The lifestyles of the rich and the famous have long been inspiration for certain stand-out properties – but what about the lifestyles of the rich and the fictional?
Recently, property investors have been invited to buy a ‘stake’ in the castle that is said to have inspired Bram Stoker’s celebrated gothic novel, Dracula. The castle – real name ‘Bran Castle’ – is a 12th century fortress perched atop a hill in Romania and has become a popular tourist destination over the years thanks to its links with the most famous vampire of all.
At the time of writing, the castle is still on sale, despite being on the market since May 2014 – but it got the online estate agents here at I Am The Agent thinking of other literary-inspired properties that could potentially fetch a substantial sum. From 221b Baker Street, where Sherlock Holmes resided, to the epic mansion of Manderley, home to the ghostly spectre of Rebecca, we take a look at some of the most famous literary homes in history – and how much they’d fetch in 2014.
Brideshead Castle
Long before Downton Abbey stole the hearts of the nation, the classic novel, Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh, showcased the decline of the British aristocracy like no other. Numerous film adaptions of Brideshead Revisited have used the sprawling Howard Castle as the setting, and the Yorkshire property has recently been voted one of the top ten mansions in the world. We’d rate that this real-life version of Brideshead would be worth £42m by today’s standards.
4 Privet Drive
In the earlier years of his life, Harry Potter spent much of his time in a semi-detached house in the Surrey suburbs. He mainly stayed in his room (a cupboard, under the stairs) but if he’d ventured out, he’d have found a pleasant, decently-sized family home – even if the inhabitants, the Dursleys, weren’t too friendly. We’d equate the Dursleys’ middle-class suburban heaven with somewhere serene and peaceful, like Weybridge, where the average price of a property in 2014 is £604,788.
221b Baker Street
Sherlock Holmes’ famous property is a real residence in London – though nowadays it is home to a museum relating to all things Arthur Conan-Doyle. The property is a small flat with a large living room and busybody neighbour, Mrs Hudson. With London property prices so astronomical, buyers should be prepared to pay up to (and possibly over) £1m to get their hands on a property like Sherlock’s! Here at I Am The Agent, our online letting service has hundreds of London flats listed, so if Sherlock’s abode is out of your price range, get searching our database.
Manderley
The haunted house from Daphne Du Maurier’s famous novel, Rebecca, is said to be based on a real place, too – Menabilly, in Cornwall. The huge estate most likely isn’t presided over by the ghost of a murdered wife, like the house in the novel, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be listed at a truly frightening price, were it to come to market! We couldn’t find an exact price for the Menabilly property, but for a sea-view detached property (with it’s own jetty) in the sought-after location of Cornwall, buyers should be looking to part with around £2m.