Willowbank - one of York's largest, and most expensive homes (From York Press)

Willowbank - one of York's largest, and most expensive homes

10:04am Thursday 5th April 2012 in Homes By Brian Page

WILLOWBANK, the marketing estate agents gently suggest, is one of York’s largest and finest homes remaining in single family usage.

It is a brilliantly-styled period house sitting in landscaped gardens of around a third of an acre in one of the city’s most prestigious areas.

Set over three floors, it occupies more than 6,000sq ft of accommodation space.

It has (and here’s where you should take a deep breath) a sitting room, a living room, a family room, a garden room, a dining room, a study, a large kitchen, seven bedrooms and three bathrooms, huge gardens and double garage and a boiler room and... well, that’s enough to be going on with.

Suffice to say it’s an awful lot of house – and, you won’t be surprised to hear, it will cost an awful lot to buy it, with a guide price of £1.5 million making it not just one of the largest, but also most expensive homes in York.

A home for “luxurious family living,”

is how the agents, Ashtons, describe the house (well, for that price tag you would, of course, expect nothing less).

Sadly, we were unable to take a personal tour of the property, but we have seen the pictures and the floorplans – and are suitably impressed, particularly as the house has undergone an extensive programme of refurbishment and modernisation – with works including complete rewiring, a replacement central heating system and the fitting of modern kitchens and bathrooms.

So, take our hand and try not to get lost as we walk you round...

At the heart of the house is a magnificent hallway with impressive oak stairway leading to the first floor. The wow factors on this floor include a series of quite beautiful living and sitting rooms, light, spacious and elegantly presented with high ceilings, cornicing, feature period fireplaces, deep windows and French doors opening onto various aspects of the garden.

The kitchen, with fitted Aga, is superbly designed and has French doors opening onto a patio area, while there is also a splendid garden room.

On the first floor, two original bedrooms have been reshaped to provide a master suite with a dressing room, fitted wardrobes and an enormous en-suite bathroom.

There are four other bedrooms and a bathroom and laundry room on this floor.

Upstairs there are three more bedrooms and storage space galore.

Outside, as mentioned earlier, there are large gardens running to around a third of an acre and including a double garage.

And now for some speculation.

While this is very much still a single – and spectacular – family home, it doesn’t take too much of a leap of imagination to realise why developers may well be interested in all that house and land.

Other similar properties in the area have been converted into “a variety of uses” – and broken down into smaller components.

Now, while we don’t want to make developers the villains of our piece – that would be grossly unfair – it does seem a shame that such a wonderful, unique home could become something quite different.

So, if you have a big bank balance and the taste for an elegant and imposing family home now’s the time to act!

Willowbank, with a guide price of £1.5 million, is marketed by Ashtons (tele: 01904 659222).