Fight to save Sherlock Holmes house

David Leland (L) as Dr. Mortimer and Peter Cushing (R) as Sherlock Holmes in the 1968 film adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Photo / Supplied

A legal battle is being fought to save the Victorian house where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Hound Of The Baskervilles.

A High Court judge was told on Wednesday that Undershaw, located in a four-acre site at the Hindhead Crossroads near Haslemere, Surrey, is facing demolition and conversion.

The building has been seriously neglected by the owners, who view it as a "development opportunity", said a QC.

Conan Doyle scholar John Gibson, backed by many literary celebrities, was asking Justice Cranston to quash Waverley Borough Council's decision to allow the Grade II-listed building to be divided into eight separate homes.

Paul Stinchcombe QC, representing Gibson, founder of the Undershaw Preservation Trust, said there was strong public support for preserving Undershaw as a heritage asset because of its literary and historic importance.

It was the house in which Conan Doyle resurrected Sherlock Holmes, one of the most recognisable fictional characters in the world, in The Adventure Of The Empty House.

The author designed Undershaw and lived there from 1897-1907, completing 13 Sherlock Holmes stories in that time, including his most famous work, The Hound Of The Baskervilles.

Despite its literary importance, Waverley Council issued decision notices in September 2010 allowing owner Fossway Ltd permission to redevelop the property.

It had been used as a hotel since the 1920s before being left empty in 2005 and falling into disrepair.

Mr Stinchcombe said the Fossway scheme involved using concrete blocks to divide Undershaw into a terrace of three houses.

The proposals also include some demolition and the erection of a three-storey east wing to provide five townhouses and the conversion of the stable block into garages.

Mr Stinchcombe said there were 1360 objections to the Fossway proposals, including local MP Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary; Julian Barnes, who set his Booker Prize-nominated novel Arthur And George in Undershaw; writer Ian Rankin and writer and broadcaster Stephen Fry.

- AAP