From forgotten and damaged historic villa to luxury apartments

By the time Alex Cooper first pushed open the door of The Hollies in the winter of 2012, rain was pouring through the roof, the windows were boarded with metal sheets, and the interior had been hacked into a warren of small, low-ceilinged rooms.

- by Harriet Sutton

"It was pitch black. It was creepy as anything," he recalls.

"There was water cascading in because someone had stolen the lead off the roof. It was unrecognisable to what you see today."

Yet something stopped him on the staircase.

"I just thought, my God, there is something about this building."

That moment on the stairs would quietly change the future of one of Leeds' most unusual historic houses.

The Hollies stands on the edge of Meanwood Park, one of the city's most beautiful green spaces, a Victorian villa hidden among mature trees.