1960s modernism
1960s Brian Housden-designed Housden House in London NW3
And now for something completely different. It is fair to say that I’ve never seen anything quite like the 1960s Brian Housden-designed Housden House in London NW3, which is on the market for the very first time and in remarkably original condition.
Described by the agent as ‘one of the great post-war modern houses in London’, Housden House was designed and built by architect Brian Housden as his family home between 1963 and 1965.
Fast forward to 2014 and this house also, quite rightly, picked up a grade II listing. Historic England described Housden House as representing a ‘completely unique piece of architectural vision and ingenuity that syntheses [sic] a great wealth of influences and ideas and is executed with an intensity and conviction that is entirely personal’.
Those ‘influences’ are based around Housden’s love and understanding of European modernism, with the house taking inspiration from the likes of the Rietveld Schroder House in Utrecht and Pierre Chareau’s Maison de Verre in Paris.
So that’s the background, now onto the house itself, which is set back from the street behind a recessed parking space and sunken patio and with a frontage that’s a mix of concrete and glass bricks at the front and pretty much completely glazed with glass bricks at the rear. The latter meaning lights floods the inside of the house at pretty much every level.
Enter into a ‘short’ hall and access the first of two living spaces, which accesses a large west-facing balcony that takes in the heath. A ‘dramatic’ void space takes up one side of the room, dropping to the lower level via a concrete staircase. Note that the supporting balustrade is capped with a pink-toned marble too.
The lower-ground floor hosts the main living areas, made up of a largely open-plan space with access to the patio garden. The focal point of the room is a sunken dining area with bespoke circular dining table, while the floor is laid with mosaic tiles. The room can be partitioned by colourful curtains that ‘weave through the room’ on ceiling-mounted tracks. The kitchen is at the front of this space, an extending beneath the car space above, with doors to the sunken courtyard.
A concrete staircase takes you to the first floor and two bedrooms. The master bedroom is described by the agent as ‘the real showpiece of the house’, with a ‘soaring’ ceiling and a full wall of glass bricks punctured with ‘deliberately placed’ windows with more views of the heath. Also present is an open bathroom in the corner of the room.
Head up another floor for two further bedrooms, one on the first floor and another a half level above and both with open bathrooms. Rounding things off is a mezzanine storage level over the hall space with colourful sliding doors and accessed by a fixed steel ladder, plus a fourth bedroom / study on the ground floor, adjacent to the entrance hall.
Words can only say so much, but in this case the imagery really tells the story and showcases the all-important details that really sell this property. Check them out here and check out additional shots on the agent’s website.
If all of that appeals to your eye, you will need to check that it also works with your bank balance. £3,250,000 is the asking price of this one.
Images and details courtesy of The Modern House. For more details and to make an enquiry, please visit the website.
Also worth pointing out that there is an interview with Brian Housden’s daughters at the agent’s site too. You can read that here.
