Photographs of Whinburn house in Utley taken by Keith Spencer (Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society) during a History Society visit to the house on 6th September 2005.
Whinburn is a Grade II listed building on Hollins Lane, Utley. The main hall consists of a baronial hall, seven reception rooms and thirteen bedrooms, with adjoining outbuildings, coach house, dilapidated gatehouse, and detached bungalow, and stands in approximately 7 acres of gardens. Fittings of the highest standard were used throughout Whinburn both externally and internally, so creating an Arts & Crafts house of supreme quality.
It was built in 1897 (designed by James Ledingham) for Prince Smith III (later Sir Prince Prince-Smith), a partner in the textile machinery manufacturing business of Prince Smith and Son. The house was redesigned and extended in 1912-13, and by 1919 a setting of formal terraces had been laid out to the north-east of the house. Following the death of Sir Prince Prince-Smith in 1940, Whinburn was used as a training centre by the National Institute of House-workers and in the early 1950s was purchased by the Local Authority for use as a school, initially residential.
The school closed in mid 2002 and the house remained empty until 2008 when the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council sold it to businessman James Sheldon. Sheldon bought the estate with the intention of developing the house and reclaiming the gardens, with advice from English Heritage. Sheldon, 42, died from multiple injuries having jumped from the tower on 23rd June 2015 due to rising business debts. The house was put up for sale again for around £1,000,000 in the last few years.
