The 40-room British mansion that was left abandoned for 27 years has been purchased by a local businessman who plans to restore it to a luxury family home once again.
For more than a quarter of a century Pineheath House, which also boasts 12 bathrooms and extensive grounds, was left almost entirely untouched following the death of its owners Sir Dhunjibhoy and Lady Bomanji – a well-known Indian-born couple who were prominent in aristocratic circles at the start of the 20th Century.
Pineheath was the couple’s autumnal residence – they would spend summers at their house in Windsor and winter and spring at a third home in India – but it became a relic of the past when Lady Bomanji died in 1986 – almost 50 years after her husband.
The property, near Harrogate in North Yorkshire, has been left virtually untouched ever since, making it a kind of time-capsule full of the aristocratic trappings of a different era.
Many of the rooms are still decorated in a 1920s style, and come complete with newspaper cuttings and invitations to society events from the 1970s.
While the house still contains many of its valuable antiques and ornaments, it is the mundane, everyday objects that now capture the imagination.
After the death of Lady Bomanji, Pineheath passed into the ownership of her daughter Mehroo Jehangir, who died in 2012.
Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji was knighted in 1922 after using his enormous wealth to support Britain’s fight against Germany during the First World War. This shipping tycoon is well renowned for having a tight friendship with nobles.
Facts About the Pineheath Mansion and its Owners
- There are 40 bedrooms in the mansion.
- The mansion has twelve restrooms.
- The Pineheath Mansion is worth a fortune.
- A vintage phone is still present in the mansion.
- The mansion utilizes an electric bell to notify the servants.
- The wife of Sir Dhunjibhoy does not share a bed with him. The discovered telephone bearing the names of rooms in the home serves as proof. The couple’s private quarters are in two of these spaces. So, it is evident that they do not share the same rooms.
- Lady Bomanji passed away in 1986, while Sir Bomani died in 1937. Since the wife’s passing, the mansion has not been touched.
- There is a lift at the mansion.
- The Pineheath house’s front entrance is monogrammed with the initials of wealthy Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji.
- He is claimed to have ordered a custom-built Rolls Royce with a high canopy in his last years before his death in 1937 so he could get inside without bending due to back issues.
- He won the donation during an auction for a charity event in the UK and kissed Hollywood icon Greta Garbo on the forehead.
- In the luggage room, there are a few pieces of wood-made personalized luggage.
- Yellow pages, newspapers, and cuttings from nearly a century ago can be found in drawers and on side tables, along with invitations to some of the best society events up until the 1970s.
- The bedrooms and other rooms still have all of their furniture.
- The kitchen hasn’t changed at all over the years; there’s a gas heater sitting above the sink, a vintage coffee grinder on one wall, and cake pans, frosting sets, and weights.
- One drawer contains a multitude of keys, each one meticulously labeled
- For years, the bedcovers had remained in the beds.
- A box of gold leaf for monogram and wall decorating was found.
- The Friends of Harrogate International Festivals was established by Lady Frainy Bomanji, who also served as its president from 1971 to 1973.
- No children were born to the Bomanji couple. They took in Mehroo, the niece of Lady Bomanji.
- Regular religious and social events are held by the Pundol Group to honor Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji.
- On Montpellier Hill in Harrogate, a statue made of French marble honoring Mehroo Jehangir and Lady Frainy Bomanji was constructed.
