Main author
Michael BrooksA House for Essex
A House for Essex, also known as ‘Julie’s House’, is a conceptual holiday home located at the end of a secluded cul-de-sac in Wrabness, Essex, overlooking the River Stour.
Commissioned by the philosopher Alain de Botton as part of his Living Architecture series, it was created by the Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry in collaboration with the architecture studio FAT.
The house is a ‘mausoleum’ for a fictional Essex woman Julie Cope, which was built by her husband after a tragic accident. In this sense, it has been described as the ‘Taj Mahal of Essex’.
Completed in 2015, after five years in the making, the house comprises four incrementally-smaller sections with a copper-clad roof based on the complex pitches of medieval stave churches, with each of the segments expressed externally as a volume in its own right..
The outer structure is covered in green and white tiles and elaborately decorated with ornaments including a wheel, a large ceramic egg, an aluminium weather vane, and thousands of ceramic nipples.
The interior is dominated by similarly elaborate iconography depicting the fictional Julie as a saint, with mouldings, mosaic floors, tapestries, balconies, and decorative timber, ceramic pots, statues and glazing. There are also a number of art works by Perry, celebrating the ‘history and psyche of Essex.’
After featuring as the subject of a Channel 4 documentary in 2015, the house is open to the public for short-stay holiday lets through ballot selection.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Britain’s greatest maverick building.
- Building of the week series.
- Dancing House, Prague.
- House Attack.
- Little Crooked House, Poland.
- Mimetic architecture.
- Nautilus House.
- Plug-In to Housing.
- Schuppen house.
- St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow.
- The Hole House.
- Unusual building design of the week.
- Upside Down House, Poland.
- Watts Towers.
- Y House.
[edit] External resources
- Living Architecture – A House for Essex
Featured articles and news
ECA Industry Awards 2024 shortlist revealed
22 leading businesses from across the electrotechnical and engineering services sector.
Government unveils Skills England strategy
Skills England to transform opportunities and drive growth.
New Government Hub for York Given Planning Green Light
For up to 2,600 civil servants, due for completion by 2028.
Construction Skills Certification Scheme cards
July update on Professionally Qualified and Academically Qualified Person Cards.
BSRIA Briefing 2024, November 22
Sustainable Futures: Redefining Retrofit for Net Zero Living.
The CLC on driving competency in the retrofit sector
Previously published roadmap on skills for net zero.
The first labour government King's speech in fifteen years
Construction industry reactions, support and some concern.
CIOB Retrofit of Buildings Technical Information Sheet
What retrofit is, the approach to be taken and processes to be followed.
Adapting Historic Buildings for Energy and Carbon Efficiency
Historic England advice note 18, free download published.
10 retrofit projects revisited 10 years after completion.
Information orders, building liability orders and SPVs
Key BSA terms and how they impact special purpose vehicles.
Listed despite problems with its design.
Zen and the art of cycling exploration.
Design Council Homes Taskforce launched
To support government 1.5 million homes target within UK climate commitments.