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29
Jan
Historic Harrogate house sold to overseas investors
One of Harrogate’s most recognisable historic houses has been sold to a Dubai-based investment group, its owner has revealed.
Pineheath, on Cornwall Road, was on the market for £1.65 million, but the amount finally paid has not been disclosed, and the buyer remains unnamed.
The house has long been semi-derelict, but planning permission is in place to convert it into 10 two- and three-bedroom apartments, and the buyer – who first expressed an interest in the property in September – is said to want to follow that plan.
How Pineheath could look after renovation. Image: Carter Jonas.
Pineheath’s owner, Jason Shaw, told the Stray Ferret:
Their intention is to make it into the premier location to live in the north of England.
These people are keen to get on with it, so I would suspect we’ll probably see change pretty much immediately. This is just so exciting for 10 potential families.
Pineheath was built in the 1890s and from 1927 was the Harrogate home of Indian shipping magnate Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji.
In its heyday as a family home, Pineheath was fully staffed and had gold-plated taps, a centrally-heated garage of Rolls-Royces, and its distinctive glazed cupola is said to have been covered in gold leaf.
Sir Dhunjibhoy’s daughter, Mehroo Jehangir, died in 2012, and Mr Shaw bought it the following year for £2 million.
He originally planned to renovate the house and return it to its former glory as a luxury family home, but later revised his plans and applied to build two five-bedroom homes in the grounds of the site.
Councillors turned the plans down three times, but finally granted the planning consent currently in place, for conversion to 10 apartments.
Mr Shaw said:
It’s about time that the vision I had for it will come to fruition: to have 10 fantastic luxury apartments on the Duchy estate, and to restore Pineheath to what it should be – and what the Bomanji family wanted it to be.
It can never be a single dwelling again – the market won’t take it. People just don’t want to live in a house that big – it's a huge, huge house.
Mr Shaw will retain two coach houses on the Pineheath site, which have already been renovated and are currently let out.
Pineheath from the rear, with the Rutland Drive plot in the foreground.
News of the sale of the main house comes just days after planning permission was granted to build a detached dwelling and triple garage in Pineheath’s former garden.
The half-acre plot on Rutland Drive, which runs parallel with Cornwall Road, is currently on the market with a guide price of £1.2 million. The agent, Carter Jonas, describes it as “one of the last and best potential building plots in the Duchy area”.
North Yorkshire Council received no objections to the planning application, and granted consent on Friday (January 24).
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