Oglethorpe is a sleepy lane tucked away in a tranquil backwater, a short stroll from some of York’s most historic treasures including the Minster, the Treasurer’s House and St William’s College.

Along Oglethorpe itself are some of the city’s most historic houses and a row of delightful period terraces.

The last time we viewed property here it was the splendid conversion of the old brewery site, an exquisite piece of work by David Rogers.

Now we’ve found a refurbishment programme every bit as exquisite… It’s a quite brilliant project that has brought back to life one of those grand old historic houses and given it new life in the form of three elegant apartments.

Cromwell House has played a number of roles over the years since it was first built in, as far as can be established, the 1700s. Latterly that has included being biffed about by office workers and embarrassed by the kind of stud partitions that ought never have been allowed, milord. All that has now changed. As I discovered when two of the driving forces behind the refurbishment, John Shelton, of developers Cromwell House (York), and architect Simon Mitchell, showed me around.

We didn’t get to see the ground-floor apartment; that has already been sold and new owners are in residence – and small wonder if it is anything as special as the two remaining.

We started at the top – with a look at the soon-to-be-completed second-floor apartment, a startling experience… Here there is a mix of the reclaimed historic character of the grand old house, together with a carefully fused blend of modern and contemporary touches. The living room/kitchen/dining room runs the length of the top floor. The highlights here are the most incredible beams, the original oak timbers reclaimed and repaired, resplendent and running throughout the room. The windows have been returned to the stylish original sash style and are deep and wide, letting in lots of light – and, of course, there before your eyes is a great view of the Minster.

There is a large bedroom and, again blending history with contemporary, the developers have created a modern en-suite bathroom for this bedroom – and there is a house bathroom, too.

Then we tumbled downstairs to the first- floor apartment and here, well, there’s no other way to say this, we fell in love.

This is one of the most beautiful apartments you are ever likely to see in the city centre. Period touches abound here, too, but yet again blended with modern conveniences.

There is an elegant and imposing living room/dining room which will shortly have a modern kitchen area in place (with a utility room off). It’s a huge room and the views through those newly installed old style Yorkshire sash windows are stunning. Then comes another delight; a door from this living room opens onto a second reception room or bedroom – another delightful, spacious and sun-soaked room with lots of space.

Space? Well, if it’s space you want then step into the master bedroom. This is an enormous room – and an historic one, too. True to the developer’s plans to make the most of the original grandeur of the house, the bedroom also boasts an exposed wall with its original vertical beams.

When John and his team arrived this particular piece of history had been covered by ugly painted plasterboard. The restored limestone wall, incidentally, John explained, was repaired after one of the country’s foremost limestone experts was brought in to show the way.

Again, that marriage of old and new, there is a contemporary en-suite bathroom (and a door leading out to a small terrace seating area).

In a word, stunning.

There’s more to see here – in the form of three mews houses which sit in an even more secluded spot to the rear of Oglethorpe. But, with space pressing, we’ll hold on these until next week’s New Homes supplement.

But we can promise they are equally impressive. In the meantime, we’ll add a shock of reality to our love affair with the Oglethorpe apartments. The prices. The top-floor apartment is priced at £395,000. My beloved, the first-floor spectacular, is priced at £425,000.

If you have that kind of money and are looking for a very special city-centre home, then contact selling agents Savills on 01904 617820.