Had some money left to you? Won the Lottery? or just plain rich anyway? If either of those applies to you, check out this 1960s-designed modernist villa in the south of France.
Designed in 1961 by Claude Parent, one of France’s most revered modernist architects, it mixes raw concrete and glass walls for the structure, throwing in a stunning view of the French Riviera from its location at the summit of Cap d’Antibes. Yes, perfect for the jet setter in all of us.
Like your houses? Get some architectural inspiration from The Iconic House book. Subtitled 'Architectural Masterpieces since 1900', its 352 pages detail some of the most famous and influential architect designs houses around the world.
It makes the book an invaluable reference to twentieth century architecture featuring work by the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe and Eileen Gray and will help you tell your Le Corbusier from your Oscar Niemeyer. It also goes right up to the present day to help pinpoint future classics.
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A house that could only have been built in the 1960s – this Laurie Abbott-designed house in Frimley, Surrey.
Built in 1966 as part of a small development of similar properties, it was designed by Abbott, who until his recently was a senior director at the Richard Rogers Partnership, instrumental in the creation of the Pompidou Centre and Lloyd's of London. Some pedigree.
Soulful Toaster are currently stocking a couple of tea towels featuring London architectural landmarks. One shows the Trellick Tower but as that building comes up so often on this site, how about going a bit further back in time with this tea towel showing the Victorian Macbeth pub in Hoxton, East London?
It's a fascinating building: originally being built as a gin distillery, using water from its own underground spring. The words 'Hoxton distillery' can still be read at the top of the building, and indeed at the top of this tea towel. It's now a pub and a live music venue (it also gained notoriety for Amy Winehouse's ex-husband attacking its landlord). The design is screen-printed onto white cotton and is made, appropriately enough, in East London.
This tea towel costs £9.50, as does the design showing the Trellick Tower.
Buy it online
We have featured the Span house concept previously on these pages. They were a series of housing developments by Eric Lyons for the Span company between 1948 and 1969, built with the idea of creating a new type of housing – aimed at communities with shared gardens and landscaping that 'forced' people to interact, as well as creating a modern, open, Euro-style design for homes. If you fancy one for yourself, a Span house is now for sale in Blackheath Park, London SE3.
This four-bedroomed house was built in the mid-60s as part of the Cator Estate in Blackheath and has been refurbished by the current owner. Whether that's a good or bad thing will depend on your needs, but the structural integrity of the house looks pretty much intact.
People will always need plates have returned to their first love, Brutalist architecture with their new series of mugs, which they have named “Concrete Elevation”.
The designs are taken from the facades of four Brutalist buildings, Parkhill in Sheffield, Robin Hood Gardens in Tower Hamlets, Sparkford House in Battersea and that old favourite, Trellick Tower. Taken in abstraction, the facades form geometic patterns that are far more attractive than buildings themselves could ever hope to be. The mugs are available in a range of colours, all priced £10.
Buy online from People will always need plates.
