A listed building in an Oxfordshire village has been named one of Britain’s most surprising by The Telegraph.
The newspaper said the 10 buildings featured in its list are “surprising listed structures with bracing backstories.”
Sphinx Hill in Moulsford features in the list and is said to look “like a jazzed-up version of all those Lego-esque office buildings and retail spaces you see all over the UK”, according to The Telegraph.
This Egyptian-style house is the youngest listed building in the country and has a Grade II* listing.
What are listed buildings and how are they categorised?
Listed buildings can be:
- Grade I listed
- Grade II* listed
- Grade II listed
The government website explains that "listed buildings are graded to reflect their relative special architectural and historic interest."
A Grade I listed building is "of exceptional special interest", while Grade II* listed status is given to buildings that are "particularly important buildings of more than special interest".
Grade II buildings are of "special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them".
Sphinx Hill in Moulsford among Britain’s 10 most surprising listed buildings
Explaining more about the house, The Telegraph said: “When does new become old, ugly become beautiful, pretentious become picturesque?
“Sphinx Hill, a polychromatic Egyptian-style house that looks like a jazzed-up version of all those Lego-esque office buildings and retail spaces you see all over the UK, was completed in 1999 – making it the youngest listed building in the country.
“Designed by John Outram Associates, it was given a Grade II* listing "as a tour-de-force of domestic Post-Modernism’ and a ‘rare and individualistic late-20th-century contribution to the Egyptian revival tradition".”
What is Moulsford like?
Oxfordshire Villages describes Moulsford as “a small Thames-side village on one of the prettiest stretches of the River Thames opposite the village of South Stoke.”
Popular TV show Midsomer Murders used Moulsford as a filming location.
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Britain’s most surprising listed buildings
These are the 10 most surprising listed buildings, according to The Telegraph:
- Cabmen’s Shelter, Grosvenor Gardens, London
- Abbey Road Zebra Crossing, St John’s Wood, London
- Red Hill Filling Station, Leicestershire
- Otford Pond (and duck house), Otford, Kent
- Former Francis Hairdresser’s Shop, Scarborough, North Yorkshire
- ‘Giant’s Stride’ Victorian playground apparatus, Hunstanworth, County Durham
- Lump of Coal, Bedwellty Park, Tredegar, South Wales
- Mount Eden Park Nuclear Bunker, South Belfast
- Sphinx Hill, Moulsford, Oxfordshire
- The Plastic Classroom, Kennington Primary School, Preston
Which listed building in the UK is your favourite? Let us know in the comments below.
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