Unusual water tower home unchanged since the Seventies for sale in north London

The unusual water tower, now a three-bedroom home in need of total renovation, is for sale for £1 million.
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A quirky six-storey water tower home with 360-degree views across London has been listed for sale for the first time in 50 years in north London.

The Grade II-listed property in the suburb of Winchmore Hill is a real Seventies time capsule and was purchased as a total transformation project for about £7,500 in 1966 by an architect and his wife, who have since passed away.

Now, the home is being sold by the couple’s daughters Geraldine and Kate, who grew up there in the late Sixties and Seventies.

“My parents loved it so much, they just wouldn’t leave it,” said Geraldine. “We were always trying to encourage them to move into a bungalow – somewhere they wouldn’t have to climb stairs – but they were obsessed with it.”

Completely overhauled in the late Sixties but untouched for the last 30 or so years, the three-bedroom water tower’s six floors offer 2,000sq ft of living space.

Seventies-inspired interiors highlights include salmon-pink kitchen cabinets, textured wallpaper and a sage green carpet running through the living areas.

Unusual nooks include the small workshop in the cellar and deceptive amounts of storage in the eaves.

The most striking feature, however, is the spiral staircase that connects all the floors, from the basement and garden room, various living spaces and the bedrooms – all the way up to the roof terrace and those spectacular views.

While the sight of all those stairs may cause some of us emerging from flats post-lockdown to break out in a cold sweat, Geraldine said her mother was still climbing them in her nineties.

“I remember going to look at properties [in 1966], my dad was looking at a wide range of things but then, coming on the market as it did – relatively cheap considering it needed completely renovating – it just fired his imagination,” added Geraldine.

“It was awful when we first went to see it, quite scary, but we all immediately fell in love with it.

VIDEO: take a tour of the water tower home in Winchmore Hill

“My parents had sold a terrace house in Palmers Green for £5,000, and went round borrowing from relatives who weren’t all that keen at first – but they soon changed their minds.

“As a family, we took it on and we loved it. It needs someone prepared to put a bit of time, effort and money into renovations.

“We’re hoping that someone with the same kind of design ambition [as my parents] would relish taking it on.”

With a stamp duty holiday extension in place until the end of June, keen renovators looking to purchase their very own Grand Designs-style project will save £15,000 tax that can be put towards the necessary work.

“The tower is a family home rich in history and features, the scale and potential of which are unparalleled,” said Danny Brewer of estate agent Unique Property Company. “It would suit a young family looking for their own ‘Grand Designs’ project.”

The tower is in Quakers Walk, between Enfield and Palmers Green and about nine miles from King’s Cross – less than an hour’s bicycle commute.

The water tower is for sale for £1 million, through Unique Property Company.