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100 Buildings 100 Years
1923: The House in the Clouds, Thorpeness
Status: Unlisted
Condition: Good condition
Type: Housing
Architect: Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie, realised by Frederick Forbes-Glennie
Location: Thorpeness, Suffolk, IP16
The most outlandish building in Thorpeness, the Gazebo, or House in the Clouds as it was quickly known, was built to house a water tank for the village. Water was pumped by the neighbouring windmill (rescued from Aldringham), and the tower beneath the ‘house’ comprised a dwelling with unrivalled views across the common, Meare and sea. Structural support comes from steel joists and Thorpeness-made concrete, but the weather-boarding and pantile roof connect it to the Suffolk landscape.
When dubbed a ‘monstrous pigeoncote’ by The Sunday Referee, Ogilvie replied it was ‘more practical and more picturesque than those usually erected by our municipal authorities […and] might be copied in all modern town planning.’ Iconic of the whimsical vision for Thorpeness, this ‘Strangest Home in England’ continues to enchant, and can be rented for a unique holiday.
by Charlotte de Mille
History of the House in the Clouds
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