Former water tower hits market for $1.2 million

A half-renovated water tower in the UK town of Stafford is on the market for $1.2 million. 

If you had walked past the tower 100 years ago, it would have been part of a foreboding Victorian mental hospital called the Stafford General Asylum. 

First built in 1818, the hospital was modelled after similar institutions in London, like the infamous Bethlem asylum. 

Over 100 men and women were committed to Stafford General Asylum in its early years, with patients strictly divided by gender. 

The hospital, which was later renamed St George’s Hospital, ceased operations in 1995 with Britain’s push for deinstitutionalisation.

Today, the water tower is a reminder of the area’s nineteenth-century past. 

The building was bought six years ago by a family who dreamed of turning it into a home. 

When they purchased it, the water tower was in a somewhat sorry state. 

Bricks were distressed from age and wear and some walls were in need of repointing, though thankfully there were no major cracks. 

The owners never managed to complete the restoration. 

The water tower is now for sale with an asking price of £600,000 ($1.23 million). 

“The owners removed industrial steel tanks from the upper levels, repaired and repointed the stonework, painstakingly revived the original features with bags and bags of lime mortar,” the listing by EweMove reads. 

“While so much of the hard work has been done, the final brushstrokes are still yours to make.” 

The interior remains an empty shell with exposed brick walls, bare beams and loose electric wires. 

But there is clear potential for a one-of-a-kind home with lofty ceilings and unique slit windows.

When complete, it will be a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home spread over six storeys of floorspace. 

“This is an ongoing project in the process of its conversion to be a family home, so some elements might not be suitable for small children when viewing,” the listing warns. 

The property is being sold on a leasehold with 190 years remaining on the lease.