This two-bedroom property comes with a glitzy past life as the ballroom of Bath’s Ladymead House.

The apartment commandeers 1,691 sq ft of the grand, Grade II-listed property, originally a private estate with parts dating back to the 1500s. Later the building became a ladies’ workhouse before being turned into apartments. This one is currently enjoying a turn as a photographer Eric Howard’s live/work space.

Howard has given the Bath property – on the market via The Modern House for £799,950 – a top-to-toe renovation. He’s retained its towering 15-ft-high barrel-vaulted ceiling and period details, including shuttered sash and portal-style windows which line its western wall.

Says the photographer: ‘The Ballroom hadn’t been touched since the 1960s until it came to me. Builders used it as storage while the rest of the building was turned into luxury apartments. I recognised the beauty underneath the peeling plaster.’

Egyptian marble floors and white walls have been used throughout, adding to the Bath home’s art gallery-like feel.

Howard has also inserted a temple-like internal block to house a bedroom and storage. Its outside wall doubles as a backdrop for photographic shoots, and has been fitted with Bose speakers. The Romanesque volume also conceals a staircase leading up to a seating area/bedroom overlooking the gallery below.

Another hidden secret is the apartment’s 1,400 sq ft loft space which is currently used for storage. There’s no staircase up to it, but one could be fitted – and subject to the right permissions – it could even be converted, according to the agent.

[H/t Bath Chronicle]

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