Nicholas Ashton died in 1833 leaving the house to his son Joseph Ashton who in turn left it to his son Charles Ellis Ashton. Charles Ellis later sold the house in 1865 to James Reddecliffe Jeffery who was the owner of Liverpool's largest department store "Compton House", located on Church Street. A fire at the store on 1 December 1865 destroyed much of Jeffery's uninsured stock eventually leading to the business failing. Jeffery put the house up for action in 1869 but failed to find a buyer until 1877 when Liverpool shipowner Frederick Richards Leyland purchased the house for £19,000 moving with his family from nearby Speke Hall Leyland who was somewhat of an art enthusiast decorated the house with paintings of varying styles including Edward Burne-Jones's "Night and Day" and Ford Madox Brown's "The Entombment". Leyland later sold the building to the McGuffies a family of shipowners who demolished the west wing and converted it into a Hydropathic Hotel. After living there for some 30 years the hotel closed in 1912