Historic buildings with bizarre zoo past close to being sold

Landmark historic buildings in Wakefield city centre which formed part of a 19th Century zoo and botanical gardens are close to being sold.

Wakefield Council has confirmed it is currently considering bids made for The Lodge and Milnes’ Orangery.

The buildings, on Back Lane, have a quirky history dating back to the early 19th century.

During the 1800s the site was home to a dancing bear which was kept in the grounds.

The animal managed to escape and mauled its keeper’s wife to death.

The properties and surrounding grounds have been empty for more than a decade after the council acquired them when an arts charity vacated the site.

The council is currently in the process of downsizing its estate of around 1,600 properties in a bid to save costs.

The Grade II*-listed site was previously among 19 properties earmarked for development in June 2024 when the authority was under Labour control

The 0.7-acre site went on sale on July 30 this year, with final offers around £250,000 requested by October 2.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Following the closing date for the marketing of the building, we are currently assessing bids received.”

Commercial property agents Vickers Carnley described the Orangery as “one of Wakefield city centre’s most prestigious and renowned properties.”

The company’s website states: “The property would lend itself to a variety of uses such as restaurant/bar, leisure, children’s day nursery, place of education, place of worship, training centre, clinic, community centre, to name but a few and subject to planning permission.”

Potential buyers were advised that monuments and buried remains in part of the site were linked to the adjacent Unitarian Chapel and could not be removed as they were classed as consecrated grounds.

The Orangery was built around 1800 within the garden of the home of Pemberton Milnes, a wealthy cloth manufacturer.

The Lodge building was later added to the Orangery site when it became a zoological garden, which contained a bear pit.

The Orangery became permanently separated from Milnes’ house, which still fronts onto Westgate, when Wakefield Westgate railway station was built.

Milnes died in 1835 and the Orangery was then leased out.

In 1842 it became a public baths and was also used as a Sunday school after being donated to Westgate Unitarian Chapel.

The gardens served as a graveyard and the buildings were later leased out to a succession of private schools.

The last school closed in 1957 and the building served as a hall for the chapel until 1996.