Bedfordshire
The Grange is on the outskirts of
Bedford. A gravel driveway leads up
to wrought-iron gates that guard the
former private school. Built in 1906 for
the landowner Henry Curtis, it has
evolved from a home to an apartment
complex. Now restored and a home once
more, it has 12,500 sq ft of living space,
with 12 bedrooms. There is a modern
Otis lift alongside a solid oak staircase
in the reception hall. The three-acre
landscaped gardens and paddocks
encircle the property and to the side
there is a paved terrace and a Jacuzzi.
Air pollution 9.8mcg/m³ particulate
pollution annual average; 4.8mcg/m³
above the WHO guideline of 5mcg/m³.
Upside Central London is only an hour
and a half away by car.
Downside 13 bathrooms, so you’ll have
to bulk-buy Dettol or get a maid.
Contact michaelgraham.co.uk
EC1A The postcode in numbers
19°
£871,777 is the average house price
In this part of London 19% of
properties for sale are under
offer, rising to 20% of those
costing £1.5 million or moreThe hotter the
market, the quicker
and easier it should
be to sell a homeTAKING THE TEMPERATURE
SELLERS' MARKET13%
BUYERS’^ MARKET^(^) SEL
LER
S’ M
AR
KE
T
Increase
in buyer
demand
in the
past yea
Live in brutalist bliss in the largest home in
the Barbican. By Victoria Brzezinski
T
he largest home in
London’s most famous
brutalist housing
complex, the Barbican,
is a one-off. The
sprawling 2,850 sq ft
space, built in 1974,
started life as the
Barbican’s management office.
In the early Noughties, having stood
empty for a decade, it piqued the interest
of an architect couple who had been
renting on the estate: Ken Mackay, who
runs Mackay and Partners, and his wife
Tracey Wiles, formerly of Foster +
Partners and now a principal at Woods
Bagot in Australia.
“The first time I walked
in, I said ‘wow’ and the hairs
on the back my neck stood
on end,” Mackay recalls.
With its 16ft ceilings, iroko-
wood flooring and bush-
hammered concrete walls
and pillars, the flat is unlike
any of the other 2,000 in
the Barbican complex.
Mackay originally thought the space
would make an office. “I walked in,
thought, ‘No, this is way too good.’ It was
the only apartment that had any of the
public finishes — bush-hammered
concrete walls are only found within the
Barbican Centre, not in the flats.”
The couple bought it from the City of
London Corporation in 2004, gained
permission to change its use from
business to residential the year after and,
within the restrictions of its grade II
listing, spent two years turning it into a
five-bedroom home. In 2007 Mackay,
Wiles and three children moved in.
Set back from Aldersgate Street, the
front door is approached via a large,slightly sunken courtyard garden.
The couple replaced the rotten timber
exterior staircase with a 15-tonne Corten
steel design complete with a waterfall.
“The steel came from the shipyards of
Clydebank where my grandfather used
to work,” Mackay says. “It kills the
background noise from the street traffic.”
Mackay describes their additions as
“very simple and minimal — four walls
to subdivide the space and a mezzanine”.
Double doors open on to an open-plan
living and dining area. Living space is
arranged “like a doughnut around the
central core”, he says.
About half of the interiors were
prefabricated off-site; much of the
joinery was made by Italian
companies such as
Molteni&C, and the high-
gloss Dada kitchen,
designed by Wiles, is
arranged around a 22ft
island. Continuing clockwise
around in a circle from the
living/dining room, you
reach a windowless “pad”
used as a kids’ playroom, the kitchen,
then a bedroom with en suite, and a
utility room, then a gym/bedroom, two
further bedrooms and a bathroom. The
mezzanine houses the principal bedroom
with a semi-open-plan dressing area and
en suite bathroom.
The Barbican has about 4,000
residents; this year average prices on the
estate breached £1 million for the first
time. Farringdon station, which is on the
Elizabeth Line, is about 300 yards away.
The couple are selling because “life
moves on”, although Mackay won’t be
going far. “I’ve been here for 35 years
and I’m not going anywhere else.”
£4.5 million, chestertons.co.ukSign up to our
property newsletter
for the latest analysis,
gossip, tips and tricks
every Monday at
thetimes.co.uk/
newslettersBuckinghamshire
Built in 1929, this architecturally striking
home has earned accolades as the
“first modernist house in Britain”. The
original estate in Highover Park was
commissioned by Bernard Ashmore, a
former professor of archaeology at
London University. As you enter through
polished metal front doors, you are
greeted by a hexagonal reception hall
and a spectacular circular gallery. A
sweeping staircase in a turret leads to
the house’s eight bedrooms. The top
floor has a study and a partly covered
1,000 sq ft roof terrace, with views of Old
Amersham and the Misbourne Valley.
Air pollution 10.8mcg/m³; 5.8mcg/m³
above the WHO guideline of 5mcg/m³.
Upside It featured in the book 1001
Buildings You Must See Before You Die.
Downside For those who don’t like
menacing angel statues, look away now.
Contact fineandcountry.com£2.75 million £3 million
Compiled by Georgia Lambert
@GLJournoBricks
& Mortar2 Friday May 27 2022
the times
What £3 million buys you in...
£4.5 million