Grayson Perry’s House For Essex Becomes Holiday Home

Grayson Perry House For Essex

Grayson Perry House For EssexArtist builds dream house in Wrabness inspired by poetry character – by Martin Gibbon

The Chelmsford born artist has unveiled his holiday home project A House For Essex, or the ‘gingerbread house’ as local residents are calling it. Love it or hate it you have to admit it’s something special.

A House For Julie

Perry created the house to be based around one of the characters from his poetry called ‘Julie’. This character was killed in 2014 and her husband, in her memory, then built the house, much like the story behind the construction of the Taj Mahal.

Perry’s house is now being referred to as ‘The Essex Taj Mahal’. The house was first shown to the public as part of a documentary that featured six women all named Julie. It follows the women throughout the whole process of the house being built. From the beginning when the proposal of building ‘a ginger bread house’ was outrageous to locals, and finishing with the unveiling to the public.

Inside The Gingerbread House

When asked about the house, Perry described it as ‘Bonkers’, and what he’s describing is only what can be seen from the outside. The inside may even take it up another level of ‘bonkers’.

Colourful tapestries on the walls, a blood red lounge and a skull mosaic on the floor are only a small number of things to expect. Any guest that stays there will be surrounded by the imagination of Perry and how he is inspired by the fictional character ‘Julie’. If you want to check it out for yourself there is an article in The Daily Mail that shows the interior in great detail.

A Very Pretty Penny

When a project of this type becomes open to the public it’s always going to attract a lot of attention, especially if that project is as unique as The Essex Taj Mahal.

To build the house Perry teamed up with Living Architecture who specialise in holidays featuring unique modern architecture. The cost to visit the house ranges from £850 to £1800 depending on the length of your stay and also what time of the year it is. The house is in such high demand that anyone wanting to visit the house will have to enter an online ballot.

The first ballot was on the 26th of May so anyone wanting to visit will have to wait for the next one. Any information about the house and future ballots can be found on the Living Architecture website.

It now seems that if you have always wanted to visit the Taj Mahal you don’t have to look much further than Essex, well sort of. Grayson Perry’s use of a house to tell the story of ‘Julie’ is so unique and ground breaking it makes it almost impossible to ignore.

This is certainly one of of the most interesting and innovative property developments seen ion the area for a long time. I am saddened to report that it is not on the property market.

Martin Gibbon is the director of Balgores Low, a leading Chelmsford Estate Agent. Mike has been working in the local property market for over 20 years and continues to keep his finger on the pulse of Essex property.

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