A Year in Review: 2021 at The Modern House – a lookback worth the wait
We sold some of the most extraordinary homes in the country
Above all else, our first love is selling beautiful living spaces – and 2021 has been our very best year for it yet. In fact, the UK’s housing market celebrated a boom with the highest level of completed home sales since 2007, thanks to the government’s stamp duty holiday. As for us? We achieved 101 per cent of the asking price throughout the entire year and won the EA Masters Award for Best National Estate Agency in December.
So, let’s recap: the pandemic has influenced our home-buying habits in many ways, one being that buildings with outdoor space are golden – and this Grade II-listed family home with a beautiful bucolic garden was one of our favourites in the field; likewise this converted Baptist church in Suffolk. But we also noticed a trend for homes with playful features to make staying in all the more enticing. We even sold an apartment with an indoor sunken Japanese bath, as well as one with its very own wine tap.
Although there have been some remarkable spaces in the capital – you especially loved the areas of Brockley, Stoke Newington, Clapton, Deptford and Hornsey – we’ve seen a rise in inspiring homes around the rest of the UK, too. We loved Thelma Archer’s converted barn in the Boat of Garten, Scotland; were surprised by a former train carriage in Dungeness; and discovered this Grade II-listed congregational Chapel in Wiltshire. Places in the south-west did exceptionally well, where our Senior Appraisals Specialist, Lucy Drane, is permanently located. Speaking of out-of-town homes, we’ve even sold plots of land in rural Hampshire and on the beachfront of Camber Sands – along with the brilliant ideas of what they’ll transform into.
There’s nothing that really excites us like thoughtful design – and that has come in many forms. We love to see innovative sustainable homes responding to environmental demands: BedZED’s ingenious carbon-zero development is a leading example in this category. It’s always intriguing to see buildings with former lives transformed into something new. This year, that included a RIBA Award-winning former brewery cooperage and a home within a Grade I-listed Christopher Wren-designed masterpiece.
And then there are those that simply showcase brilliance by making smart use of a constraining plot – from architect Hugh Strange’s self-designed home on the site of a former pub to the aptly named Pocket House, a RIBA House-nominated star of Grand Designs. To conclude this section, we can’t resist highlighting a handful of mid-century houses, from Foggo & Thomas’ 1960s design to Geoffry Powell’s modernist building and John Winter’s former home.
We launched our sister site, Inigo
One of our biggest success stories of 2021 was the launch of our sister site, Inigo. Named after the eminent self-taught architect Inigo Jones, the agency celebrates Britain’s most beautiful historic homes. Since its first listings went live last March, Inigo has had a spectacular year, becoming known for showcasing the most awe-inspiring spaces, ranging from a lavish apartment within a handsome red-brick mansion block built in the 1880s that boasts Henry James, T. S. Eliot and Ian Fleming as former residents, to a listed Georgian family home overlooking a park founded in Roman times, and this meticulously restored mid-17th-century cottage. Our sibling sure has done us proud.
On the editorial side of things, Inigo’s Almanac spent the year peeping through the keyholes of some of the finest homes in the country, where art, antiques and tremendous textiles all vied for our attention. From the chintzy abundance of a frill-seeking interior designer’s manor in Norfolk to a treasure-filled Victorian flat of a first-time buyer in Kentish Town, there was something for everyone.
Our team is bigger and brighter than ever
All the exceptional homes aside, there’s nothing that makes working here as wonderful as the people themselves. Even in the wake of the pandemic, your love of beautiful spaces flourished, and in response, our team grew by 40%. Much to our delight, the easing of restrictions meant that we were able to spend more time together – both in the office and further afield. For instance, in summer, we went on a trip to the Henry Moore Sculpture Park in Hertfordshire, which was followed by dinner (and late-night dancing) at Bistrotheque in Hackney, east London.
While there are too many brilliant new names to announce, there’s one that assisted the evolution of a particular area of the business. Former architect Louise Rutherford joined The Modern House as Appraisals Specialist to cater to the demand for homes in East Anglia. Living in the area, she’s something of an expert. We’ve since been delighted by the homes she’s championed, including the impeccably designed Reed House in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
We launched Issue No.2 and 3 of The Modern House Magazine
In April and September, we respectively released issue No.2 and 3 of The Modern House Magazine. Our second edition featured stories on Alison and Peter Smithson’s brutalist rural retreat Upper Lawn, Gill Mellor’s allotment on the Devon coast and Terry Ellis’ Tokyo apartment. Meanwhile, for the third magazine, we visited Pillwood House and Creek Vean in Cornwall, Christoph Bon’s villa in the south of France and the nomadic yak herders and artisans behind Norlha on the Tibetan Plateau.
No.3 was our first to be made in a more open, freer world – something we took full advantage of. We hosted a launch party at our headquarters, inviting friends, collaborators and subjects from the magazine, including designer Rosh Mahtani of Alighieri and Junior Adesanya of Cremate London, to come and celebrate with us. We then opened our doors for a two-day pop-up shop, selling Alighieri’s jewellery, Cremate London’s incense, alongside an exhibition of the work of landscape photographer Catherine Hyland. You might have spotted her work within – and on the cover of – the magazine itself. But best of all? We were able to meet more of you.
We celebrated the publication of Matt Gibberd’s new book, A Modern Way to Live
On to another insightful read: in October, our co-founder Matt Gibberd’s latest book, A Modern Way to Live, was published by Penguin. The book is an exploration of how to live in my thoughtful ways, guided by five timeless design principles: space, light, materials, nature and decoration. “A Modern Way to Live is the size of a small cookbook – it can be read in one go like a novel, or dipped into over months and years,” Matt told us upon its release. And within its 320 beautifully illustrated pages are carefully selected images of some of the finest homes to grace The Modern House since our inception.
And, along with reading, we shared plenty of listening and watching material, too
This year, we featured a whole host of guests on The Modern House Podcast, many of which we’ve admired for a very long time: John Pawson, Claire Wright, Margaret Howell, Jay Osgerby, our co-founder Albert Hill and many more. We enjoyed conversations between our host Matt and his guests about some of the world’s most wonderful living spaces – big and small, far and wide and everything in between. Plus, in a very special episode, John Pawson invited Matt over for a walking tour of Home Farm, his self-designed countryside residence in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire.
Lastly, we continued to produce more in-house films for your viewing pleasure. Our yearly reel included videos on director Steve Barron’s hemp house, Margent Farm, the reconfigured Victorian home of Design District designer Helen Arvanitakis, and architect Barbara Weiss’ transformed countryside cottage in Wiltshire. But we also delved into the creative pursuits of some of Britain’s most exciting artisan’s working today, with our limited series, Modern Makers. And spoiler alert: there are many more films – oh, and TikTok – coming soon in 2022.
RELATED ON THE MODERN HOUSE
Good Fellow: Matt Gibberd and Albert Hill join the RIBA as Honorary Fellows
A Year in Review: 2022 at The Modern House
The Modern House presents: Drawing Room, by Rich Stapleton
Bright Future: The Modern House is a B Corp
The Modern House x LN-CC: a collaboration exploring fashion, design and architecture
Win a three-night stay at eco retreat Praktyka in North Devon
Home Work: have your images of home published in the next issue of our magazine
Our latest print magazine has nature at its heart – and is filled with green ideas for sunnier months
In scenic Welsh countryside, Little Harp is a 400-year-old stone house turned holiday cottage, filled with 20th-century art and furniture
A Modern Way to Live, the new book by our co-founder Matt Gibberd, is here