By George Upton
For a private nightclub
The facade of this six-bedroom house in Paris’s 16th arrondissement dates from the late 19th century but behind it stands a newly built property with modern features. There is a state-of-the-art 12-seat cinema, a 16-metre indoor swimming pool and a private two-level nightclub with a DJ station and balconies overlooking the dance floor. The property, which includes a large master suite and a “floating” Carrara marble staircase, is on the market for €80mn.
For a famous recording studio
The Old Sawmills is a secluded seven-bedroom house on a private creek off the River Fowey in Cornwall. The property, which is on the market for £2mn, is thought to have been the inspiration behind the setting of Kenneth Grahame’s novel, The Wind in the Willows, but its role in modern music history is also significant. The building was established in 1974 as one of the first residential recording studios in the UK and it was here that albums including Oasis’s Definitely Maybe and Supergrass’s In It For The Money were recorded and where rock band Muse launched their career. The property includes the main house, a two-bedroom lodge, pontoons, outbuildings and 32 acres of private woodland.
For opera lovers
This fortified village midway between the Italian cities of Modena and Bologna dates from the 16th century and includes a well-maintained 18th-century palazzo that will be of particular interest to opera lovers. Composer Gioachino Rossini married his second wife Olympe Pélissier here in 1846 and it provides the setting for part of Gaetano Luporini’s 1921 opera Amore e Morte, which tells the story of the ghosts of the wives of the cruel Boccadiferro, whose family owned the palazzo until the 19th century. The property includes a tower and keeper’s house and is on the market for €2.3mn.
For audiophile sound
This four-bedroom house in the west of Mexico City, on the market for $6.6mn, is characterised by minimal, modern interiors and high-end finishes. In addition to the Salvatori marble wall cladding and Bocci lighting in the double height living room, an integrated Bowers and Wilkins audio system has been installed, providing audiophile-quality sound throughout the house. The large garden has four bathrooms for events and a Japanese-style Teppanyaki grill plate.
For a historic organ
Adlington Hall is a 10-bedroom Grade I-listed country house in Cheshire. The oldest part of the house, the Great Hall, dates back to the 13th century and features a medieval hammerbeam roof and an organ (main picture, above) that was installed in the 17th century. Played by composer George Frideric Handel in the 1740s, the organ is considered one of the most important surviving musical instruments from that period. The house is part of an estate that has been in the same family for 700 years. It is now on the market for £30mn and includes six farms, 22 houses and cottages, a hunting lodge and village hall.
Photography: Savills; Mathieu Fiol/Paris Sotheby's International Realty; Berkshire Hathaway Home Services; Mexico Sotheby's International Realty; Strutt & Parker
