglers.

The local authorities tried to arrange for the land to be kept as open space, but negotiations collapsed and Colbatch began planning the construction of a hotel.

The venture eventually became unsustainable, and the institution's members presented the accumulated books, artefacts and pictures to Brighton Corporation, the local authority.

Harry Preston, owner of the nearby Royal York Hotel, bought it in 1913 for £13,500 (£1,678,000 in 2025),[11] and quickly restored its fashionable reputation.

[7] Started in the 1870s by Charles Clayton and Ernest Black and continued by their sons, this firm was one of Brighton's most prolific designers of public buildings and churches over the next 60 years.

A chef was frying eggs and sausages in a pan; hot fat spilt and caught light,[16] and flames were immediately sucked up a vent to the top floor.

[16][17] The Public and Commercial Services Union had to cancel their annual conference, due to be held that day, because of the disruption caused to its delegates, most of whom were staying at the hotel.

[19] By 11:00am on 17 July, demolition crews had arrived, but were stopped due to complaints from a heritage group about preserving the Grade II listed façade.

[20] Demolition of the gutted western side began on 19 July 2023,[1] estimated to take two to three weeks to complete, but stopped two days later when more smoke was seen.

[7][24] The top floor is an attic storey displaying Wilds's characteristic motif: shell designs set in blank rounded tympana.

[9] The western wing (the former Lion Mansions) has a Tuscan-columned porch on the south (seafront) side and a Doric-style equivalent facing north to Old Steine, four Composite pilasters extending for three of the four storeys, small cast-iron balconies and some aedicula-style window surrounds.

[33] In 1906, Harry Preston (1860–1936), a fifty-year-old charismatic local figure in Brighton and friend of the Prince of Wales, bought the hotel and four years later carried out large scale alterations creating a roof garden which overlooked the Palace Pier.

The same year, Frenchman André Beaumont (1880–1937), in his Blériot monoplane, flew around the skies of Brighton, taking Preston as a passenger.

Preston had a wonderful feel for publicity, and he wined and dined with the editors of the London newspapers, encouraging them to promote the town and his new hotel to visitors, especially motorists.

[35] Away from the prying eyes of friends in London, the party-loving pair were enjoying an affair, but, unknown to them both, they were followed by an enquiry agent employed by Margaret, the "real" Lady Dalrymple, resulting in a divorce.