Chesterfield's listed Victorian property Hurst House to become a family home under applicant's bid for change of use consent
A Victorian mansion which has stood empty in Chesterfield for more than a decade is poised to become a family home.
Hurst House on Abercrombie Street last served as an adult education centre and an application seeking change of use permission from commercial usage to residential usage has been submitted to Chesterfield Borough Council.
The applicant, Vincenz Forkel of Newbold Road, Chesterfield is proposing internal renovations to the Grade II listed building. He plans to demolish a 1960s annex, install an electric gate by the driveway and prune the trees in the grounds.
Mr Forkel states: “The proposed internal and external works, including the sensitive restoration of the original elevation, installation of a gate, and landscape management, will enhance the property’s heritage significance without detriment to its listed status. This proposal will safeguard the long term future of this important building.”
Features in the house include tiled floors in the hallways, a grand oak staircase, original skirting boards, arches, architraves and cornices in the hallway and several rooms, original timber windows and three fireplaces.
Roof damage has led to damp ingress and mould on the first and second floors with sections of the lath and plaster ceiling falling as a result.
Hurst House was sold for an undisclosed sum in the latter quarter of 2024 after failing to reach its £375,000 guide price at auction. The property was put on the market by Derbyshire County Council.
The mock Italian house was built in the 19th century and its first inhabitant was draper Francis Hurst who had premises on the High Street. Successive inhabitants included the Mayor of Chesterfield, Charles Charles Stanhope Burke Busby; Dr Worthington, a honorary physician at Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Hospital; Dr Albert Green, coroner for Chesterfield; as well as A.C. Bescoby, headmaster of Chesterfield Grammar School.
Hurst House became a junior school in 1934. After the Second World War, the property housed Chesterfield Grammar School’s sixth form until a new school was built at Brookside.
Adult education classes were accommodated at Hurst House for 53 years until 2017. These were run by the Chesterfield branch of the Workers Education Authority and Sheffield University.