One of Huddersfield’s most historic homes has been put up for sale with a price tag of £825,000.
The main part of The Grange on Halifax Road, a Grade II listed building, is described by estate agents Simon Blyth as “a very fine gentleman’s mansion standing in approximately one acre of freehold ground.”
In the advertising blurb put out by estate agents Simon Blyth it is billed as being “the first house to be built in Edgerton” and is said to date from 1853.
But Huddersfield historian David Griffiths, a leading member of the West Yorkshire Victorian Society, who has researched the grand houses of the area in some detail says: “It’s definitely not the first house in Edgerton!
“The development started at The Mount, Edgerton Road, with the Lockwood land released before the Thornhill estate further up.”
Leafy Edgerton dates back to 1311 and is sometimes referred to as the Belgravia or Kensington of Huddersfield.
The five bedroom house is spread over three floors and includes a number of en suite bedrooms, sumptuous entrance vestibule and reception hall complete with mahogany spindle staircase, drawing room and breakfast kitchen.
The grounds are described as “well-stocked offering excellent privacy including an Italian garden to one side.”
The house has been owned for the last 33 years by semi-retired businessman Paul Durman, a 60-year-old, father-of-two, who says he moved in on his 28th birthday and paid £100,000 for it to a Dr Davis.
He said: “I moved from my mother and father’s house into this beautiful house. It has been a family house but I am going to downsize.
“It has been more than an honour to live here and it has been the best party house in Huddersfield both for children and grown-ups and I shall miss that side of things.
“The people who buy this house will be getting a modern house in a Victorian shell and I hope they enjoy it as much as we have done.
“There is the latest technology and heating and double glazing on the upper floors. And there are so many different window styles.”
The house also boasts a connection to the feminist Suffragette movement.
At The Grange lived Bertha Lowenthal, one of the few well-to-do members of the Women’s Social and Political Union, (WSPU).
Her father was Joseph Lowenthal, the prosperous German-born wool merchant in Huddersfield.
The town was a hot bed of feminist agitation and its suffragettes were often mentioned in the national news.
Mr Durman says Bertha, who was described as “the most unusual member” of the WSPU was arrested in Huddersfield for taking part in a demonstration protesting about the lack of voting rights for women.
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