Owners battle to demolish listed house in need of £1m. in repairs
A FAMILY are battling to demolish a listed 1930s house because they argue it would cost more than £1m. to repair it.
A 2009 planning application was refused and the property was listed last year.
The Dolphins at Jerbourg was built in about 1937 by Harley Street doctor Dr Byam. It was bought in 1950 by Sybil Mackay and, in 1977, it was passed to her daughter, Anne White.
In 2000, it was transferred into Manu Forti Trust, with Julia White and Victoria Russell as trustees.
However, the house has been empty for nearly a year, as the family cannot insure it because it is structurally unstable. They want to demolish the house and outbuildings and replace them.
In a letter in the latest planning application, Miss White said the building had suffered severe damp problems and some of the wall cracks had been visible since the 1970s.
‘The extent and costs of the remedial works that would be required to try to make the building structurally sound are disproportionate in relation to the building’s importance as a heritage asset, and to the value derived from it continuing to stand as a not particularly remarkable, non-traditional, private dwelling,’ she said.
‘The building is structurally unsound and repairs are unfeasible, impractical and would be at a cost out of all proportion to the value of the building as a dwelling, and to its special interest as a protected building.’
She said they appreciated that any building needed work and money, but here repairs would cost more than £1m.
‘Unless the house is demolished and replaced with a structure that can be guaranteed to be sound and stable, it will remain empty,’ Miss White said.
‘This is a detriment to the island. The replacement dwelling will be occupied by people who will, by virtue of their ability to buy or rent the house, and meet the costs of maintenance, be contributing significant sums to the economy of the island.’
The family met planners in February 2017 and said pre-application discussions seemed positive. But three months later the house was added to the protected building list, despite the family highlighting the large wall cracks and unrepairable metal windows.
‘At this meeting the [planning] officers acknowledged that remedial works required for this listed building would be more expensive than replacing it with a new building,’ Miss White said.
Miss White said the property’s architects were not well known and no one famous had lived in the house.
‘The level of special interest of Dolphins must be very low, if not the lowest, on the list of protected buildings,’ Miss White said.
She added that they were proposing to build a very similar property in the same style, but with a northern extension.
n The plans can be viewed at Sir Charles Frossard House.
