The unusual nature of the hire market is what makes the industry so great, allowing people to pay a small amount to hire a product or service. With the property market thriving from the rental model we are always keen to see unusual properties up for grabs, with this Oxford house certainly catching our attention.
As an unlikely landmark the shark house is gathering a lot of interest, this week marking 30 years of local presence. Existing as part of the local community the house is now up for rent, with the homeowner passionate to rent to someone that will look after the art house and the reputation it enjoys.
The Shark
The fibreglass shark’s tail, which is 25ft high is the same height as the house itself, positioned at an unusual art piece that many admire. Created by artist John Buckley the artwork is called ‘Untitled, 1986’.
Installed without full planning permission the homeowner, Bill Heine, was determined to keep the shark up, entering a 6-year battle. Eventually the case hit the office of Michael Heseltine, the then Secretary of State for the Environment.
The government inspector ruled that “any system of control must make some small place for the dynamic, the unexpected, the downright quirky”. As a sign of defeat for the artist the Shark is now an integral part of the Oxford community, seeing residents referring to the shark as ‘our shark’.
“When we took it from where we got it made, it was put on the back of a 12ft-long truck, with the tail hanging off,” says Heine, a local radio presenter.
“We didn’t tell anyone what it was going to be. We told the driver to avoid the police.”
Like with most pieces of art work the shark was produced to encourage social commentary. Heine explained that the shark “was to express someone feeling totally impotent and ripping a hole in their roof out of a sense of impotence and anger and desperation… It is saying something about CND, nuclear power, Chernobyl and Nagasaki.”
At just £2,300PCM this house is pretty cheap when considering its popularity and the area in which it sits.
Let us know what you think, could you rent Oxford’s shark house?
