1970s modern house in St Mawgan, Cornwall
An amazing setting and a great design inside and out. This 1970s modern house in St Mawgan, Cornwall, has so much going for it.
Perhaps more than you might initially think. A glance at the exterior hints at a house updated considerably since construction. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
The house, which was constructed in 1974 (maybe a little later than you might have thought), does look to have been upgraded in terms of the exterior. But the interior is so well preserved—it’s pretty much picture-perfect midcentury modern.
That’s a massive plus, not just because that MCM look is so popular right now, but also because this house looks to have been fitted out at great expense 50 years ago. Style and luxury.
But before we consider the interior, let’s discuss the architecture and setting.
Garden House is situated in a wooded valley on the edge of a ‘coveted village’, and described by the agent as both a ‘hidden gem’ and an ‘extravagantly large and a beautiful example of progressive mid 20th century modernist architecture’.
It is large, too, offering 5,000 square feet of space within and around 1.25 acres of mature gardens and grounds around it, all carefully cultivated over the last five decades. The house sits high on the plot, with views across the valley and treetops from the garden, the terraces, and the considerable glazing across both levels.
You might even have spotted an outside swimming pool in the photos. Look down the page, and you’ll see a second one. Yes, there are two swimming pools, which tells you the level of opulence this one offers and still offers.
So, in terms of the design and the location, this definitely ticks the boxes. But the interior, for me, really seals the deal. It has barely changed in decades and has so many fascinating details still in place.
That includes everything from exposed brick and wood-clad ceilings to the kitchen with what looks like original units and a very cool room divider, an open-tread staircase, some lovely built-in units, and even a sunken marble bath. It’s very plush.
The front entrance opens into a wide foyer, quarry-tiled and naturally lit by floor-to-ceiling windows. To the left of the entrance is an office (great if you can work from home) and a spare bedroom with an en-suite bathroom.
Beyond that are a sauna, solarium, and plant room. To the right, a door opens into the double garage. Already, there’s plenty to take in, and we’ve barely accessed the house.
The ground floor has four ‘large and beautifully light and airy’ double bedrooms, three of which are south-facing and have sliding French doors out to the gardens. The en-suites are modernised wet rooms/shower rooms. Updated, but in keeping with the overall design.
A fourth bedroom is a self-contained studio with a small, fitted kitchenette and en-suite bathroom. Its window looks onto the interior swimming pool—yes, that second swimming pool. The long hall arrives at a garden room with an L-shaped blue-tiled pool. An external door opens to the garden and external pool terrace.
Those open-tread stairs ascend from the entrance hall to the first floor, where an impressive lounge area is all about space and light, with some amazing views thrown in for good measure. If you want to get closer to the scenery, there is access to a continuous external balcony that wraps around the whole house.
According to the agent, the first floor is ‘where the influence of Scandinavian design is most evident’. The T-shaped living room has a wood burner, with a large wood recessed wood store as a feature.
The master bedroom is off the living room, through a short corridor. It has an en-suite shower room, fitted wardrobes, and shelving systems—there is plenty of built-in storage throughout the house.
What you might not expect is the wonderful sunken marble bath on this floor. It is pretty much the peak of 1970s style.
A dining room extends along the front, again opening to the side onto the continuous balcony. That, in turn, accesses the kitchen, which might have been updated, but not obviously. So much of the original era survives, right down to the room divider.
A rear hall leads to the cold store, a walk-in refrigerated cold store. Opposite this is another deep storage cupboard, and the laundry area is in the rear lobby beside the back door and path to the garden.
Oh yes, the garden. This has been carefully cultivated for the best part of five decades. And with 1.25 acres to look after, that’s quite a job.
The upper garden level is ‘quite steeply terraced’ alongside the drive which descends to the house. There’s also a large front lawn just over the lower garden area. You’ll undoubtedly notice the second swimming pool (for when the weather co-operates) and a garage and garden tool store.
That’s pretty much it. The agent’s site provides more details about utilities, location, and so on. If you fancy the move here, this one is on the market right now for £1,200,000.
Images and details courtesy of Jackie Stanley. For more details and to make an enquiry, please visit the website.
