An empty former care home in Broughton will be split up into 16 flats after plans were passed by Salford City Council.
The grand and imposing 25-bed Castle Park home, on Lower Broughton Road, has been vacant for over five years.
After falling into serious disrepair it is still classed as unsafe to enter, as it lies with its windows tinned up, marked by scrawled graffiti and hidden behind wild and overgrown trees.
But developers believe there is a goldmine lurking in the undergrowth.
Local councillors John Merry and Jim King were reportedly in favour of the development to bring a vacant and derelict home back into use, discouraging vandalism and offering more options of one-bed housing in the local area.
In 2009 the building was sold at with Pugh Auctions for £485,000.
Pictures: 19th-century Worsley Methodist Church gets new lease of life as apartments
Lancashire-based Yarrow Developments now have permission to create 15 one-bed and one two-bed flats out of the 10,000sq ft residence.
This 1891 brick building with sandstone features has the ‘crenulated parapet’ that castle-desiring residents might want, with a semi-circular porch entrance and balconies with porticos.
It sits in the middle of the Cliff Conservation Area, which was populated by wealthy entrepreneurs and businessmen at the beginning of the 1800s and some Regency and Georgian-era properties still remain nearby.
The oldest complete house remaining in the area is one of the large ones fronting Lower Broughton Road, called ‘The Cliff’, and this dates back to 1817.
The developers have agreed planners fees of £55,905 to contribute to public realm, construction and climate change.
All images: Google Street View
