In the late 1980s, architecture enthusiast Prince Charles commissioned architect Leon Krier design a traditionalist village in Dorset, a mostly rural county in southwest England. Called Poundbury, the nostalgia-driven model village is marked by a quaint, mish-mash of the Gothic and Georgian, Classical and Palladian, and has received no shortage of mockery and ridicule since construction began in the early ‘90s. But more recently, as the village flaunts a thriving local business community and robust property values, a different viewpoint has emerged: Is the Poundbury actually a town planning success?
For one thing, Poundbury, in which where every neighborhood is designed to be a five-minute stroll away from the mixed-use town center, is highly walkable, a factor that has time and again been associated with healthy cities. One Curbed reader also had this to say about place: “I would rather live here than any modern glass and steel skyscraper or bland brick housing project full of identical buildings that go on and on.”
Well, let’s take a closer look, shall we? Here’s a sampling of the kind of homes on the market in Poundbury, right now, listed here in descending order of price.
↑ £625,000 ($780,750) buys a detached four-bedroom house with traditional interior styling and a detached garden.
↑ £575,000 ($718, 290) can also buy you a brick four-bedroom single house, with generous a patio and garden, plus a double garage.
↑ £500,000 ($624,600) fetches a Georgian-style townhouse with four bedrooms—two of which are ensuite—and a charming terrace.
↑ £485,000 ($605,862) gets you a modern penthouse apartment with two bedrooms, private elevator entrance, a balcony, and countryside views.
↑ £395,000 ($493,434) buys a brand-new two-bedroom apartment with a spiral staircase connecting the first and second floors.
↑ £350,000 ($437,220) nabs you a new four-bedroom maisonette with an open-plan layout for the living/dining/kitchen areas.
↑ £190,000 ($237,348) can score a two-bedroom ground-floor apartment with a veranda and assigned parking.
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