Welcome to our weekend property digest, where we bring together the best houses for sale (or rent) that we’ve unearthed across the world. Among this week’s discoveries is a gothic tower in the Kent countryside, and a midcentury glass house in the hills of Los Angeles.
Brutalist lakeside villa in Ticino, Switzerland
6 bedrooms; 10m CHf via Christie’s International Real Estate
See the softer side of Brutalism with this 1960s lakeside villa by Mario Campi and Franco Messina. It’s been given a refurb by Milanese practice Droulers Architecture and features coffered concrete ceilings, an inner courtyard jungle and floor-to-ceiling windows which overlook nearby Lake Lugano. Take a closer look.
Contemporary Sicilian villa, near Noto
3 bedrooms; from €5,500 a week via BoutiqueHomes
Casa Vendicari was designed by architect Marco Merendi and built in 2015 using local stone from nearby Noto, and lava stone from Mount Etna. Its neo-brutalist design sits long and low in its dramatic setting amid the Vendicari Nature Reserve. Snoop around.
Gothic tower in Kent, UK
4 bedrooms; £2m via Strutt & Parker
Hadlow Tower is England’s tallest neo-Gothic folly at 175 metres. Rumour has it, the structure was built by a jealous industrialist so he could spy on his estranged wife, who’d run off with a farmer. Today it’s an eight-storey family home with a roof terrace overlooking the Kent countryside.
Craig Ellwood-designed glasshouse in Los Angeles, USA
2 bedrooms; $3m via Deasy/Penner
The ‘T’ shaped Smith House was designed by Case Study Houses architect Craig Ellwood in 1958, and has been restored by architect James Tyler. It features floor-to-ceiling glass windows which peek out towards Santa Monica Bay, as well as red brick floors, wood panelling and exposed beams. Scope it out.
Cedar-clad house in Cornwall, UK
4 bedrooms; £1.35m via The Modern House
Surrounded by 2 acres of terraced gardens and water views, this Port Navas Creek house is a slice of rural idyll designed by architect Roger Hocking in 1985.
Read next: This £400k abandoned Welsh fort is the ultimate fixer upper