Pink Floyd guitarist selling £15m home after backlash over development

2022-08-15

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour now plans to SELL his luxury seafront home for £15million after facing backlash over the controversial transformation of a former Victorian bathhouse

David Gilmour and Polly Samson bought the home in 2015 and sparked fury over their redevelopment plans
Residents said their demolition of the former Victorian Turkish bathhouse was ‘appalling and disrespectful’
They only could enjoy property for 18 months as they faced work delays and have now put it up sale at £15m
Grade II building features sun room, cottage, dog’s shower room, Victorian terrace and a recording studio

Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour is now planning to sell his luxury seafront home for £15million after facing a backlash from locals over his plans.

Gilmour, 76, and his wife Penny Samson, 60, bought the derelict £2.5million 19th Century Turkish bathhouse in 2015 and set about on their controversial transformation.

They knocked down the baths in 2018 after surveyors claimed due to various fires that it was beyond repair. But residents hit out saying it is ‘appalling and disrespectful’ to get rid of the Grade-II listed building.

Due to Covid building delays, the huge 15-bedroom home on the Hove seafront, East Sussex, was only complete a few years ago, allowing the couple to move into their 8,000-square-foot home in 2021.

But 18 months on, the rock star, who lives with his family on a farm in Wisborough Green, near Horsham, West Sussex, has already decided to give up Medina House.

It now includes a cottage, a dog’s shower room, a recording studio – which was formerly an artist’s studio -, ample parking, a courtyard, a Victorian terrace and stunning sea views.

Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour is now planning to sell his luxury seafront home for £15million after facing a backlash from locals over his plans. Pictured: The elegant first floor double drawing room

Gilmore and his wife knocked down the baths in 2018 and transformed it into a huge 15-bedroom home which comes complete with a courtyard

The home now includes a cottage, dog’s shower room, a recording studio – which was formerly an artist’s studio, ample parking, sun room, a Victorian terrace and stunning sea views. Pictured: The trees in the courtyard alongside another area where you can use an outside grate

Gilmour, 76, and his wife Penny Samson, 60, (pictured together at the Leopoldstadt premiere in 2020) bought the derelict £2.5million 19th Century Turkish bathhouse in 2015 and set about on their controversial transformation

Keb Garavito Bruhn, a founding partner of the architecture firm Pilbrow & Partners, was brought in to design the residence. He took inspiration from the bathhouse, mimicking its crow-stepped gable, as well as the half-moon shaped window at the top. Pictured: The massive living room which features a lot of plants and paintings

Keb Garavito Bruhn, a founding partner of the architecture firm Pilbrow & Partners, was brought in to design the residence.

He took inspiration from the bathhouse, mimicking its crow-stepped gable, as well as the half-moon shaped window at the top.

In addition, glazed ceramic tiles that were originally part of one of the pools were retained. The open floor plan has doors to the courtyard, creating an indoor-outdoor space for the family in the summer.

According to Pereds, the London-based property firm, the couple said: ‘The main bedroom, with sea views in all directions, is a beautiful place from which to watch the sunrise and sunset across the sea.

‘When you wake up in the morning, the view is always a surprise: the sea and sky are never the same. At night, it’s intoxicating to watch from bed the moon reflected in the water.’

Other amenities include hardwood flooring and underfloor heating throughout, polished plaster ceilings and walls, log-burning and gas-operated open fires and a host of sustainability and smart-home features, including a remote-controlled door entry system with biometric fingerprint access, the listing said.

An artist’s studio was transformed intoa recording studio, pictured a piano can be seen looking out at the seaviews while recliners are situated nearby

The open floor plan has doors to the courtyard, creating an indoor-outdoor space for the family in the summer

One of the 15-bedrooms in the home, this features curved windows, a desk and chairs along with sweeping sail-like curtains

The main bedroom, with sea views in all directions, is a beautiful place from which to watch the sunrise and sunset across the sea

The property was owned by developer Sirus Taghan who repeatedly failed to get planning permission for it. Pictured: Two chairs sit near one of the windows looking out at the sea

The couple – worth £122million – have now put the seafront pad in Hove up for sale. Pictured: The sprawling living room

The only surviving building from the famous King’s Esplanade in Hove, the bathhouse first opened in 1894 offering women slipper baths and steam rooms.

During the Second World War it saw service as a makeshift hospital, before being turned housing a diamond cutting business.

Squatters from an art group called Chalk Circle occupied the building in 1999 and were allowed to stay there until 2006, when they were evicted due to complaints from residents about noise and rubbish.

After fires in 2013 and 2014, surveyors said the derelict building was beyond repair, and alternative plans to replace it with a ‘echo’ of the original building were approved by planners in March 2018.

The property was owned by developer Sirus Taghan who repeatedly failed to get planning permission for it.

He told The Argus he gave the property away, waving a potential six or seven figure purchase price, if the owners agreed to retain the building.

The slipper baths, at the building, seen during the demolition, were opened for people with no baths at home and were designed to improve hygiene and sanitation

Local groups did try to oppose the plans to redevelop the home with one group going so far as to pin a message to the building. Pictured: Scaffolding on the building

The only surviving building from the famous King’s Esplanade in Hove, the bathhouse first opened in 1894 offering women slipper baths and steam rooms

The slipper baths were opened for people with no baths at home and were designed to improve hygiene and sanitation.

Local groups did try to oppose the plans to redevelop the home with one group going so far as to pin a message to the building.

Save Hove from Property Tycoons wrote: ‘We don’t need no demolition, we don’t need no thoughtless plans, no tall dark shadows across our windows. Leave Medina House Alone.

‘Hey Gilmour, leave our hood alone. All in all it’s just another betrayal of us all, to you it’s just another brick in the wall.’

This mirrored his band’s lyrics Another Brick in the Wall, released in 1979, which features the lines: ‘Hey, teachers, leave them kids alone. All in all it’s just another brick in the wall.’

One objector also told Brighton and Hove City Council: ‘I strongly object to numerous air conditioning units to be installed as they will create considerable noise detrimental to the current peaceful nature of the location.

‘Any units shouldn’t be positioned on the outside of the building as they will adversely affect nearby neighbours with constant noise which does not currently exist.’

Another resident said: ‘This seems excessive. Feeling the vibrations and potential noise of these machines is disruptive and inconsiderate to the neighbours it could be affecting. I cannot see any supporting evidence with regards to the noise level acceptance.’

The slipper baths were opened for people with no baths at home and were designed to improve hygiene and sanitation.

Builders knocked down the property before reconstructing a new home to Gilmour’s specifications which include a walled courtyard garden for the family to use in the summer.

After years of building work, hoardings surrounding their new home were removed in October 2020 but the fury from residents continued who called the development ‘oppressive’ to their homes.

Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in 1967, performing on albums such as ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘The Wall’.

He also performs as a solo artist, and is a champion of several environmental causes.

Ms Samson has collaborated with Pink Floyd on a number of songs, and her most recent novel, ‘A Theatre for Dreamers’ (2020) was a bestseller. Gilmour’s net worth is £180million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List in 2018.

Source: Read Full Article