Homeowner discovers perfectly preserved advert offering her £250,000 three-bedroom home for sale for just £600 when it was first built 84 years ago
- Julie Whitaker, 62, found 84-year-old newspaper cutting advertising her home
- The ad, in the Leeds Mercury, was published two years before World War Two
- She found the cutting in a drawer in her home of 30 years in West Yorkshire
A homeowner has discovered a perfectly preserved advert showing an artist’s impression of her three-bedroom semi when it was first built eight decades ago.
Julie Whitaker, 62, unearthed the 84-year-old newspaper cutting from a drawer in her home of 30 years in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
The relic has been wonderfully preserved over the decades and is believed to have remained in the property ever since it was built around 1937, costing just £628.
Julie Whitaker, 62, discovered a perfectly preserved advert (pictured) showing an artist’s impression of her three-bedroom semi when it was first built eight decades ago
Julie believes it has passed down from generation to generation until falling into her hands after she purchased the house for £60,000 in 1992.
The ad appeared in local newspaper the Leeds Mercury two years before the Second World War when it entered the market for the first time.
It offers prospective buyer’s spacious rooms, a tiled bathroom as well as a tarmac or concrete drive and a ‘choice of fireplace’.
The three-bedroom property was so sought-after at the time that it was the builder’s show home, furnished and decorated to show the public.
Julie unearthed the 84-year-old newspaper cutting from a drawer in her home (right) of 30 years in Leeds, West Yorkshire
The sellers said the house was ‘available to view day and night’.
Interested parties were asked to part with a modest £33 deposit before paying the full £628, which is the equivalent of £45,000 today.
The house was constructed by Gill and Varley Builders, which offered it up for sale.
Now the home’s estimated worth, at £250,000, is a whopping 400 times more than when it sold for the first time in the 1930s.
Julie, who has three adult children and now lives alone, said: ‘It’s amazing to have this ad because it makes you look back and think how different things were.
‘You couldn’t even buy a shed nowadays for £600 but in those days it would get you a lovely brand new house.’
Julie moved into the house with her three children in the early ’90s.
She said, ‘it’s been a brilliant home for us’, adding ‘the ad came with the house and it has been passed down by all the previous owners.
The relic, which was originally printed in the local Leeds Mercury, has been wonderfully preserved over the decades and is believed to have remained in the property ever since it was built around 1937, costing just £628
‘It’s really nice to get something like with the property, that’s why I kept hold of it.
‘I enjoy knowing just a small bit about the building’s history and it’s nice to think of all the other people who lived here over the years.’
Since discovering the ad, Julie has covered it in a plastic wallet and put it in a frame in order to preserve its quality.
Julie, who works in finance, said she has no intention in selling the house, but that if she ever does she will pass the ad along with the sale.
She added: ‘I think it’s only right that the ad stays with the house after all these years.
‘I just hope the next owners appreciate as much as I do and keep hold of it..’
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