Feb
25
Westbury House Nursing Home – Petersfield
Westbury was bought from the Gage family in 1866 by John Delaware Lewis. In 1904, the Times of London reported the heroism of his son, Colonel Le Roy Lewis, in saving the lives of some of his domestic staff from a devastating fire which destroyed the Palladian mansion:
‘The escape of the occupants was most exciting. The French governess, who occupied a bedroom at the rear of the main part of the house, raised the alarm at about 3am. Her cries were heard by Colonel Le Roy-Lewis, who immediately did what he could to rouse the family. Rushing out of his bedroom he found the staircase burning and the corridors filled with smoke, and all means of escape cut off. His first impulse was to save his five children, and he ran through the flames to the children’s wing and found that that part of the house was safe. Getting out of a window, he scrambled along a narrow ledge to a stack pipe, down which he slid to the ground, a distance of about 40 ft. He rushed to the stables, and with some difficulty roused the stablemen, and with the aid of three of them tried to raise a heavy ladder to the French governess’ window, but it fell and broke.’
‘Owing to the efforts of Colonel Le Roy-Lewis himself, no lives were lost by fire, but the housekeeper, an elderly woman named Jane Henley, who had been in the service of the family for many years, died on the roof from shock and fright before she could be rescued.’
‘The mansion itself is an old one, standing in a well-wooded park of 500 acres, and is in the Queen Anne style. It contained many fine pictures and some rich carving by Gibbons. Most of the rooms were wainscotted in oak, and there was a fine library. All these have been destroyed, only a few articles of furniture being saved. The family lost all their personal belongings.’
The gallant Colonel lost no time in rebuilding the mansion, regardless of cost. Ground-floor rooms included a ‘saloon or lounge’ (45ft by 27ft), with oak-panelled walls and housing a ‘three-manual organ, electrically blown’, an elegant drawing room (72ft by 21ft), fitted with mahogany glazed bookcases of Chippendale design, a dining room (32ft by 21ft), with painted panel walls; plus a study, boudoir and billiards room…. and so it went on, three floors of Edwardian comfort, including a passenger lift and central heating.
The estate was broken up in 1924, when Westbury House became a well-known and successful preparatory school, a use that continued for many years, until the 1980s when it was converted into a nursing home.
It closed in 2016 after a health watchdog found residents “were not protected from abuse and avoidable harm”. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-36474820
Jan
21
Coombe Park Estate – Whitchurch-on-Thames
The Estate was originally created by James Gardiner who acquired the property in 1865 on his return to England from the East Indies. The development of the property was based upon a large principal residence in the classic style and landscaped parkland laid out by the renowned Humphrey Repton. Charles Howard acquired the estate in 1898 and a stud complex was added to the property to support the Howard family interest of breeding and racing horses. The stud produced many high quality racehorses, in particular Willonyx, who won 5 principal races in the 1911 season. By 1920 the estate comprised 670 acres.
The property was used as a rest and recuperation centre for the United States Air Force during the Second
World War and had by that time been passed to Mrs Lillian Howard upon the death of Charles Howard. Following the war years because of the large capital cost of refurbishment, the main part of the house was demolished leaving the existing house.
Oct
14
Hook End Manor – South Oxfordshire
Previously owned by Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour, Hook End Manor in South Oxfordshire went on to house a world-famous studio used by the likes of Rod Stewart, Tom Jones and The Kaiser Chiefs – before falling into ruin.
The original studio, Space Studios was built by Alvin Lee of the band Ten Years After when he first bought the house. Many recordings were made during Lee’s tenure including On the Road to Freedom and Rocket Fuel before he sold the house and studio to David Gilmour of the band Pink Floyd, who used the studio to record parts of the band’s 1983 album The Final Cut. The band’s inflatable pig, first used to promote their Animals album six years earlier, was stored in one of the outbuildings. Gilmour sold the house and studio to Trevor Horn who turned it into Sarm West. The studio is now owned by Mark White.
Several major rock bands have recorded albums at the studios. These include Manic Street Preachers’ Gold Against the Soul, The Cure’s Disintegration and Mixed Up, and Marillion’s Seasons End and Holidays in Eden.
Dave Gilmour sold the house and studios to Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley in 1986, who in turn then sold it to Trevor Horn a number of years later. In February 2017, the house, though still furnished, was reported to be abandoned. October 2017 – The house is currently getting stripped. a few cars and a skip have been spotted outside with power being restored back to the main house.
Aug
08
Terre Rouge – Luxembourg
The Terre Rouge furnaces were shut down in 1997 and demolished some years later. Nowadays the iron-ore silos remain but the power station has now been demolished.
Aug
07
Observatoire de Cointe – Belgium
Cointe Observatory (French: Observatoire de Cointe), situated in the district of Cointe in Liège, Belgium, was built by the University of Liège in 1881-82 to plans by the architect Lambert Noppius.
The building, in a medieval revival style, is sited in a private park formerly the estate of the wealthy industrialist Vanderheyden de Hauzeur family. It accommodated the university’s Institute of Astrophysics, later the Institute of Astrophysics and Geophysics, until 2002, when the Institute was moved to the Sart-Tilman campus.
As of 2008 the building was occupied by the Société Astronomique de Liège, but was in the course of renovation with the intention that it should house the Service Régional des Fouilles Archéologiques.
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