A London couple, Tracy and Steve Fox of southeast London, long dreamed of having their futuristic home. However, their new dream home is unusual as it was built from a former junkyard. After five years of modernization, a beautiful home rose from the junkyard that gives credit to site's industrial beginnings and foster the couple's style of "comfortable Brutalism."
According to The Wall Street Journal, it took five years for Mr. and Mrs. Fox to finally move into the modernized home. Mrs. Fox was informed by a friend that there's a deserted 3,000-square-foot junkyard in Lordship Lane, a commercial street in their area. It was in 2009, and after a year, the couple paid an amount of £400,000, or about $600,000 to own the junkyard and start building a home that they have always dreamed of.
As reported, Mr. and Mrs. Fox has no permit for reconstructing the former junkyard. They focused on building their home on the site full of scrap metal and transferred with their children Betty, now 25, and twins Alfy and Ruby, 19, with just three vintage campers. "It was a ridiculous amount of money and a real gamble," Mrs. Fox, 55, said.
Mr. Fox, a prop painter for Hollywood films including the upcoming "The Huntsman: Winter's War," and Mrs. Fox, an art and upholstery enthusiast, sought the help of architect Jonathan Tuckey of Jonathan Tuckey Design. They planned for building a modern home with two workshops. The pair also requested that the plan for the new home display the site's industrial history and their passion for modern arts, which they called "comfortable Brutalism," Builder Online reports.
The modern two-story house is made with concrete blocks in a corrugated cement fiberboard. It is designed with big windows and steel framed walls. Inside the central house lies the kitchen and a double-height living room. In the remaining two wings, a music room, workshops, three family bedrooms and three bathrooms can be found.
The Foxes spent $450,000 initially which grew to $900,000 to finish the construction. Now, the former junkyard values between $2.65 million and $2.95 million, and the couple just can't contain their happiness.