In memory of Mr Wright

The Brett brothers are successful and entrepreneurial businessmen so when they were offered the chance to buy the biggest privately owned residential property in Keighley they found the challenge hard to resist.

Partially renovated, the gothic Victorian pile was still bursting with potential and period features and was perfectly positioned with magnificent views.

When Glenn and Nigel got the keys in December 2007, the plan appeared straightforward. They would move in and have the work done within months so they and their mother Maureen could enjoy living there. But as anyone who has taken on a major renovation knows, historic houses can play havoc with schedules and budgets.

“What we didn’t realise was that getting local builders used to working on conventional property was no good. We needed skilled, specialists and they were hard to find. Materials too were an issue You can’t just nip down to B&Q for them,” says Nigel.

Getting it right took time, money and an immense amount of effort but motivation came from an unexpected source.

“We started researching the history of the house and the more we learned, the more we felt we had to be true to it and to the person who built it,” says Glenn.

That person was James Wright and as the Bretts put a face to the name via a portrait, the pressure to redeem the sad, semi derelict building intensified.

“It’s almost as though we wanted to please him and we also felt that this is such a landmark house we wanted to do it justice,” says Glenn.

The Whins was built in the 1870s but it had a former life as Netherwood, the home of textile magnate Henry Isaac Butterfield. Mr Butterfield was demolishing Netherwood to make way for his extravagant Cliffe Castle and he gave his old home to his steward Mr Wright, who rebuilt it on a prime spot on Halifax Road.

Earlier last century, the house was split into flats and it later fell into disrepair. The previous occupants had re-roofed the house and were living in two rooms downstairs when the Bretts took over the renovation.

The grounds were overgrown, ceilings had collapsed and the second floor was wet, rotten and full of pigeons. “It was hard at first and we lived in three rooms surrounded by boxes. We hadn’t tackled anything like this before, but our late father was a builder and so we knew good work from bad, which is why we went through so many tradespeople,” says Nigel.

“Finding the right people to tackle a place like this was absolutely the most difficult part for us.

“It was all incredibly involved to the point where we also had to have hand tools specially made for the joiners because modern tools weren’t big enough to cut new door frames to replicate the one original we had left.”

The Bretts rewired, lime plastered and installed new windows and reclaimed flooring, including Victorian tiles in the hallway. They restored the period features that had survived, including a marble fireplace covered in paint and decorative plasterwork that had been damaged.

One of the most important jobs was renovating the stunning oak staircase, which was a mammoth task as it leads to two floors, which now house six bedrooms and four bathrooms.

Nigel and Glenn also decided to reinstate steps up the tower to a parapet.

“We didn’t need to do it and it was extra cost but it has the most incredible views and it’s a lovely place to sit and read,” says Nigel, who looked after the family’s taxi and private ambulance companies and their advertising businesses while Glenn project managed the renovation of the house.

Maureen, meanwhile, says she made “an ocean of tea” and spent months clearing old trees and ivy from the stone banking outside. Despite the frustrations and the stress, the siblings and their mother have never had a cross word.

“We are all quite easy going and we never argue,” says Glenn.

It took two years to do the bulk of the work and the cost was more than £150,000, which doesn’t include the furniture, which was sourced by Glenn from salerooms and eBay. Many of the pieces are Victorian and early Edwardian and most of the light fittings are antique French.

“Again , we found we couldn’t just buy off the shelf and it was the same with the curtains and carpets. The curtains cost several thousand pounds and the carpet on the stairs and landing was £12,000,” says Nigel.

The furniture and soft furnishings threw up another issue that the family had not encountered before. They had to find specialist cleaners who knew how to treat silk rugs and wood furniture.

They’ll be passing their contacts book on to the new owners of the house, which is up for sale after their circumstances changed.

“Nigel has married and moved out and it’s too big for two of us really, though we will miss it. It’s a beautiful house and even though it cost a lot more than we anticipated we’re really pleased with the result,” says Glenn.

“Everything looks as though it belongs.”

The Whins is for sale at £760,000 with Carter Jonas, Leeds, tel: 0113 203 1090, www.carterjonas.co.uk. It has six bedrooms and six acres of woodland.

Useful contacts

Peter Willetts Associates, period lighting specialists, www.peterwilletts.co.uk, tel: 0161 881 2555

Carpet Care North, specialist period property cleaners, tel: 01274 564447.