After his death the estate passed to his son, Colonel Robert Steuart,[4] Receiver General of the Isle of Man and Customs Collector for the Port of Douglas.

[6] However interest appears to have been non-existent until in December 1860, when it was confirmed that the property was to be the home of the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, Francis Pigott Stainsby Conant,[14] a situation which resulted in a seven-year lease[15] on the estate from the beginning of 1861 with a break at the end of three or five years.

[16] The Misses Dutton vacated the premises at the beginning of 1861 relocating to the outskirts of the town at Parkfield Villa, which today is situated on the A2 Glencrutchery Road.

[24] After unsuccessfully advertising the lease for continued use as a hotel, Henry Noble purchased the shares held by John Firth and set about turning the Villa Marina into his personal residence; although there was a degree of consensus at the time that the estate should have been bought and turned into a pleasure ground with a proposal put forward to raise £10,000 in £1 shares for the purchase.

[25][26][27] After Noble's death in 1903, the Villa Marina was once again used as a home for the island's Lieutenant Governor when Lord Raglan took up residence after his appointment later that year.

The site was used as the venue for several summer garden fetes and parties[29] and provided a particularly good vantage point for the running of the Gordon Bennett Trials, first held on the Isle of Man in 1904.

[31] Following Noble's death there was a degree of uncertainty as to what would become of the estate, with a fear that it could be sold to property developers as this was the height of the Isle of Man's tourism boom.

Just as had been the case with the nearby Gaiety Theatre 30 years previously, the large financial commitment needed to restore the venue to an acceptable standard was seen as unaffordable, and so ownership of the Villa Marina was transferred from Douglas Borough Council to the Isle of Man Government in March 2000.

Facilities include:[36] Slides, tunnels, a ball pool, wall puzzles, soft play, obstacles, a swinging rope, and bridges.

[36] As part of the integrated VillaGaiety complex, the venue plays host to a variety of entertainment; notable amongst these are music concerts and comedy shows.