The Cherry on The Cake

1930s mansion in Surrey by eccentric master builder Oliver Hill offered for sale for a price 532% higher than it was marketed for in 2006

Offered for sale for £4.75 million in 2006 (the equivalent of £6.3 million, ($7.9million, €7.4 million or درهم28.9 million today), Cherry Hill – originally known as ‘Holthanger’ – on the fourth fairway of the Wentworth Club golf course is for sale again eleven years later for the much increased price of £30 million ($37.5 million, €35 million or درهم137.7 million).

Constructed to the designs of master builder Oliver Hill (1887 – 1968) – described as a man “having a childlike innocence rarely found in an architect” and the man responsible for iconic structures including the Midland Hotel in Morecambe, Lancashire – between 1933 and 1936, Cherry Hill was created for a Miss Newton but could just as easily have been home to fiction’s Hercule Poirot.

Hill, known for driving a blue Rolls-Royce coupé with a pink trim and for “nudist frolics on the hilltops in high summer”, was a designer that cannot simply be put into a box. He variously designed Arts & Crafts cottages, Art Deco interiors and buildings that harked back to the 17^th century. He is said to have blamed Hitler for wrecking his career but at Cherry Hill and elsewhere, his foray into “international modernism” is something to be celebrated.

Somewhat bastardized from the 1960s to the early 2000s, Grade II listed Cherry Hill was “designed to take maximum use of sunlight and view” and is of a shallow curve in plan. A fully glazed staircase tower rising the full height of the building is undoubtedly the dominant original feature, but now, after a full-scale renovation, there is now also a basement cinema, an underground swimming pool, spa and stand-alone guest accommodation.

Marketed by Christie’s International Real Estate, Cherry Hill comes with 4.5 acres of land.