Banksy has offered to raise £10million to buy the prison which once held Oscar Wilde and was adorned with artwork by the street artist earlier this year.
Developers had planned to turn HMP Reading into flats but plans fell through due to heritage issues over the site, which has been disused since 2013.
As a result, the prison went back on the market for £10million and Banksy has offered to raise the funds by selling the stencil he used to paint a mural on the wall of the Grade II listed building in March this year.
The stencil has an estimated value of between £10million and £15million and will be sold privately and not at auction.
It is understood the offer is contingent on the site being used as an arts complex, in line with a £2.6million bid made by Reading Borough Council last year which was rejected by the Ministry of Justice.
Bristol based artist Banksy has offered to raise £10million to buy Reading Prison which once held Oscar Wilde and was adorned with artwork by the street artist earlier this year (pictured)
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Banksy said: 'I had very little interest in Reading until I was on a rail replacement bus service that went past the jail.
'It's rare to find an uninterrupted 500m-long paintable surface slap bang in the middle of a town; I literally clambered over the passenger next to me to get a closer look.
'I promised myself I'd paint the wall even before I knew what it was. I'm passionate about it now, though.
'Oscar Wilde is the patron saint of smashing two contrasting ideas together to create magic. Converting the place that destroyed him into a refuge for art feels so perfect we have to do it.'
Banksy has only sold one stencil before, making it his rarest art form, while the record for a Banksy work stands at £18.5million.
The record was set for Love is in the Bin at Sotheby's in October -which is the remains of a piece that was partially shredded during an auction in 2018.
Banksy says he will fund the purchase by selling the stencil he used to paint 'Create Escape' on the prison wall earlier this year (pictured) which has an estimated value of up to £15million
Reading Borough Council had submitted a bid to buy the prison last year to convert it into an arts centre but the bid was rejected by the Ministry of Justice and it went back on the market
Built in 1844 and formerly known as Reading Gaol, the council has long lobbied for the site to be turned into an arts centre celebrating its heritage.
Reading Prison is renowned as the location where Oscar Wilde served two years' hard labour for 'gross indecency' from 1895 to 1897 and is the subject of his poem 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol'.
