Falcon Cliff was built as a residence to a design by architect John Robinson for John Stanway Jackson, manager of the Bank of Mona, who acquired the plot in a lottery when the old Castle Mona estate was broken up and sold. After Jackson relocated in 1855, the house passed to a Mrs Okell, and by 1877 it had been converted into a hotel, with its grounds later developed into a popular entertainment venue that for a time included a large dance-hall pavilion (demolished in the 1890s once the rival Derby Castle and Palace company took control). To overcome its clifftop position, a funicular cliff railway was built in 1887 to link the hotel with the promenade below; it was dismantled in 1896 and re-erected at Port Soderick, and a second, differently aligned railway served the hotel from 1927 until the hotel's closure around 1990. Rather than being demolished, the former hotel was carefully restored and now serves as offices.