The Highland property’s owners have received the green light from planning officials to restore the 20-room Georgian mansion and turn it into five luxury holiday apartments and a spa.
Chanel influence
The works will be undertaken by Bell Ingram Design on behalf of clients Ghulam Choudry and Aamer Waheed, and although the designers are not sure what the interiors will look like yet, they want the final result to reflect Chanel’s influence.
Iain Cram, director at Bell Ingram Design, said: “Rosehall still encompasses much of the detail from when the 2nd Duke of Westminster lived there which makes the conservation of the property very interesting for us.
“This is a new subject of conservation for us working with steel and concrete but we will still have a strong nod to the 1920s/30s Chanel influence had on the property. Although we don’t know what the final interiors will look like, we hope to recreate as much of the original decor as possible.
“We think that Rosehall House will become one of the grandest properties in Scotland once complete.”
Chanel Archive specialists have been brought into the project to provide support in preserving the designer’s heritage.
Difficult restoration
The B-listed Sutherland building has been uninhabited for over 60 years, and as much as 60 per cent of the interiors have now worn away. Moreover, the terrain on which the property was built is a sensitive wildlife habitat, meaning restoration will be a long process.
“A great deal of work will be needed to restore Rosehall as sadly it has been uninhabited for the past 60 years.
“The council has been very supportive throughout this process however, so seeing the plans finally approved is great. The sensitive landscape on which Rosehall is based means we had to take several factors into consideration including wildlife studies, bat surveys and mitigating strategies to ensure all local habitats were safe,” added Cram.
Built in 1822, Rosehall Estate became famous when Chanel started using it as a romantic hideaway in her ten-year affair with Grosvenor. Since then, it attracted a range of famous visitors including Winston Churchill in 1928.
Sold by the Duke of Westminster to the Graesser family in 1928, it was bought by current owners Save Heritage in the late 1980s.