Here's a clue ...
If the walls of the residence formerly known as the Tudor Close Hotel could talk ... Well, they'd probably slip into a smoking jacket, light a cigar and regale you with tales of Old Hollywood while a mustachioed butler hovers nearby.
The U.K. property, located in Rottingdean village in the city of Brighton, recently hit the market for over 1 million British pounds ($1.7 million). Back in the day it was an A-list spot, a getaway destination for stars including Cary Grant, Bette Davis and Errol Flynn.
“Rumour has it there were many parties here with the rich and famous,” listing agent Josh Osborne, of the agency Brand Vaughan, told Mansion Global. What's more, word has it that Julie Andrews kick-started her singing career there since her parents worked at the hotel, The Daily Mail reports.
The Tudor-revival home didn't just have an enviable social life, though. It was the site where Anthony and Elva Pratt, who invented the board game Clue (or Cluedo in the U.K.), held their initial murder-mystery parties. So influential was the building that the game was first known as Murder at Tudor Close. Its current owners, Denise and Trevor Hopper, still host murder-mystery parties there.
The place was originally a farm and has undergone some transformations over the years. Landowners developed it into seven cottages in the 1920s, but buyers weren't interested. So, the property became the Tudor Close Hotel and in 1937 incorporated a billiards room, ballroom, ladies bar and restaurant. In the 1950s, it was converted into private residences.
“It's deceptively big,” Osborne said. “It looks like a little cottage from the outside.”
The 3,000-square-foot home is currently designated as a place of historic importance in England. Among its features now are a formal reception room, an oak staircase, traditional oak doors, exposed beam ceilings, stone fireplaces and four or five bedrooms.
In the entrance hall is a woodframed telephone booth that functions as a coat closet. A front garden is enclosed on three sides for privacy.
Clue, a murder-mystery board game for three to six players, has sold millions of copies since it was released in 1949. In it, players must figure out who among the party's six guests — Professor Plum, Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlett, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green and Mrs. White — killed the host, Mr. Boddy, in which room of the mansion and using which weapon.
The Clue franchise now comprises numerous spinoff games, books, a musical, a 1985 film starring Tim Curry (with another one in the works) and a 2011 miniseries. Fox Entertainment announced in February that it's also developing an animated Clue television series.