A historic mansion in Sheffield, which has stood empty for years, is finally set for a new lease of life.

Refurbishment is underway at Mount Pleasant, a striking Grade II*-listed Georgian home on Sharrow Lane, Sharrow.

The building, which dates back to 1777, is being converted to create 16 independent living apartments, which will be run by Hermes Care.

When it was first built, Mount Pleasant stood in the country on a two-acre plot with stables and a coach house, surrounded by farmland and overlooking the River Sheaf.

Plans to convert the mansion to create 18 care spaces, and to part-demolish, convert and extend the former Highfield School building on the site to create 16 suite and a 39-bedroom care home were approved back in 2022.

But Hermes applied to Sheffield City Council earlier this year for permission to carry the work out in two phases, beginning with the conversion of Mount Pleasant.

Permission was granted and builders are now on site.

Past uses include school, asylum and community centre

Mount Pleasant was built for Francis Hurt Sitwell and was later home to Samuel Broomhead Ward, a Master Cutler, and the Sheffield merchant Thomas Tillotson and his family.

It was used as an asultum for a short period in the 19th century, before housing the Girls’ Charity School, later renamed Mount Pleasant School for Girls.

It was requisitioned by the government during the Second World War and was used by various government departments but after they departed it fell into disrepair during the late 1960s and early 70s.

The property was restored and converted into a community centre, with the stables housing a youth club called the Stables Connexions Centre.

The main building has not been used for more than a decade.

Hermes Care won a ‘tender to purchase’ the property from Sheffield City Council in 2018.

Alternative proposals to transform the mansion and its grounds, creating around 200 flats, along with shops, offices and a community skills club, were rejected.