Winston Churchill stayed there. He visited Plymouth in 1941, to see at first
hand the effects of the Luftwaffe’s bombing campaign on the city.

King George IV also stayed there, but its secret history lies in a two-mile
warren of underground tunnels.

They are entered via a bunker built in 1940, its seven-feet reinforced
concrete roof designed to withstand a 500lb bomb direct hit.

The tunnels, now damp and eerily dark in places, reek of military history. You
pass old mess rooms and briefing areas, canteens and abandoned telecoms
centres, all secured by foot-thick steel doors.

Until a decade ago, this subterranean world was full of 200 naval staff
working 24-7. Even the people of Plymouth did not know of the
cloak-and-dagger operations engineered from below their land. It was where
model ships were moved across tables to monitor naval manoeuvres in the
Western Approaches at the end of the Second World War.

Nor did Plymouthians know that the tunnels were a nerve centre of secret
intelligence and telecommunications guiding naval operations during the
Falklands War in 1982.

These days, however, the talk is of executive homes, not Exocet missiles. The
vast, 28-acre site, including some of the land above the tunnels, will
eventually host 469 homes, including a terrace of new-build, Georgian-style
town houses.

Prices are set to be relatively modest when the first properties are completed
in 2012, ranging from £120,000 to £400,000. But the draw for many buyers is
likely to be the view of the beautiful waterfront and the historic mansion.

“The people of Plymouth could never see this piece of their history nor this
outstanding view. This was a closed naval site, heavily restricted, so now
we’re opening it up for the first time,” explains Angus Macdonald of Galion
Holdings, the company behind the construction work, which will continue
until 2014.

Little wonder that more than 4,000 people visited when an open weekend was
staged at the site recently.

Quite a few bought homes – there were £1.5 million of sales in just two days –
but all those involved with the scheme accept that most people were there to
see the building and view that had been denied to them in the past.

The development will eventually include a cricket pitch, a boutique hotel,
small business units and a gastropub. Talks are under way to turn the
tunnels into a data centre, securely storing banks of computer servers for
businesses across the world.

“Schemes like this, bringing older buildings and sites back to life are really
catching the imagination of the public,” says Andrew Bullivant of King
Sturge, the estate agency selling the Mount Wise homes.

“We’ve had inquiries from the Middle East and the Far East, from people with
sons and daughters at the [Plymouth-based] Peninsula College of Medicine and
Dentistry, and the University of Plymouth. That’s a first for the city.”

Just a mile away, there is another example of how homes can reinvent historic
waterfront buildings that had been left unused for almost two decades.

This one is Royal William Yard, the generic name for five prominent blocks and
a host of smaller buildings constructed between 1826 and 1835 to serve as
the Royal Navy’s canteen.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scores of coopers were hired at the yard
to build kegs to transport sailors’ victuals and beer.

Churchill also visited the Royal William Yard, itself largely unaffected by
the bombing, and civilian areas of the city that had been hit in the Blitz
of spring 1941.

But the yard shut in 1992 – part of Royal Navy spending cuts – and the stone
warehouses and workshops fell into disrepair.

Vandalism and decay followed, and the area became better known for drugs,
discouraging attempts to find 21st-century uses for the buildings.

That is until Urban Splash – the award-winning developer that has converted
historic buildings such as Fort Dunlop in the Midlands into homes and
business premises – started on the 16-acre site.

The result is stunning.

Despite the difficulty of working with listed buildings made of limestone and
granite, the developer has turned the buildings into more than 200
apartments. The scheme pioneered features hitherto unseen in the West
Country, such as wet rooms and loft-style interiors.

Royal William has won a string of design awards and has been a roaring
commercial success. There are just a few flats left to sell, at prices from
£250,000 to £650,000. Most shops and business units are full.

The marina and harbour at the heart of the scheme have just opened, making
this the most impressive development in Devon. It has views of the Tamar
that were denied to the public until homes replaced the supply yards.

Buyers such as Amelia and Frank Tummer from Bristol were quick to recognise
that Royal William Yard was something special.

“We wanted a second home by the water, with a real history, offering more than
just an old period house,” says Frank, a garden-centre owner and,
appropriately, a keen amateur military historian.

“To think of the wars and Navy activities fuelled by the food from this place,
and to imagine how this development saved the buildings from decay, adds a
lot to our enjoyment.”

The couple bought their apartment two years ago and hope to move in
permanently when they retire. Local estate agents say they are just one
couple among many buyers drawn in by the dramatic history of the site.

“It’s beautiful, an extraordinary credit to the city and a remarkable use of
redundant public property,” says Andrew Bullivant, a partner at King Sturge.

“This was a complete eyesore and there had been failed attempts to turn it
into an industrial and business area. Housing was the only way to do it.”

A new book, Beauty in Decay, shows the extent of the problem of decayed public
buildings worldwide. It looks at Paris, Rome and even Odessa. They are all
locations where wrecks have a chance of being converted into something other
than what the authors call the “new, polished, uniform and mundane”
modern architecture.

Unlikely as it may seem, the West Country may be a pioneer in this.

While it has its share of redundant schools, hospitals and council offices,
what makes the region different is its large number of military bases and
sites.

The enormous Portland Royal Naval Air Station near Chesil Beach in Dorset has
become Osprey Quay, a collection of swanky homes and a marina, plus the
athletes’ village for the sailing events at the 2012 Olympic Games.

And an old RAF base at Weston-super-Mare is now the site for a 2,000-home
expansion for the Somerset town.

More historic buildings in Plymouth are set to be converted into homes soon.
There was a reprieve of sorts in the coalition Government’s recent spending
review, when local fears that the naval base may be closed proved completely
unfounded. However, as the city’s Devonport Dockyard contracts, so the
Ministry of Defence is selling parts of it off.

Industrial and office occupiers want shiny new buildings that meet modern energy-efficiency
targets and conform with health and safety regulations. So most of these
historic buildings are attracting the interest of housing developers.

“Devonport’s South Yard will be sold soon. It has lovely, old, listed
buildings, including The Ropery, where the Navy’s ropes were manufactured,”
says Ian Thompson of the South West Regional Development Agency, a quango
soon to be abolished.

“Also the Hangman’s Cells, which were used when there was capital punishment
in Nelson’s days.

“There will be some Admiralty Cottages, too, where senior naval officers used
to stay.”

Opportunities like this, happening frequently in the West Country, may become
a template for the rest of Britain in the times of austerity that lie ahead.

The Government maintains that a wholesale disposal of public property is not
on the agenda, but some local public bodies say that outdated police
stations, schools and hospitals will be sold.

Even public land, including forests, may be offered to the private sector.

“Plymouth has shown what can be done. Old public buildings can thrive if put
into the right private hands,” insists Andrew Bullivant.

And the result, he says “is nothing short of beautiful”.

Pros and cons of living in a public building

Pros

• Distinctive buildings with documented histories in unusual locations

• Conversions produce homes with unusual shapes and high ceilings

• Most West Country public buildings are in town centres

Cons

• Often a premium attached to homes in stylish conversions

• Most old public buildings are converted into flats, not houses

• Large rooms typical of public buildings are expensive to heat and run

Other former pubic buildings for sale

• Priston, Somerset – this building dates back to 1750 but only recently
  became a home again when it was shut down as a post office. There are
  five bedrooms, four reception rooms and lots of original features. £695,000
  from Hamptons International (01225 312244; www.hamptons.co.uk)

• Hatherleigh, Devon – ’ello, ’ello, ’ello… what’s
  this ex-police station doing ’ere, then? Despite having undergone
  an extensive refurbishment, this pretty Grade II-listed period home
  still has cells and a judge’s robing room. Sadly, the address is
  not “Letsby Avenue”. It is priced at £349,950 from John
  D Wood (020 7908 1108; www.johndwood.co.uk)

• Plymouth, Devon – this is The Victoria, a former school now converted
  into homes. This two-bedroom apartment has a gallery above the living
  room as an extra bonus. The setting is extremely convenient for the city
  centre, local parks, public tennis courts, marinas and more. £169,950
  from King Sturge (01752 202121; www.kingsturge.co.uk)

• Horrabridge, Devon – built in 1875, this former school is now a
  distinctive, six-bedroom home, complete with its original bell tower and
  bell. It has been used as a bed and breakfast, owner’s
  accommodation and a self-contained cottage wing, so there are plenty of
  en suites. £685,000 from Fulfords (01392 660007; www.fulfords.co.uk)

Royal William Yard, 01752 254604; www.urbansplash.co.uk

Mount Wise Village by The Sea, 01752 676633; www.mountwise.co.uk

Beauty in Decay, by RomanyWG, published by Carpet Bombing Culture, £19.99