1930s art deco house in Honley, near Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
Updated over the years, but this 1930s art deco house in Honley, near Holmfirth, West Yorkshire still has plenty of period details in place.
The grade II-listed Virginia House also has plenty of land and a good amount of internal space too. So well worth checking out if you are hunting for something substantial and 1930s in this part of the world.
It’s also refreshing to see an art deco-style house with a stone finish rather than the white render you tend to see on these places. It works on this house as it is very much in keeping with property within the area too.
But it isn’t completely original within. You have probably guessed that. I know that often divides buyers, but not everyone is looking for a ‘time capsule’. Sometimes you want a modern family home that retains some of the period character.
This one does. Yes, the open-plan kitchen is very much a 21st-century thing and plenty of furnishings and finishes are contemporary too. But you know as well as I do that the furniture will go and everyone updates a house when they move in. Generally, this is a fairly neutral canvas to work with and as I said, there are period details (some of which are listed) still here to add in the ‘wow’ factor.
The curved staircase, original fireplaces, that amazing art deco tiling around the bath, original sinks, the original kitchen area and of course, the moulding around the fireplace. Even some original radiators. All touches you rarely find in place in houses of this age.
Oh yes, the land too. Around an acre of large gardens, a lengthy driveway and garages too. All of which I’ll cover in detail later. But suffice to say that you get a lot of house and a lot of garden here.
Enter the house via and access the wide entrance hall, complete with an original radiator and a first glimpse at the curved staircase. Storage under that staircase too.
A door off here leads to the sizeable sitting room with full-height glazing to take in the garden and access to it too. Note that the fireplace and mouldings here are both original and listed.
Beyond that is the large dining kitchen with views to three sides over the gardens, island unit and all the contemporary fittings you would expect in this kind of design.
The dining area has some lovely curved glazing, and twin glazed doors which give direct access out to the gardens. The room also has an Inglenook-style fireplace and some eye-catching plasterwork.
The original kitchen area is still in place, although this listed area is actually used as a home office/general store today. Within you will find an old cast iron oven within the chimney breast, a one-and-a-half bowl ceramic sink unit with stainless steel taps and a huge amount of storage cupboards to both high and low levels.
Also on this floor is a downstairs WC and a rear entrance lobby, with space for large appliances.
Have a wander up the curved staircase and you’ll find the bedrooms and the family bathroom.
The first bedroom has glazing to the front and rear (so plenty of natural light), vintage-style radiators, period-style plaster mouldings and if you hadn’t noticed, a vintage hand basin. There are twin glazed doors out to the roof terrace, which would need securing for modern-day use.
The second bedroom again has ‘true to period’ plasterwork as well as a period wash hand basin and a view over the rear garden. The third bedroom has windows to the front and back and access to a roof terrace.
Finally, the family bathroom, is here, which is a mix of old and new, as you might have guessed. The modern is fairly self-explanatory if you check out the photos. It’s the bath that really adds in the ‘wow’ factor.
Sitting within stunning period tiling, the bath has a fish-mouth exit for the taps and original soap holders within the wall. That light fitting is something special too. A separate WC is just beyond this room too.
That’s it for the internal space, but the outside is well worth talking about too.
Around one acre surrounds Virginia House, with the garden made up of mature shrubbery and trees, as well as a rockery and a pizza oven. All of which is landscaped to a high standard. There’s also a ‘secret’ garden area which was at one time a vegetable garden, with the potential to do that once more – or whatever takes your fancy.
A long driveway too, with a parking and turning area plus access to two garages, one of which is integral the other being detached. Of course, there is potential to convert one or both of the garages, subject to the relevant permissions. An annexe has been talked about by the current owner.
But before you think about funding that work, you’ll need to consider funding the purchase of the existing house. This art deco house in Honley is on the market for £1,000,000.
Images and details courtesy of Simon Blyth. For more details and to make an enquiry, please visit the website.
Jo on 6 November, 2021 7:21 am
Thank you for this one David, what a find.
Visually its a bit of “a tale of two houses”, look one way and its pure deco, look the other & its contemporary. Whether it has been upgraded sympathetically is for the viewer to judge.
Either way it is a superb house, IMO just needs to be put back a little nearer to what the original Architect envisaged, which will cost.
The house is modest in size 3 bedrooms one bathroom (compared to neighbouring larger properties), so it may struggle further at £1,000,000
If I wanted to live in the area I would put an offer in, as long as I had enough in my back pocket to restore the house back to what was nearer to what was originally intended when it was first built.
Would have loved to seen the photographs of what it looked like internally prior to its contemporary upgrade.
Jo on 6 November, 2021 7:46 am
Just in case anyone is interested here is the “Historic England” Grade 2 listing:
Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1391682
Date first listed:
16-Jun-2006
Statutory Address:
VIRGINIA HOUSE, 7, SANDBEDS
13/0/10023 SANDBEDS 16-JUN-06 HOLM FIRTH 7 VIRGINIA HOUSE
II House, 1937-38, in dressed coursed fine-grained sandstone, in ‘Moderne’ style. A compact two-storey, three-bedroomed house with attached garage, with flat roofs throughout, Crittall style windows and curved walls forming interlocking cubes.
EXTERIOR: The main elevation facing north has a central doorway with a window to the left, recessed between two incurving walls with a central pillar to the front. To the right, the wall continues its curve to form a semicircular stair tower, beyond which is a further window set back from the front. To the left is the integral garage with triple folding doors. The stair tower has a full height window set within a projecting panel on the outer edge of the tower. There are three windows on the first floor, the left hand one with French windows set back from the main facade behind a balcony with solid parapet. A slightly projecting canopy supported on plain consoles runs across the front above the door, continuing at a slightly lower level above the garage doors. The parapet wall has a coping which echoes these lines, with a low turret at the corner.
The south, garden elevation has a projecting ground floor with curved corners to both sides, almost entirely glazed to ground level. The window on the left corner is not to ground level, and to the right is a solid wall concealing the side entrance. The set-back first floor has French windows to the balcony to the left, and a square bay to the right with two windows to the front. All the windows are Crittall style, but are actually wooden framed, including those with curved glass. The west elevation has a square bay to the ground floor with corner windows and a chimney breast rising against the first floor wall above.
INTERIOR: Light switches (dolly switches either in bronze on glass plates or in plastic) and veneer internal doors with furniture are original throughout, as is the cornicing. All the walls are plain painted plaster. The main rooms are to the right and rear, and the service rooms to the left and front of the house. The front door opens into a hall from which the stairs rise in a curved dog-leg to the right. Integral curved cornices extend up the stairwell, and there is an arched niche in the wall near the top. There is a fully panelled cloakroom under the stairs, and an original radiator.
The living room is to the rear right, and has an original tiled fireplace within the bay, flanked by windows. There is a further bay to the rear with French windows and a curved window to the right corner. Fluted plasterwork on cornices and pillars, and an integral square Art Deco light fitting in the ceiling.
The dining room to the centre rear has an original tiled fireplace with fluted plasterwork above, extending onto the ceiling to surround the central light fitting (now lost). The bay to the garden has doors to either side and a full height window across the front.
The kitchen, to the left of the hall, is fully tiled and fitted with original floor and wall cupboards with pull handles and vitrulite shelves, teak worktops, stainless steel sink, built-in range and remnants of the linoleum floor. There is a service bell panel and original light fittings etc. The kitchen leads to a store room, WC (with original sanitary ware), coal store and garage.
On the first floor, the first and second bedrooms have fitted washbasins with pillar taps, mirrors, light fittings and Art Deco tiled surrounds. Bedroom one has fluted plasterwork on the wall behind the bed, and French windows to a terrace overlooking the garden. Bedroom three has French windows onto a balcony to the front, which extends over the garage.
There is a separate WC and a house bathroom with all original sanitary ware including wash basin, taps, recessed soap holders, light fittings and extensive decorative Art Deco tiling around the wash basin and built-in bath which has a ceramic mixer spout.
HISTORY: The plans for the house are said to have brought from the Ideal Home Exhibition, and realised by a local builder, in 1937-38. The house has been maintained in its original condition ever since, until the death of the original owners, since when the property has deteriorated though nothing has been altered.
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: There are fairly numerous examples of houses built in the Art Deco style, mainly situated in the south of England. Their attractiveness has ensured their survival, but most have undergone widespread alterations which render them unsuitable candidates for designation.
This 1937 Art Deco house is unusual in its location in the Yorkshire Pennines, and imaginative in its use of local materials while maintaining the major principles of the Moderne movement.
It is of special interest however because of its intactness: the house has undergone no alteration since it was built. This applies to the structure, all the fittings and fixtures, and even to the decoration of the rooms.
Although there has been some deterioration, mainly due to water penetration from the flat roof, all the elements of the original house survive and form a rare and unusually complete showcase of the style and of the period.
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1391682