Knight's Rest was built in the early 1800's at a time when the Isle of Wight was emerging as a favoured location for those seeking a seaside holiday or holiday home. It was built to a very unusual design consisting of gothic and Florentine architecture, not previously seen on the Isle of Wight.
It has served as a building for various purposes since it was originally built. It was a day school for girls before becoming a series of apartments and then going on to become Acacia House and then the Acacia House Hotel.
This was largely because there were two acacia trees planted in the front garden either side of the gate posts. One has since died but the one which remains will be at least 150 years old. In the rear garden there is a eucalyptus tree which is probably a similar age and suggests that trees were brought here from far-away places.
In recent years, Knight's Rest has been sympathetically modernised in order to provide an acceptable standard of accommodation given the constraints of a building designed and built nearly 200 years ago.
