Royal holiday home set to become luxury seafront flats
South Beach Mansion will be six two-bed flats once conversion and restoration work is finished Picture: RICHARD CORNWELL - Credit: Archant
Work is under way to convert a clifftop mansion with royal connections into luxury apartments.
South Beach Mansion above the Pram Walk at Felixstowe Picture: CHRIS RAWLINGS - Credit: Archant
South Beach Mansion – which was bought by developers two years ago after having been on market with a price tag of £1.375million – is credited with playing a key role in the development of Felixstowe as a fashionable seaside resort for the Victorians and Edwardians.
Back in 1891, the Empress of Germany stayed at the distinctive white-painted Italianate property with five of her sons for a summer holiday.
The visit by Empress Augusta, the wife of the German Kaiser Wilhelm, a grandson of Queen Victoria, attracted attention to the Suffolk seaside resort, leading to visits by other royalty, cabinet ministers and millionaires and the construction of large hotels and houses around the town.
Back in 2018, Parmar Holdings was granted permission to convert South Beach Mansion, which enjoys superb seaviews from its position at the top of Bent Hill, into six two-bed flats with six parking places.
One of the reception rooms in South Beach Mansion, Felixstowe, before conversion work began Picture: CHRIS RAWLINGS - Credit: Archant
You may also want to watch:
Now work is taking place on the project at the mansion, which before conversion boasted up to a dozen bedrooms and four reception rooms among its features, and a third of an acre garden.
Elliston Steady Hawes is carrying out the work.
Most Read
- 1 These are the neighbourhoods in Suffolk where Covid rates are still rising
- 2 New Aldi store takes shape near Morrisons in Ipswich
- 3 Ipswich woman who was 'too big' to operate on loses 8 stone after health scare
- 4 Martlesham man caught with indecent images for second time
- 5 People 'losing patience' with neighbours who flout Covid rules, police say
- 6 Parents 'distraught' after teenage boy is violently assaulted in Chantry
- 7 Snow could hit Suffolk as overnight temperatures set to plunge
- 8 When Anita Dobson visited Ipswich - and more 1980s pub memories
- 9 Covid-19 cases continue to fall across region, latest statistics show
- 10 Matchday Recap: Town lose as McGuinness puts through his own net
The house was originally built in the 1860s by Charles Eley, who with his brother William, was a wealthy businessman well known for manufacturing cartridges. In the sea opposite South Beach Mansion – nicknamed ‘Eley Cathedral’ by the locals – stood a large lump of stone called Pulpit Rock where the Eleys were said to test their cartridges by using it for target practice.
The visit by the Empress in 1891 is commemorated by a plaque on the building. She had visited Queen Victoria and arrived at Felixstowe by special train, her sons by the royal yacht.
Marking the stay of the Empress of Germany - the plaque on South Beach Mansion Picture: ARCHANT - Credit: Archant
The empress, herself descended from a half-sister of Queen Victoria, is said to have bathed modestly in the sea from a bathing machine while her children played on the beach. She attended the church of St John the Baptist, then a corrugated iron building, during her stay.
Over the decades South Beach Mansion has been a hotel, DHSS offices, and home to charities. In 1992, owner Suffolk Coastal council was persuaded by community leaders against demolishing it and in 1997 it was converted into a home and sold.
Scaffolding shrouds part of South Beach Mansion at Felixstowe as conversion work takes place Picture: RICHARD CORNWELL - Credit: Archant
Unveiling of the plaque in memory of the Empress of Germany, whose visit to Felixstowe led to it becoming a fashionable seaside resort. The then Felixstowe mayor and mayoress, Jon and Jan Garffield are joined by the deputy mayor of Salzwedel, Erich Kaiser and other guests Picture: ARCHANT - Credit: Archant
