The oriental style of this mausoleum is doubtless a tribute to Sassoon’s forbears who were wealthy Jewish merchants in Bombay. The building is square with a pagoda roof topped with a vase and finial. It has a doorway on Paston Place. Inside it has a partially glazed dome decorated with paintings of oriental figures and, apparently, the walls have similar paintings though these are hidden by plasterboard. The marble floor is protected by a carpet.
Not known
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Grade II (England and Wales)
1892
Sir Albert Abdullah David Sassoon (1818-1896) was born in Bagdad, educated in India, and became the head of the family company in Bombay. Later he settled in Britain, and was created baronet in 1890, having spent large sums on philanthropic works in both India and England. He built the mausoleum in the garden of his house in Eastern Terrace in 1892 and was buried there some four years later. His son, Edward Sassoon, joined him in the mausoleum in 1912. In 1933 the house and garden were sold by Sir Albert's grandson, Sir Philip Sassoon, and the bodies re-interred in London.
During the Second World War, the building was used as an air-raid shelter, and after that it became a decorator's store. In 1949 it was bought by the Kemp Town Brewery, and made into the Bombay Bar. The name "Bombay Bar" is still above the door on Paston Place. In the 1970s, it became a disco. Between 1999 and 2000 the building was restored with the help of a grant from English Heritage and in 2001 it reopened as a music venue. It is now known as the “Hanbury Ballroom”.
Good (2002)
DNB; BoE: Sussex (1965), 449;
The Times, 29 August 1949;
Anthony Dale, The History and Architecture of Brighton (1950), 72;
C Roth, The Sassoon Dynasty (1941);
A Trimingham: "Millennium rescue bid for dome", Brighton Argus (on-line version), 10 January 2001.
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Hanbury Ballroom (linked to the Hanbury Arms)
Paston Place
Brighton
East Sussex
BN2 1EF
England