Dream House: the best homes of 2018
We’ve sold more properties this year than any other since we started over a decade ago. And, from contemporary barn conversions to mid-century townhouses via rural retreats and coastal boltholes, we’ve represented a wide variety of living spaces. Here, we run through our most-viewed homes of 2018.
1. The Penthouse, Isokon Building, Lawn Road, London NW3
Our most-viewed home this year is a worthy winner, being the pièce de résistance of The Isokon, widely considered the apogee of the Modernist movement in the UK.
The flat was designed by architect Wells Coates and completed in 1934 and, thanks to sensitive restoration and preservation, looks today much the same as it did then, with beech-veneer panelling and chequerboard pattern timber floors.
2. Christchurch Hill, London NW3
Who doesn’t love what could be the archetypal London family home: a double fronted period house in Hampstead with a terraced rear garden?
The house retains much of its period charm with original details including floorboards, sash windows, architraves and range cooker.
3. Thursford Barn, Norfolk
A more modest favourite this year was Thursford Barn, a small 17th-century barn, converted into a two-bedroom home by Lynch Architects.
We liked how the original architectural use of the barn is celebrated in conjunction with harmonious contemporary additions like a birch plywood staircase that cleverly doubles as shelving.
4. Powis Mews, London W11
This house is one for the design enthusiasts. The home, studio and de facto gallery of celebrated designer Ross Lovegrove is a sprawling warehouse conversion in Notting Hill featuring bespoke details and experimental projects.
5. Whitstable, Kent
This charming cottage in Whitstable elegantly responds to its coastal surrounds, incorporating the local vernacular forms of timber-clad fishing huts that can be found along the harbour front.
6. Housden House, South Hill Park, London NW3
This year, for the first time in its history, Housden House, one of the great post-war Modern houses in London, was sold via The Modern House.
Fusing early Modernist principles with ideas from De Stijl and design cues from Pierre Chareau’s Maison de Verre in Paris, Brian Housden created a truly extraordinary home, which overlooks the ponds in Hampstead Heath.
7. The Shed, Tokavaig, Isle of Skye
Anyone with dreams of packing in the rat race, selling up and escaping to a far-flung corner of Scotland is likely to have spent a while gawping at this magical home overlooking Loch Eishort on the southern end of Skye.
8. Assington, Suffolk
The impressive expanse of this barn conversion in Suffolk is described in no better words than the architects that designed it, David Nossiter Architects, who said the house is “of cathedral-like proportions”.
We like the glazing that has been incorporated into the design of the refurbishment, with views of the surrounding agricultural land establishing a link to the building’s previous use as a farm building.
9. Mare Street, London E8
Another renovation by Lynch Architects, this house on Mare Street is a Grade-II listed terrace, elegantly reimagined to comprise an atmospheric contemporary living space.
“The architects who sold this have been our clients for a number of years, so it’s been really interesting to see the trajectory of things they have designed. This was their main home, and I like the way they lived in it: very stylish, obviously, but still homely,” said Director of Home Sales Rosie Falconer about the house.
10. Crowan, Cornwall
This large estate in Cornwall is comprised of three self-contained cottages and a main detached house, which occupies a Grade-II listed building dating from 1880.
The rural abode sits in 3.65 acres of land, which is populated by formal gardens, woodland, and a natural swimming pond.
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