Posted byAfter discovering the found-material playhouse, I’ve stayed on the hunt for interesting backyard edifices — and here’s a fruit of that labor: Russian John’s summer house in the UK.
This is the story of the Russian-style summer house he crafted in his backyard in Newcastle Upon Tyne. In ten months, and for less than £5,000, John took it from clay model a to stained-glassed, mosaiced den place to drink a Guinness whilst foxes run in the garden.
In designing the cabin, he looked to Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi, the US’ Louis Sullivan, and Russian Gavril Baranovski for inspiration.
John made all the windows in the house.
When he finished this window, he says, “It was two centimeters larger than the workshop door…I had to remove the doorframe to get it out! The design is based around a Sullivan window in The Merchants Bank in Grinnell Iowa, which opened in 1915.”
The walls are constructed from 110 mm concrete blocks and brickwork on cast concrete foundations.
The roof is made from 19 pre-fabricated plywood beams with around 15,000 timber laths, to form the curved shape. The surface was concreted on chicken wire and covered with old ceramic tiles.
John covered the walls with old roof tiles, scavenged from his neighbor’s renovation.
The internal walls were plastered, the ceiling decorated with broken ceramic tiles. The floor is made from broken floor tiles.
He dug an underground land drain, as there are no gutters. It has electric lighting and heating. John built this place without assistance over about ten months, at a cost of less than £5,000, which included the furniture.
He calls his haven, “A great place to relax…drink a Guinness, read Chekov or listen to Chopin… whilst the foxes run around the garden!”
What a lovely little house! Thank you for sharing!
I want to touch all of that glass. o_o So lovely!
Oh goodness, how did he go all of that in 10 months? Amazing!
Oh wow. That is absolutely gorgeous. I especially love how he used old broken tiles to decorate the walls and ceiling! I think this is slightly giving me more ideas for my dream home. XD
This is amaze-nuts. Love how almost every surface shimmers!
Would love to see some interior shots!
I want it! It looks like a lovely haven, a place to escape the days madness and just breathe. (And maybe do a little yoga)
oh. want.
The ceiling in that thing is nuts.
Aww man, this is amazing. I just said out loud ‘I wish I knew which part of Newcastle this was in so I could go and drink tea and read in it’. Then realised how utterly creepy I sounded.
Ooooh, that house is stunning! I am a total sucker for mosaic and stained glass. I love it.
I wonder, did the £5000 and ten months include the stained glass windows? That’s a ton of work right there. They are so lovely and intricate. I could see the windows alone taking ten months.
Amazing. It’s like living in a piece of art.
It wouldn’t be possible to find detailed instructions on how to build one would it?
Thank you very much for the good words
about my husband’s Summer House.
I did my best to inspire him to this masterpiece.