Transforming buildings with a former use into a home has become more and more achievable and can create a truly one-off home. From agricultural buildings to former banks, village shops to redundant lighthouses, every building has the potential to become a new home with planning consent in place, an appropriate budget and imagination.
And one chapel conversion that appears to have got the balance just right between respecting the old and introducing the new is the new lease of life given to Sully Hospital's former chapel and morgue. Nestled within the grounds of the Vale of Glamorgan seaside village's former historic hospital, the home is surrounded by trees and pathways that meander through the grounds and lead to coastal views from well-placed benches.
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Sully Hospital was opened in 1936 as a tuberculosis hospital with a capacity of between 250 to 300 residential patients and included an indoor pool, administration block, homes for around 134 nurses, a medical superintendent's house and a porter's lodge - and the chapel with a morgue. The vast hospital building achieved a rarer Grade II* listing status from Cadw in 1990 as "one of the few exceptional inter-war public buildings in Wales and the finest designed in modern movement style with international influences".
The site was closed by Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust in 2001 stating that it was "uneconomical and too remote from other facilities" and the historic building and 140 acre site was put on the market. In May 2004 the site was sold to Galliard Holdings in a deal reported to have been worth about £3m and it was renamed Hayes Point.
According to website hayes-point.com, its fine art deco external appearance was carefully retained, maintained and preserved, plus preservation orders were put on all the trees to enhance the beautiful grounds in which the very special building stands. The site underwent conversion into luxury apartments that included an additional storey, plus an extension of the side wings between 2005 and 2009 in a contemporary style to complement the existing modernist style, with an estimated development cost of around £25 million pounds.
But as the rest of the site was lavished with attention, the long closed chapel was used as storage for materials and equipment even though it did have planning permission to become a café, according to new owner Lindsay Kirby, and that's almost what the chapel became.
Lindsay and partner Tony Cottey purchased an apartment at the Hayes Point development in 2011 and made enquiries to purchase the chapel with café potential but couldn't agree a figure with Galliards, the owners at the time. But sometimes a property and people passionate about it are destined to be together - eventually.
This chapel was meant to be saved from inevitable dereliction by Lindsay and Tony and when new freeholders of the site secured planning permission for the building to become a three-bed bungalow, the couple eagerly snapped it up in 2015.
Since then they have done a 'back to bricks' renovation, saving and restoring as much as possible, adding in quality features such as flooring, internal doors and light fittings paying homage to the era when the property was built, and adding a spacious red brick extension.
But there were some elements of the building that have not been incorporated into the property's new purpose as a luxury home. Lindsay says: "The building had the mortuary fridge still in there with the six shelves for the bodies. It had the post-mortem table plus the chapel still intact. Tony and I did actually take the trays from the fridge, because they were just metal, we did take them down to the metal section in the council tip just down the road, but we did have to have the fridge professionally removed because obviously it had CO2 potentially still in it."
Inside there was much to do just to clear the site and get the building back to its brick shell, including rotten woodwork needing to be stripped out. The glass internal doors did not meet building regulations so were replaced with high-end, solid wood, traditional panelled doors that have added to the character of the home, which is complemented by the choice of the floor, an important aspect of the property's renovation for the couple.
Lindsay explains: "The purpose of the new wooden floor was to give something back to the timeline of when it was built and in keeping with the past and the surroundings. But it came at great expense - we spent more on the floor than we would normally, but we are so pleased with it. The kitchen is obviously more modern and the bedrooms are left as a blank canvas so that anyone going in can do their own thing, but the chapel, the flooring, the new internal doors and the light fittings were all chosen to try and be in keeping with its past and give it character and 'wow' factor features."
Now that the transformation is complete, the couple are very excited at breathing new life into the building, creating a spacious three-bedroom home with primary bedroom with en-suite and spacious kitchen diner that connects to the garden in the new extension, and the original chapel now a fabulous sitting room with alter and windows within its distinctive curved end wall still in place.
The rear of the building has been totally remodelled to create a shower room, utility room and two double bedrooms, plus a light and spacious hallway as the delightful first impression to the home which, surrounded by trees and in a secluded and private spot on the site, has been renamed The Woodlands Lodge.
Lindsay says: "The part that was the fridge and the one examination room doesn't exist anymore, there's no reference to the mortuary at all, they were just two rooms in that building. The chapel is the feature place within the building because it has the lovely arch, the lovely stained glass and the altar."
The new owners of The Woodlands Lodge will be able to access extra benefits that few other bungalows in Wales can, via the use of the site's facilities if they sign up to them, including the swimming pool, gym, the tennis courts and cricket pitch.
Lindsay says: "It's unique because it's just on the outskirts of the whole estate so it's got its own independence from the apartment blocks, so to me it's tranquillity, it's so peaceful amongst the trees so you wouldn't know where you were, you could be in a forest in any part of Wales because you're just surrounded in your own little cocoon really. The challenge is whether somebody will buy it knowing it was previously a mortuary, if that puts some people off. The curious challenge will be how people perceive it, but it would be very difficult to recognise it as what it was unless you see the pictures of before, or if you already know."
The Woodlands Lodge is for sale for £675,000 with Moginie James, call their Pontcanna branch on 029 2034 4434 to find out more.
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