Shared ownership flat in iconic building where Agatha Christie lived among Soviet spies for sale for £350k
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This rare opportunity to buy a home in Belsize Park's storied Isokon Building is reserved for first-time buyers on a middle income.
The 272-square-foot studio flat is on the market for £350,000 with estate agents John D Wood & Co.
It's a bargain in a north London neighborhood where the average price of a flat is £1,077,020.
"Imagine waking up to rear-facing views over Belsize Park Woods from your second-floor haven — a rare blend of tranquillity and metropolitan charm," said Paul Constantine of John D Wood & Co. in Primrose Hill.
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"For first-time buyers, this isn't just a flat; it's a chance to live in a living piece of art, a testament to architectural brilliance.”
Only first-time buyers with an income of less than £90,000 a year can apply to live in the Grade I-listed home.
This studio flat is also a shared ownership system, so the buyer will own 80 per cent of the property and pay rent of £142 a month to the local authority, while the building is managed by Notting Hill Genesis.
The Isokon Building was designed by the Modernist architect Wells Coates for the founders of the Isokon furniture company and completed in 1934.
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Famous previous occupants include architects Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, and the novelist Agathat Christie.
Inspired by the ideals of Le Corbusier and Coates' upbringing in Japan, it deliberately compact apartments were designed as an experimental minimalist living project for the left-wing intellectuals of north London, many of whom fled Nazi Germany.
Some former residents in the 1930s turned out to be Soviet spies, including the one-time resident of Flat 7 Dr Arnold Deutsch, who recruited the Cambridge Five.
Originally the Isokon Building was fully serviced, with residents enjoying facilities such as in-house shoe-shining and meals delivered to their doors.
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Molly and Jack Pritchard, who founded the Isokon furniture company, designed many pieces of original furniture for the apartments they acted as developers for with their pioneering use of plywood, alongside Gropius and Breuer.
It hasn't always been plain sailing for the building once described by Christie as an ocean liner due to its streamlined white façade.
The Isokon Building was sold to Camden Council in 1972 and fell into disrepair towards the end of the 20th century, despite being given Grade I listed status in 1999 in recognition of its historical design importance.
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It was then sold in 2001 to Notting Hill Genesis, who undertook renovating the apartment block with London-based Avanti Architects.
Today the Isokon building is beloved by fans of mid-century design.
Swedish designer Magnus Eglund, co-founder of Skandium, is so passionate about it that he restored his flat there and filled it with vintage Isokon furniture.
This studio flat would probably also need a design fan as it "is in need of a certain amount of modernisation" according to the agents.
As the entire building is Grade I listed, buyers of this studio flat should be aware that making any changes to the space would be subject to the approval of the housing association, although it retains many of its fabulous original fittings such as the kitchen.
Another rare piece of architecture designed by Coates came on the market in 2020. A Sunspan house in Essex — one of 15 of these prefabricated homes ever built — came on the market in time-capsule condition for £475,000.