Bewdley is a charming little town on the banks of the river Severn in Worcestershire, its name, which has morphed from the French Beau-Lieu meaning beautiful spot, sums it up for many. Although there is a reference to it in the Domesday book, it was built largely in the Georgian era, which makes it all the more surprising to find a property like this.
This modernist house, which is on the market via The Modern House for £600,000 was built in 2006 next to a Victorian viaduct and in the grounds of a former country house, the gardens of which were designed by Gerturde Jekyll, some of whose plantings remain.
It was designed by the architect Robert Swan, for himself and his family, and the house, which is steel-framed like many of the Californian houses of the 1950s and 60s, from which he took his inspiration, features Franke sanitary fittings, Fisher & Paykel refrigeration, Smeg cooking facilities and Saloni porcelain bathroom tiles.
It’s arranged over three floors with a large open plan living dining area which is glazed on two sides thus blurring the lines between inside and outside – one of the main aims of many Modern architects.
There are three bedrooms, although there is a another space, currently used as as study, on the lower ground that would make a fourth if needed. The third is next to the kitchen on the ground floor but it has its own bathroom, which, while not en suite, is probably pretty private unless you’re a teenager and don’t get up till lunchtime when the kitchen might be full of everyone else who gets up during daylight hours.
Now that the summer is finally here, it seems like the perfect house for long, lazy days sitting on the deck sipping glasses of something chilled.
What do you think? Does the modernist lifestyle appeal to you at all?
It looks very much like a lot of modern Australian houses (and even those terraced houses heavily remodelled from Victorian times), with its free-flow to the outdoors. Nice enough but personally I like a bit more in my house…it’s a bit stark.
Thanks for the heads-up.That’s one of the very few modernist houses that I would actually like to live in – as opposed to just admire.
Another post full of elegant and minimal interiors. Lovely.