Category: Architecture

If you have money to spend on a European retreat in this volatile financial climate, you might want to check out this Jean Prouve-designed house in L’Isle Adam, Val d’Oise in France.

Jean Prouve (the man behind the likes of the Cite armchair and the Compas desk) designed this space age property back in 1967, with restoration (thankfully in the same spirit as the original) undertaken in 2003, saving original features like the large picture windows, the metal structure and the roof terrace. The view remains unchanged too – sat in the middle of the Vexin nature reserve. And when you get bored of that, Paris is just 45 minutes away.

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One for our US readers (or UK readers with an urge to relocate) – the Philip Johnson-designed mid-century house in New Canaan, Connecticut, NY, USA.

Johnson designed the house back in 1953 – and it’s a stone’s throw away from his more famous Glass House. Indeed, there’s plenty of glass in this one too, mixed with more traditional masonry, slate-tiled floors and plastered walls. There’s also a gravel courtyard at its centre, designed as a ‘negative imprint’ of the house itself.

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Got just over a million to spare? Well, you could be the owner of this stunning art deco-style 1930s house in Lytton Close, Hampstead, London.

Designed by architect GG Winbourne and grade II-listed, it’s situated in a quiet cul-de-sac in Hampstead Garden Suburb, still every bit the 1930s house from the outside, but with sympathetic modernisation on the inside. 

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It’s not called ‘Lakeside’ by accident – this 1970s-designed house on Lakeside Drive, Esher, Surrey is right on the water.

Which is great if you like that kind of thing, probably slightly less enticing if your swimming isn’t up to scratch. The house as one of a group designed in 1975 by renowned architect Royston Summers. And it certainly screams the era, that glass and brick combination something you’ll love or hate.

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Finding mid-century properties in original condition isn’t easy these days, but this Cockaigne House in Hatfield, Hertfordshire is one of the few.

This single-story house was designed in the mid-1960s by architects Peter Phippen, Peter Randall and David Parkes and has been in the same hands ever since – and with very little change in that time. Which means it requires ‘full modernisation’ and work to deal with damp and rotten timber.

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Looking for a project? This 1930s modernist house in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex – and some of the hard work has already been taken care of.

Not far from the coast and the the train station, this period property has certainly seen better days, but does retain many of its original features, including the cubic shape, wraparound and vertical strip windows and a large sun terrace.

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