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Bristol estate agent Hollis Morgan will be getting a reputation as an art dealer, as well as a seller of houses. Just days after selling a building with an early Banksy mural on the side elevation, the firm has brought to market another property – with perhaps the street artist’s best-known Bristol mural as a feature.
1 Unity Street – complete with Banksy’s well-known study on the theme of sex and infidelity, Well Hung Lover, is being sold at auction on February 12 – just a couple of days before Valentine’s Day – with a guide price of £700,000.
Situated at a prominent spot at the bottom of Park Street – and painted from scaffolding behind tarpaulin – Well Hung Lover was painted in 2006 on the side of what was then the Brook sexual health clinic.
It features a naked man hanging from a window as a suspicious besuited husband looks for him, his concerned-looking wife – wearing black underwear – attempting to coax him away from the window.
Well Hung Lover photographed by Richard Cocks published under Creative Commons licence
The mural sparked a change in attitude from Bristol City Council which had, until then, been removing art by Banksy and others as soon as it appeared. Council bosses were said to be particularly cross about Banksy’s stencilled frogman who emerged from an ornamental fountain outside the council chambers.
But when Well Hung Lover appeared just over the road from City Hall, the council created an online poll asking residents if they wanted it kept or removed. A whopping 97 per cent wanted it to stay.
In 2022, Bristol artists Jasmine Thompson, Parys Gardener and Abbi Bayliss collaborated to create a projected installation called Neighbours, featuring other windows – and the residents within – adjacent to the Banksy as part of the Bristol Light Festival.
Neighbours, an installation projected onto Well Hung Lover as part of Bristol Light Festival 2022
1 Unity Street is being marketed as a five-bedroom house with development opportunity, with a guide price of £700,000. The ground-floor commercial premises has been the home of Bristol Festivals, the registered charity that supports and advocates for the festival and events community in Bristol, for almost 10 years.
Hollis Morgan say the Grade II listed Georgian terrace, with accommodation over five floors, have most recently been occupied as offices, but would be suitable for conversion for residential use.
It is understood the property will be sold with a restrictive covenant stipulating that the mural cannot be removed from the building, and should remain visible to the public.
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