Would you pay £800,000 for a flat with a waterfall behind the bathroom? Watch Bristol’s Most Unique Home

What do Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Taj Mahal, God and a sacred bird in Chinese mythology have in common?

The answer: In a variety of ways, they inspired the creation of the most unusual home in Bristol, if not the UK – at least according to its owner, Matt Bagg.

In his efforts to sell his two-bedroom duplex penthouse on an unassuming street of nondescript 1930s semi-detached houses, he penned a 5,000-word lyrical essay on real estate listing site Rightmove, touting its beauty and rarity. To his surprise, the essay went viral and garnered a lot of interest on social media.

Most adverts are concise, telling potential owners that an apartment or home is “well presented,” “spacious,” “bright and airy,” “close to amenities,” and so on.

But Matt didn’t think a conventional approach would do justice to his domestic masterpiece.

Iram Ramzan visits Matt Bagg’s extraordinary Bristol flat and tests the master bathroom with waterfall shower

An avant-garde bedroom features hardwood floors, a round bed with built-in nightstands and wicker lamps

The property’s kitchen features hardwood floors and walls with parquet flooring, diamond-shaped spotlights and green kitchen units

He informs home-seekers that this 1,690-square-foot estate – offers in the region of £800,000 – is designed for “special people who appreciate creative celebration, God, culture, unity and uniqueness”. Probably Bristol’s most unique home. His ownership, he writes, is a testament to “human genius, creativity, and a celebration of the incredible natural materials of divine Mother Earth.”

Just in case you didn’t get it, he adds that it’s “a wonderfully imaginative piece of creative art that has passionate architecture alongside confident design and ingenious thinking, along with practical and ecological technologies.” Only time here will allow you to appreciate all of the details that go into this stunning and totally one-of-a-kind home.

And if you’re still not convinced, he concludes that “this is an incredible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase a property that financially or logistically could never be built again.”

His description of his “timeless home that never feels dull” is accompanied by no fewer than 124 images, and it’s fair to say he’s had mixed reactions. Some people describe his pride and joy on the internet as “crazy.” One home seeker called it “migraine-inducing.” Another said it was an “overpriced man cave”.

“People shouldn’t judge,” Matt, 50, tells me when I arrive for my viewing. “And who can describe a house better than the person who built it? When you enter a building you feel the energy, you have this gut feeling whether you like it or not.”

The living room features a sloping ceiling, wood-burning fireplace and skylight, and a glass balcony from the mezzanine above

Bagg informs home seekers that this 1,690 sqft property – offers in the region of £800,000 – is designed for “special people who value creative celebration, God, culture, unity and uniqueness” (Image: Iram Ramzan in property’s bathroom).

The living room ceiling also features ornate wood textures, hanging chandeliers, and wide skylights with a signature green accent color

He has high hopes for a sale at or near his asking price. Properties in this desirable Coombe Dingle suburb had an average total price of £533,948 in 2021, up 21 per cent on the previous year.

Matt, who wears a giant cross around his neck for being “very spiritual”, trained as an engineer and has since spent much of his life travelling, which explains the diverse influences at work in the Maisonette.

His very – in his opinion – des res features onyx marble, cherry wood, ipe (a wood native to South American rainforests), white jade crystals and black granite, and benefits from Chinese, Cuban and Indian influences with some Art Nouveau and Art Deco vibes thrown in.

During his travels, Matt worked on a kibbutz in Israel, where he says he learned the importance of sustainability. He then spent 18 months exploring India, which he found “spiritually enlightening,” and lived intermittently in China for 15 years (during which time, he says, he developed an e-scooter and e-bike) and was ” blown away”. away from the creativity’ of the Chinese people.

While he’s unwilling to share the reason for the sale, he’s clearly heartbroken at having to do so – and desperately looking for a kindred spirit who will love and appreciate the work that has been put into his home.

The breakfast bar in the kitchen pays homage to oriental influences while providing a cozy and intimate place to relax

The mezzanine floor corridor looks down onto the living room below and leads to a clock themed window at its end

Sure, this is a home that can feel overwhelming at first, but the location is glorious. There are wonderful views of the rolling countryside from the living room and it is only a stone’s throw from the 650 acre Blaise Castle estate.

The house is currently in two parts. A buyer can buy the penthouse (top two floors for £800,000) or Matt is considering selling the entire property, including a second ground floor flat where he currently lives. He has designed the place so that all the rooms can be easily rearranged or divided to suit the residents and their needs.

“Houses in this country don’t make sense,” says Matt. “Imagine you are a couple who do not have children but would like to have a lot of space. what do you do with four bedroom You get a lot of square footage here. And if you have a big family, the grandparents could have their own space on one floor.”

There is a “feature” everywhere upstairs in the penthouse. For example, open the kitchen cabinets and there is a backdrop of Cuban street art. The office area has a working clock in a round window.

Or how about the 500 kg green onyx slab on the wall in the dining room? Green is “associated with intelligence, increased brain power, and improved memory,” says Matt.

All doors have 3D carvings of cranes – the bird is revered in Chinese folklore as the prince of all feathered creatures.

There is a makeshift bridge between the salon and lounge, while ornate parquet wood patterns adorn the loft above

Matt describes the master bathroom as “the only one of its kind in the world,” with a six-foot-tall, hand-carved natural rock waterfall over a large oval-shaped bathtub that’s certainly big enough for two.

There are two smaller bathrooms, one of which pays homage to the Taj Mahal: the white stone mimics the ivory marble used by the 17th-century Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who built India’s most famous building in honor of his favorite wife Mumtaz. According to legend, the emperor planned to build a black mausoleum for himself opposite the tomb of his late consort. He never got around to it – so Matt did the work for him, a black granite and blue leopard stone bathroom to complement his own mini Taj across the hall.

The ceilings, floors and walls in the lounge and open-plan kitchen/dining area are made of ipe, “the Rolls-Royce of all woods,” Matt says, thanks to its durability.

And above the lounge is the property’s ‘Showstopper’ balcony – bridge-style, celebrating the achievements of the great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed Bristol’s most famous structure, the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Matt’s labor of love took six years in total and, he claims, around £1million, having bought the “derelict mess” of a house for just over £300,000 in 2012. And now he has to give it all up – for a lot less money than he put into it.

“I would like not to sell. But I have to,” he says. ‘I need money.’

He has now listed it on the reservation site Booking.com. Guests can expect to pay close to £600 a night.

As I say goodbye, Matt tells me that Shah Jahan’s vision of love is “missing from most of today’s cold and meaningless architecture” – unlike his penthouse.

“It’s made for a unique person,” he insists. “For someone who appreciates it, culturally.”

And maybe there is someone out there who is as quirky as Matt and thinks so too.