When restored, it is set to be one of York’s most desirable family homes.
Ousefield House off Fulford Road was built in 1899 as a home for a magistrate’s wife. It boasts eight bedrooms on the first floor and what were five servants’ bedrooms on the floor above.
Grade II listed, it has been used for many years by the Ministry of Defence as an officers’ mess but was put up for sale in 2021 after being vacant for many years.
Now London Ebor Developments plc have submitted plans to turn it back into a family home – and build five modern detached homes in the grounds.
Under the proposals, a 1970s extension, added by the MoD, would be demolished.
“Removal of the 1970s, low-quality additions to the site is highly beneficial and the reinstatement of lost plan form and features to Ousefield House will allow it to be returned to use as a family home in the future,” planning documents state.
[tptn_list limit=3 daily=1 hour_range=1]
The Victorian building retains many original features, including a grand staircase, and under the plans the division between the billiard room and drawing room would be reinstated.
Ousefield House was designed by the famous York architect Walter Brierley for Mary Anne Wilberforce, the widow of William Wilberforce – a magistrate in the city, not the MP of the same name who spearheaded the abolition of slavery.
Contemporary design
In the grounds, five large detached homes would be built, very modern in style.
“The proposed new development has been designed to be contemporary in appearance, whilst taking design references and characteristics from the surrounding site and local area,” say architects Vincent & Brown.
“Whilst larger windows and expanses of glazing add a sense of quality and sophistication to the design, they also serve to break up the mass and are arranged so as to follow archetypal residential design principals, adding a familiarity to the properties and ensuring they are recognisably residential in nature.”
The new homes are also designed to have a high degree of sustainability, including “installation of renewable technologies including air source heat pumps and solar panels to the new build plots”.
You can read the full planning application and associated documents here.