A Year in Review: 2022 at The Modern House
We sold the UK’s most extraordinary homes
In the 17 years that we’ve been selling beautiful homes, 2022 presented one of the most changeable markets we’ve worked in. But, in spite of the challenges, we achieved 101 per cent of the asking price across all sales, proving the enduring value of good design. Our dedicated team also progressed sales almost six weeks faster than the national average (as reported by Rightmove). We’re proud to have sold homes of all shapes and sizes, from this mid-century masterpiece in London to this one-bedroom apartment in Glasgow – and, with as many new listings already lined up for January, we can’t wait to show you more of the best design-led homes in 2023. But first, let’s take a look back at some of our most spectacular sales of this year…
As our long-term readers know, our first love is mid-century homes – and over the past 12 months, we’ve sold some extraordinary ones. There was this Grade II-listed 1960s marvel in Hampstead; this Grade II-listed 1950s home with virtually untouched interiors; and this 1960s single-storey home on the Dulwich Estate in south-east London. And then there was this coastal home in East Sussex: not only is it an exquisite example of modernist architecture, but it has an interesting story too, coming to us after our co-founder Albert Hill wrote a letter of admiration to the owners in 2008, expressing his interest in selling it if they ever chose to put it on the market.
We also sold a spectrum of contemporary homes with sustainability at their heart. Who could forget Daniel Sanderson’s self-designed house in Stoke Newington? He handcrafted every inch of the woodwork using responsibly sourced materials from his on-site workshop. In Somerset, we were equally impressed with Lizbeth Holstein and Sebastian Galbraith-Helps’ environmentally minded house and natural swimming pond, which they built on the site of an old forge and this Passivhaus-certified home. There was also this award-winning house within the eco-housing community of Forgebank, in the village of Halton. Good design and green credentials – what’s not to love?
Our Senior Appraisals Specialist, Lucy Drane, and Appraisals Specialist, Louise Rutherford, based in Somerset and Norfolk respectively, brought remarkable homes in some of the most remote parts of the UK to the market – and you loved them as much we did. In Scotland, for example, we sold this contemporary home in Glenelg in the Highlands, and this award-winning house in Heaste on the Isle of Skye, which we featured in Issue No.4 of our magazine (more on that to come). We also crowned it our most-loved home on Instagram this year. Over in Wales, meanwhile, there was this overhauled 18th-century farmhouse in the Brecon Beacons, superbly restored and extended by its architect owner, Russell Jones, who we thoroughly enjoyed talking to when we visited.
But we also lusted after plenty of the living spaces we listed in London. We were particularly overwhelmed by the warm response to this rare Type 8A apartment on the Barbican Estate, which we sold in the summer. There were an abundance of thoughtfully renovated period buildings in the capital too, from this expertly extended Georgian home in Stockwell to this Victorian terraced house in Nunhead. Oh, and we can’t not mention Bosco, a beautiful barge on the River Thames.
Meanwhile, in the world of prime sales, we also saw a particular demand for homes in the capital, such as this Grade II-listed house in Highgate. “It is rare to find a house that succeeds as a dramatic piece of architecture and as a home,” wrote Colin Amery of the Architects Journal in 1973. We couldn’t agree more and were overjoyed to sell it earlier this year. Another prime gem included this three-bedroom townhouse in Fulham, which we sold with planning permission for the addition of a third floor. We can’t wait to see what the completed project looks like.
We celebrated a year of Inigo
In March, we said cheers to our companion brand turning one with a birthday bash at Brunswick House in Vauxhall, south-west London. Our teams were joined by friends of Inigo, including Lucinda Chambers, Kitten Grayson, Viola Lanari and Matilda Goad – and we all enjoyed an evening of conversation, as well as a glorious gâteau by Nez Beresford. What a night!
Since then, Inigo has gone from strength to strength selling beautiful historic homes. This Grade II-listed Regency cottage in Stockwell particularly caught our eye – we loved its pared-back colour scheme and honest material palette. Other London jewels in Inigo’s crown included Christopher Le Brun and Charlotte Verity’s Victorian house in Camberwell; Charlie Gower and Jules Miller’s end-of-terrace Huguenot house in Spitalfields; and Doug Albon’s handcrafted house in Brixton. Inigo had success outside of London too, with this beautiful 18th-century Lincolnshire house and this late 17th-century home a short stroll from the seafront in Deal, among others.
But it’s the new additions to the team that has brought us the most joy over the past 12 months. In fact, Inigo grew by 60 per cent in 2022 – and we can’t wait to see what next year brings.
If you’re looking to move to a historic home in the new year, sign up for listing alerts that suit your criteria here. Alternatively, if you have one to sell, request an appraisal today.
We became a B Corp
In September, we were incredibly proud to announce that we became a B Corp. The term – or B Corporation, as it’s also known – is used to describe businesses that have proven they’re dedicated to doing better; to ensure they meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. As Emma Mansell, our Managing Director, put it: “We have always known that thoughtful design isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about design that considers its environmental, social and cultural impact too.”
We’ve worked hard to maintain and improve the parts of our operations that are already having a positive impact – from employing Applied, the equitable hiring service, to launching our internal talk series Modern Matters, which investigates environmental, cultural and social issues in relation to design. But now our focus is on ongoing improvement and we’re looking forward to adapting and growing with people and the planet at the forefront of our minds. Read more about our journey to becoming a B Corp here.
We a released a plethora of films and podcasts – and have many more to come too
Earlier this year, we hired our in-house filmmaker, Edmund Cook, so that we could bring you weekly episodes – and it’s been our pleasure. Since then, we’ve toured Elizabeth Rose’s flood-resilient stilt house by the Thames, Jill Macnair’s peaceful retreat in the Scottish Highlands, Alice Aedy and Jack Harris’ live/work space in Hackney, among many more as part of our My Modern House series. We’ve also made films featuring some of our favourite listings, including architect Charles Wu’s hidden cork house in Forest Gate and art collector Rose Knox-Peeble’s concrete coastal home in Hove, East Sussex.
We also introduced a brand-new series called Seven Wonders, in which we invite people we admire to share their favourite things at home. We kicked things off with photographer and gallerist Ronan Mckenzie and have followed suit with stylist Monikh Dale, interior stylist Betsy Smith, architect Fahad Malik, interior designer Irenie Cossey, perfumer Maya Njie and editor Georgina Johnson. We concluded the year with a special edition, Seven Wonders of the Studio, featuring the wonderful womenswear designer and artist Nadine Mos. Stay tuned for more films in the new year – including the launch of Kitchen Stories, coming in January. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you never miss a new episode.
Meanwhile, we listened to some brilliant guests on the third series of our podcast. Kevin Carmody, architect and co-founder of Carmody Groarke, Penny Martin, editor in chief The Gentlewoman, and fashion designer Christopher Kane, to name a few, all shared their top three living spaces in the world. But this season marked the end of an era – and the start of a new one…
In 2023, we’re excited to be bringing you a new spin on our podcast, in which our host, Matt Gibberd, will invite guests to share a home from their past, present and future. Stay tuned for more details coming very soon. But before that, why not discover 24 of the best residential buildings on the map, as selected by our previous guests – and that you can add to your bucket list for 2023 and beyond.
We released Issues No.4 and No.5 of The Modern House Magazine
Let’s start with No.4, our spring/summer edition, which we released in April and in which we celebrated one of the five principles we believe are essential considerations for any living space: nature. (The others being space, material, light and decoration. For more on them, check out our co-founder Matt Gibberd’s book A Modern Way to Live). We featured stories on the artist residency Casa Balandra in Mallorca, collector and gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker’s sun-soaked home in Echo Park, Los Angeles, Margaret and Peter Aldington’s 1960s house and garden 1960s, Turn End, and Herman and Virginia Stelzer’s bungalow on stilts in Jan Juc, Australia.
No.5, meanwhile, was all about looking at the ways people push things forward by rethinking and reinventing. We commissioned Canadian artist Gab Bois to remake iconic modernist furniture using food and everyday materials, met young architect Fahad Malik at his radical residence in west London and discovered how artist Ryan Gander adapted a red-brick Georgian building for both his artistic and his accessibility needs. But one of our favourite stories in our autumn/winter 2022 edition was Home Assignment, which was all about… you. We invited readers to share images that represented home to them and published the winning submissions as part of our Portfolio series.
If you haven’t already got your copy, you can pick up Issue No.5 here or buy a set of Issues No.2-5 here.
We celebrated the launch of Issue No.5 with a takeover at Shreeji Newsagents
To coincide with the release of the autumn/winter 2022 edition of The Modern House Magazine, we took over one of our favourite newsagents Shreeji on Chiltern Street in Marylebone, west London, on the weekend of its release. We invited you, our readers, down for a coffee, a flick through our magazine and the chance to buy it in person. If you couldn’t make it down, you can pick up a copy IRL at one of our wonderful stockists.
And last but not least, we hosted our first exhibition
In October, we opened our first exhibition, Drawing Room, featuring photographs of modern homes in England shot by Rich Stapleton. Having long been fans of his work, we were delighted to have Rich capture the living spaces of John Pawson, Nigel Slater and Isabel Ettedgu, as well as seminal modernist homes, such as Ernö Goldfinger’s 2 Willow Road in Hampstead. Rich “makes images with a sensitivity to light and shadow, texture, patina, nature and the beauty of objects; all things we have long championed as valuable parts of any living space at The Modern House,” said Charlie Monaghan, our Head of Editorial and Brand.
Fittingly, the images were displayed at The Cold Press, a gallery that lies within a sensitively refurbished 18th-century house in Spitalfields, east London – and to our delight, many of you came to pore over them. If you did miss the show, however, you can still experience it via our film. Plus, you can purchase the Drawing Room book, which brings together Rich’s beautiful photographs.
If you have a well-designed home to sell in the new year, click here to request an appraisal today. Or, if you’re looking to buy, sign up for listing alerts that suit your criteria here.
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