Tudor Close Hotel, 1930s

his postcard shows the Tudor Close Hotel in Rottingdean. The postcard was made by Wardell’s, a Sussex based postcard publisher.

The loveliest hotel in Sussex?

It may look like an idyllic Tudor building that has survivied the centuries, but it belongs to the 20th century.

Tudor Close was originally built with seven houses over three years by the Saltdean Estate Company, with construction finished in 1929. The houses proved difficult to sell, and they were turned into the Tudor Close Hotel.

Mock Tudor

The mock-Tudor style buildings where built on Court Farm by reusing two barns and a cow shed. Many of the building materials where reclaimed from other old buildings.

Celebrity hangout

The hotel was marketed as the ‘loveliest Hotel in Sussex’. In the 1930s it became popular with Hollywood celebrities such as Cary Grant, who stayed at the hotel.

Here are two (probably less famous) women enjoying a drink on the lawn.

Awaiting guests

The lawn is covered with Deck chairs and it looks like a lovely spot for a cup of tea.

But by the early 1950s the hotel’s popularity had waned. The hotel was closed and the buildings reconverted into houses and flats.

Author: Charles Paddick, Collections Assistant