Plymouth’s landmark Pounds House is set to go to auction at the end of October, with online bidding opening on Monday 28 October and closing Wednesday 30 October via Clive Emson Auctioneers.
Plymouth City Council has confirmed that the sale includes new measures to protect the surrounding landscape, ensuring that the parkland setting of the Grade II-listed property in Central Park is preserved for future generations.
A detailed planting and conservation plan will form part of the sale conditions, in line with Joint Local Plan policies protecting Central Park as a strategic green space.
Council explains decision to sell
Councillor Chris Penberthy, cabinet member for assets, said the sale was a practical step after years of vacancy and high maintenance costs.
“As a council we sometimes have to make difficult decisions. This building has been empty for years, we do not have a use for it, it has cost nearly £500,000 in maintenance and insurance over the last five years.
It makes sense to give the opportunity to someone to do something wonderful with it.”
Following a public consultation on the loss of open space, the council confirmed that Pounds House was not gifted to the city but purchased at market value in 1927. It also addressed community suggestions to convert the property into a wedding venue or register office, saying these services are already available elsewhere in the city.
Concerns addressed
The council emphasised that the property cannot be given away for community use, but community groups and organisations are welcome to bid at auction.
Concerns about potential housing development have been dismissed, and tree preservation orders have been issued on four standalone trees and six groups of trees surrounding the property.
In total, the house, gardens and associated land for sale represent just 0.67% of Central Park. The sale will end years of ongoing costs, totalling £490,787 since 2019.
A Georgian Landmark with Nearly 200 Years of History
Built in 1829 by banker William Hodge, Pounds House originally stood at the heart of a private estate that once spanned hundreds of acres.
The City Council later purchased the property and surrounding land in 1927 to form part of Central Park, a 171-acre space designed by the renowned landscape architecture firm T.H. Mawson & Sons.
Over the decades, Pounds House has had many lives from a wartime civic office and branch library to a children’s welfare clinic, social centre and café.
Following a fire in 1991, it was restored and reopened to the public the following year, but has remained largely vacant since 2017, with mounting maintenance costs, struggling to find relevance in the modern era.
When and where to bid
Property: Pounds House, Central Park, Plymouth
- Bidding opens: Monday 28 October
- Bidding closes: Wednesday 30 October
- Auctioneer: Clive Emson Auctioneers
