Christine Yorath on bulldozing her adored Art Deco home to create the best apartment scheme in Yorkshire
To say Christine Yorath was rooted to her home is a huge understatement. She had lived at Val D’Or in the sought-after Leeds suburb of Shadwell for over 40 years and cherished every inch of the enormous Art Deco property and the memories made there.
To compound her love of the place, the amenities close to the house had got better and better over the years with an M&S food store close by and The Springs shopping centre with its cinema, gym and restaurants a short drive away.
Meanwhile the long range rural views remained, bringing a sense of space and peace when life got hectic.
While the house was great for entertaining and for family and friends staying over, most of the time, she was rattling around happily in a home that wasn’t built for a solo inhabitant.
Her grown up children were encouraging her to downsize to an apartment and says Christine: “They were right. The house was too big for just me and it was expensive to run because there was no such thing as insulation when it was built in the 1930s and it would’ve cost a fortune to bring everything up to modern standards.”
With a heavy heart, she started hunting for a flat but couldn’t find anything that would suit in terms of size, location, fit out and amenities.
Then the penny dropped. Why not create a new Val D’Or in a similar Art Deco style as the old house but rebuild it as extra large, luxury apartments with one of them reserved for her?
She certainly had all the skills and contacts thanks to her long time background in renovating, designing, developing and dressing homes starting with back-to-back terraced houses bought with her then husband Terry in the 1980s and graduating to award-winning apartment schemes in York, Leeds city centre and beyond.
At 74, she also has plenty of vigour and is still working, helping other developers with interior design and fit out advice.
She put in a pre-planning application and the green light was given for a bigger, better, more energy efficient Val D’Or to replace the old one.
Having recently worked on a high end apartment scheme for a client, she knew the demand was there, mostly from wealthy over 50s professional and business people who have more than one home.
“They live in big, detached homes but want to downsize and buy an apartment that they can lock up and leave but they struggle to find anything to downsize to because they want somewhere secure with plenty of space and top end interiors,” says Christine.
She has teamed up with Torsion Homes to create The Residences at Val D’Or, a new Art Deco style building that will house nine extra large and luxurious, two to three bedroom apartments ranging from 1,600sq ft to 2,300 sq ft, designed by Den Architects with her input.
Dan Spencer, CEO at Torsion Group said: “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with Christine on these remarkable and unique new residences. Quality is at the core of the design, and we are confident that they will be highly sought after homes in LS17. “They will provide an unparalleled living experience, and the team has focused on making sure that innovation meets sophistication, whilst respecting the original Art Deco architecture.”
The project has a gross development value of £12m and one of the properties will be hers and the others will be sold. The apartments are available to buy off plan and two have already been snapped up with another sale in the offing even though the scheme won’t be completed until early 2026.
As ever, Christine has thought of everything down to the last detail including the layout and fit out featuring the best of everything.
This includes a hallway with a glamorous entrance and stylish apartments complete with air conditioning, underfloor heating, smart technology, large balconies and terraces with rural views.
“We are catering for a discerning demographic who may want six to eight people to dinner and so we are having handbuilt kitchen diners with a dining area that can accommodate six to eight people. We are also including two sitting areas so couples can have their own space and every bedroom will have an ensuite, a cloakroom, guest loo and a utility room and if people reserve early we can bespoke the interiors,” says Christine
There is also a communal gym, a communal greenhouse in the capacious grounds along with lifts to all floors and locker rooms for everything from suitcases and golf clubs to Christmas trees.
The car park is underground with a carriage driveway and heated ramp and there are large communal gardens and a summer house.
Prices are £995,000 to £1.395m and including her own reserved apartment, two others have been sold off plan and a third is in the offing, leaving just five on the market.
The original Val D’Or will be demolished this September and Christine admits that will be emotional but she is buoyed by what is to come. “This will be the best apartment scheme in Yorkshire,” she says and few doubt that she is right.
For details of the apartments for sale contact Monroe Estate Agents www.monroeestateagents.com