Representative Image of Thorpeness’s whimsical house-shaped water tower surrounded by trees in Suffolk ( AI Generrated Image)
In the English village of Thorpeness, a 70-foot structure built to store water was designed to resemble a house perched above the trees. Completed in 1923, the building concealed a tank with an original capacity of 50,000 gallons, while the structure below provided living accommodation. Historic England credits Frederick Forbes Glennie with the building’s 1923 design, commissioned as part of Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie’s development of Thorpeness.
Known as the House in the Clouds, it was part of the development of Thorpeness, a planned holiday village on the Suffolk coast. Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie, the owner and developer of the Thorpeness Estate, conceived the village and commissioned architects to help realise its distinctive design. Its timber weatherboarding, gabled roof and domestic-style windows helped it fit the village’s unusual architectural character. More than a century later, the building remains a landmark, despite no longer serving its original purpose as a water tower. The House in the Clouds was built to provide a water supply for Thorpeness. Its unusual appearance reflected the character of the village, which Ogilvie developed as a holiday destination with buildings designed to create a distinctive landscape rather than a conventional resort.
The original tank held 50,000 gallons. The property’s history records that a poem she wrote in 1923 was inspired by the building. Historic England, which designated the building Grade II listed in 1995, describes it as a landmark and the best-known building in the resort village. An electric pump replaced the petrol engine in 1953, according to the property’s history. By 1963, a wider water supply had been introduced to the area, although the tank continued to be used for storage for a period afterwards. The property’s history places the end of its use for local water storage in 1977. The tank itself was removed in 1979, opening the way for the former storage space to become part of the house. Refurbishment of the interior and restoration of the garden began in 1987. Built in 1923, damaged during wartime, altered when its water-storage role ended, and later adapted for holiday use, it has remained a recognisable feature of Thorpeness.
Water was pumped from a well using the neighbouring windmill, with a petrol engine available as an alternative when wind conditions were insufficient, according to the property’s official history. The elevated tank formed part of the water-supply system developed for the village. The building was initially called the Gazebo. Mrs Malcolm Mason, a children’s author and friend of Ogilvie, christened it the House in the Clouds. Its new name captured the appearance of a house seemingly suspended above the surrounding trees. Its combination of domestic architecture and water-storage infrastructure has helped preserve its distinctive identity. The building’s water-supply arrangements also evolved over the following decades. The tower eventually ceased to serve its original function. These changes allowed the structure to survive beyond the purpose for which it had been built. Rather than remaining a working water tower, it became a house whose unusual upper section no longer needed to accommodate a large volume of water. Its official accommodation page lists five bedrooms distributed across the second, third and fourth floors, with a games room on the fifth floor. The different levels allow guests to experience a building whose layout developed from its original combination of a water tank and living space. The property stands on Uplands Road in Thorpeness, in Suffolk, close to the village’s golf course and Meare, the artificial lake created as part of the resort’s development. Visitors can find practical details through the property’s official location page. The building’s appeal comes from the contrast between its appearance and its original function. From a distance, its roof and weatherboarded exterior resemble a house elevated above the village. Its history, however, is tied to a practical need: storing and supplying water to the developing community. The House in the Clouds is an example of how infrastructure can become part of a place’s architectural identity. Its original purpose has disappeared, but the structure continues to serve a new one while retaining the appearance that made it unusual in the first place.
Today, the House in the Clouds operates as holiday accommodation.