The Society urges the Hall’s owner to take action to ensure the building survives.
Photo credit: Bill Bolton
Grade II-listed, 1864, W.M. Teulon
Overstone Hall was highly advanced when new: it had a central heating system, gas lighting, and a butler’s lift; and it was built with double walls, giving it the earliest known cavity wall insulation. It was designed by W.M. Teulon in the French Renaissance style, which was popular at the time, but Lord Overstone is said to have taken exception to its appearance, and never lived there. The building was used as a girls’ school from the 1920s through to 1979, and as a teacher training until it closed twenty years later. It has been abandoned ever since, and following an arson attack in 2001, nearly half of the building has been reduced to ruin. The then-owners of the site, the New Testament Church of God, put the hall up for sale in 2010 for £1 million, but it remains unsold at that high price. The church was reportedly ordered to carry out work to ensure public safety in June after severe vandalism. The owners should face up to the responsibility of owning a historic building and take action to ensure it survives, potentially by selling it a more realistic price.
Director of the The Victorian Society, Christopher Costelloe, said: ‘We’re grateful to everyone who nominated Overstone Hall. Like all the buildings included in this year’s Top Ten, Overstone Hall is a listed building meaning that the Government has recognised its national importance. Overstone deserves better than its current situation. I urge the public to share the Top Ten list, and Griff’s message, to help raise awareness of these buildings and help them to find the investment they desperately need.’
Status Update / June 2026
Fairline Homes purchased the property in 2015 with a view to converting the listed main building into apartments and erecting 52 additional houses on its grounds. The local authority granted planning permission for the restoration of the hall in 2019, but not for the enabling development, and therefore the project was placed on hold. The developer only re-engaged with the site in 2023, when a fire raged through the building: now that the net cost of restoring the hall exceeded £21 million, they argued that restoration was ‘a fantasy’ and applied for permission to demolish the building and build on the land.