This spindly house in southeast London hides a secret. The facade is just two meters long, but the interior of the property opens up Tardis-style to reveal a stylish, spacious two-bedroom home.
The property was built eight years ago for £300,000 on a plot of garden from the neighboring house.
It is now listed with estate agent The Modern House for £850,000.
The house is the creation of Julia Jude, an accidental major designer who previously owned the Victorian house next door.
After moving into the Forest Hill property in 2008, Jude knew she had to do something with the overgrown garden and eventually came up with the idea of building a narrow fill house next to her house.
“I love watching Grand Designs, I love Kevin, and one day it featured this tiny little house in west London,” says Jude.
“I was with my younger daughter and we thought, 'Ah yes, that would be great.' Our old house was very dark and we loved the idea of creating something that would bring a lot more light into our lives.”
Inspired, Jude, a psychotherapist with two adult daughters, commissioned local architects Studio Bam to draw up plans for the new house.
The front facade is clad in charred cedar panels. Its wedge-shaped floor plan includes an open, monochrome kitchen and a plant-filled living room that leads to a garden.
A courtyard at the heart of the property filled with tropical palm trees and ferns provides plenty of light. The master bedroom is also on the ground floor, a second bedroom is upstairs.
“When people come in they say, ‘Wow,” says Jude, 65. “You come through a light-filled hallway and then come across the garden. It’s a very deceptive house.”
The 90m² house took about a year to build and Jude moved in in 2017.
She sold the old house and lived there happily until she moved to Greenwich in 2022 to be closer to her family. “I just feel like now is a good time to sell it and move on,” she says.
So far, the home — full of modern finishes like terrazzo marble and plywood — has stood the test of time.
“I always felt that if I was going to try to create my own living space, I really wanted a lot of natural materials,” says Jude. “I wanted it to be as breathable and natural as possible.”