The Guardian Top News｜美国演员就祖宅“唐顿破屋”的修复问题与英国市政厅对簿公堂
自2017年起，霍普伍德·德普里一直致力于修缮米德尔顿的二级*保护建筑霍普伍德庄园。 这简直是一个适合好莱坞剧本的故事：一位来自加利福尼亚的演员搬到曼彻斯特北部的小镇，只为修缮他那破败的祖宅。 然而霍普伍德·迪普里的浪漫故事却演变成了一场噩梦——在他发现自己被拒于正在修缮的建筑门外后，如今正与当地市政厅对簿公堂，争夺该房产的所有权。 55岁的德普里自2017年起，根据与地方当局达成的协议，一直牵头修复米德尔顿的二级*保护建筑霍普伍德厅，该协议赋予他购买该建筑的优先权。 他撰写了一本书，记录自己...
自2017年起，霍普伍德·德普里一直致力于修缮米德尔顿的二级*保护建筑霍普伍德庄园。
这简直是一个适合好莱坞剧本的故事：一位来自加利福尼亚的演员搬到曼彻斯特北部的小镇，只为修缮他那破败的祖宅。
然而霍普伍德·迪普里的浪漫故事却演变成了一场噩梦——在他发现自己被拒于正在修缮的建筑门外后，如今正与当地市政厅对簿公堂，争夺该房产的所有权。
55岁的德普里自2017年起，根据与地方当局达成的协议，一直牵头修复米德尔顿的二级*保护建筑霍普伍德厅，该协议赋予他购买该建筑的优先权。
他撰写了一本书，记录自己修复这座破败大厅的努力。他将大厅戏称为“唐顿破屋”，这里曾接待过诗人拜伦勋爵。厅内至今保留着一个华丽的壁炉，那是拜伦赠予当时主人的礼物。
德普里称，去年11月，罗奇代尔市政厅在未发出任何警告的情况下突然关闭了大厅入口。当地政府表示，这位美国人未能履行协议中他应承担的部分责任。
"这令人震惊且痛心，"他表示，"因为社区众多志愿者五年来一直致力于拯救那些完全破败荒废的花园，最终将它们改造成获奖的园林。"
德普里表示，他对市议会能否保障该建筑的未来“毫无信心”，并希望获准继续推进他近十年来一直主导的修复项目。
这位演员表示，被告知在项目上进展不足令他感到“非常沮丧”，并补充道：“这耗费了我生命中多年的时光。”
“我卖掉了房子，为推进这一切提供助力，并抛下了所有，”他说道。“迄今为止，我已参与其中超过十年，并于2017年移居英格兰。”
为了实现这一目标，我已自掏腰包投入了数十万英镑。
“我全身心投入其中，并且对这个社区充满信心，”他补充道，“我深知我们付出了多少努力，此时此刻，这座建筑必须得到保护。”
德普里表示，他花了近11个月时间“试图与罗奇代尔市政厅合作寻求解决方案”，但如今他感到“别无选择，只能在高等法院起诉罗奇代尔市政厅”，以“迫使他们履行我们的协议”。
德普里的律师尼克·韦尔斯表示："我们查阅了多年来的文件和邮件，最终通过信息自由和主体访问请求获取了一些此前未被公开的证据，其中许多证据罗奇代尔区议会曾试图阻挠公开。"
韦尔斯表示：“有证据表明，市议会自2017年签订期权协议以来已改变立场。”
他补充道："我们因此请求高等法院介入，要求罗奇代尔市议会遵守其在2017年作出的决定，而非他们在2024年声称作出的决定。"
出生于密歇根州的德普里早年曾是一名演员、电影制作人和作家，他曾与华纳兄弟公司达成协议，制作并主演自己的电视节目。
他自幼常听家人讲述英格兰祖宅的故事，却一直以为只是传说。直到后来他在网上研究家族谱系，才发现了自己与曼彻斯特的血脉渊源。
“我为这座建筑奉献了一生，”他说道，“2013年我第一次专程来看它，只为一睹真容。我的祖父也叫霍普伍德，他曾给我讲过关于它的故事。”
他补充道：我当时觉得，如果我不采取行动，这件事可能会永远消失。于是，我放弃了自己的生活，从美国搬到英国。那时我完全信任委员会，以为我们是在携手合作。
罗奇代尔市政厅表示对正在进行的法律诉讼不予置评，但提及了此前就该礼堂发表过的声明。
一位发言人于11月表示："2017年，市政委员会与霍普伍德·德普里（Hopwood DePree）签订了一份期权协议。根据协议，若德普里能提出具有商业可行性的运营方案以确保该场馆的长期发展，并提交详细规划许可，他有权以象征性费用购得该建筑。"
尽管该协议自2017年以来已多次续签，但由于始终未能形成可行的商业方案和资金策略，市议会内阁最终决定不再续签这份期权协议。
该委员会将霍普伍德厅视为米德尔顿遗产的重要组成部分,”发言人表示，并补充说，在过去七年中，委员会与英格兰历史委员会等公共机构共同向该建筑投资了近170万英镑。
该委员会表示，已委托独立财务顾问评估霍普伍德制作公司（Hopwood Productions）提出的商业模式，顾问们得出结论认为，这些提案将导致亏损，且不太可能获得未来的公共或私人资金支持。
尽管霍普伍德·德普里（Hopwood Depree）已有七年时间筹备，却始终未能提出可行方案。为此，市政委员会表示，为保障投入该建筑的公共资金安全，其有责任探索其他替代方案。
该委员会仍致力于维护礼堂的长远发展，发言人补充道，并迫切希望看到其得到修复，以便在未来实现可持续利用。
Hopwood DePree has been leading efforts to renovate Grade II* listed Hopwood Hall in Middleton since 2017
It was a story fit for the pages of a Hollywood screenplay, with a California actor moving to a town in north Manchester to restore his dilapidated ancestral home.
But Hopwood DePrees romance plot has transformed instead to a horror, after he found himself locked out the building he was restoring, and now battling the local council in court for possession of the property.
DePree, 55, has been leading efforts to restore Grade II* listed Hopwood Hall in Middleton since 2017, under an agreement with the local authority, which gave him an option to buy the building.
He has written a book about his efforts to restore the derelict hall, which he has nicknamed Downton Shabby, and which once hosted Lord Byron. It still contains an ornate fireplace that the poet gifted to the then owners.
In November last year, DePree said, Rochdale council suddenly locked the gates to the hall without any warning whatsoever, with the local authority saying the American had not upheld his part of the deal.
It was a big shock and really devastating, he said, because so many of our volunteers from the community have been putting in five years rescuing the gardens that were completely in rack and ruin, and they turned them around into award-winning gardens.
DePree said he had no confidence in the council to secure the future of the building, and wanted to be allowed to carry on with the restoration project he had been spearheading for the best part of a decade.
The actor said it was really upsetting to be told he had not made enough progress on the project, adding: Its been years and years of my life.
I sold my house to help enable everything moving forward, and I left everything behind, he said. At this point, its been over 10 years that Ive been involved, and I moved to England in 2017.
Ive spent hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds of my own personal money to make this happen.
Im completely invested in it, and also I believe in the community, he added. I know how much hard work that we put in that at this point, this building has to be saved.
DePree said he has spent almost 11 months trying to work with Rochdale council to find a resolution, but now felt he had been left with no choice but to sue Rochdale council in the high court in order to force them to honour our agreement.
DePrees lawyer, Nick Wells, said: We have reviewed many years of documents and emails and eventually obtained some previously unseen evidence through freedom of information and subject access requests, many of which Rochdale borough council tried to block.
Wells said the evidence points to the council having changed its position since entering into the option agreement in 2017.
We are therefore asking the high court to intervene and hold Rochdale council to the decisions that they made in 2017, he added, rather than the decisions they have purported to have made in 2024.
In a previous life, Michigan-born DePree was an actor, film-maker, and writer, who once won a deal with Warner Bros to produce and star in his own television show.
He grew up listening to stories of the familys ancestral home in England, but believed them to be fairytales, until he began researching his family tree online, and discovered his Manchester roots.
Ive given up my life for this building, he said. I came over to visit it first in 2013, just to see it. My grandfather was also named Hopwood, so he told me stories about it.
I felt that if I didnt do something that it would fall into being lost forever, he added. So I gave up my life. I moved over from the US to the UK. I completely trusted the council at the time; I thought we were working in partnership together.
Rochdale council said it does not comment on continuing legal proceedings, but pointed to previous statements it had made about the hall.
A spokesperson said in November: In 2017, the council entered into an options agreement with Hopwood DePree which gave him the option to buy the building for a nominal fee if he could produce a commercially viable business model to secure the long-term future of the hall, alongside a detailed planning permission.
Although this agreement has been renewed a number of times since 2017, a viable business case and funding strategy has not been forthcoming, and so the councils cabinet has made the decision to not renew the options agreement.
The council sees Hopwood Hall as a very important part of Middletons heritage, the spokesperson said, adding that alongside other public bodies such as Historic England, it had invested almost 051.7m into the building over the past seven years.
The council said it had commissioned independent financial consultants to assess the business model proposed by Hopwood Productions and they concluded that these proposals would be loss-making and unlikely to be able to secure future public or private funding.
As Hopwood Depree has not been able to produce a viable proposal, despite having had seven years to do so, the council said that in order to protect public money invested in the building it had a responsibility to explore alternative options.
The council remains committed to the long-term future of the hall, the spokesperson added, and is keen to see it restored, so it can be brought into a viable future use.
