Moderns In England

Being a little bit bored with what’s available locally, I decided to see what moderns were to be had in my home country.  First off, I noticed that real estate websites are a whole lot more useful over there.  The pictures look better, many listings have floor plans, and they have more detail than I’ve ever seen here.  This is a listing for a plain old terrace (row) house, you can even check the broadband speed available.  Makes up for the nightmare that buying a house in England can be.

Example one is a let (rental) in the southeast of London.  Forest Mews, London SE23, is one of a trio of homes around a shared courtyard.  For $4,764/month, you get 3 bedrooms and 1.75 bathrooms on the upper floor; the ground floor has a private courtyard between the living and dining/kitchen areas.  There is a half bath off the entrance hallway.  Square footage is 1,315.

Next is a single story house on a 0.4 acre site, designed by the architect John Penn in 1966.  This $1,284,000 house near Rendham, Suffolk, is 1,690 square feet, and has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  It is one of a celebrated group of nine Suffolk houses by Penn, referred to as the ‘temple’ houses due to the classical symmetry of their planning and the fact that many are raised off the ground on a platform or stylobate.

My final pick is back in London, where the prices are insanely high.  So I picked one under a million.  $848,000 would have (sold already) bought you this award winning two bedroom, one bathroom house built around a private courtyard on Hales Street in southeast London.  They used reclaimed bricks, floor tiles and granite setts (cobble stones); many were salvaged by the original owner from the banks of the Thames.  It is small, 657 square feet not including the courtyard.  Prices there are really insane.