A homeowner has discovered a perfectly preserved advert showing an artist’s impression of her three-bedroom semidetached house 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 pounds (approx US$875).
Julie believes it has passed down from generation to generation until falling into her hands after she purchased the house for 60,000 pounds (approx. US$83,500) 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 offered prospective buyer’s spacious rooms, a tiled bathroom, 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.
The sellers said the house was “available to view day and night.”
Interested parties were asked to part with a modest 33 pound (US$45) deposit before paying the full 628 pounds, which is the equivalent of 45,000 pounds (approx. US$62,600) 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 pounds (approx. US$348,000), 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.
“It’s been a brilliant home for us,” she said, adding: “the ad came with the house and it has been passed down by all the previous owners.
“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 of selling the house, but that if she ever does, she will pass the ad along with the sale.
“I think it’s only right that the ad stays with the house after all these years,” Julie said.
“I just hope the next owners appreciate as much as I do and keep hold of it.”
