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£300 property now on the market for £1.9m

Paloma Kubiak
Written By:
Paloma Kubiak
Posted:
Updated:
21/09/2017

An East London council property given away in a lottery has now been restored and put on the market for £1.9m.

Gus and Jane Alexander won the two-part property in Whitechapel, East London, as part of the Greater London Council Lottery in 1977, paying just £150 for each house.

The purchase was on condition that the Georgian properties be converted into one home.

“We were on honeymoon in Ireland when we found out that we had won,” Jane Alexander told Metro paper. “We got a letter saying we had to pay £300, £150 for each house, and the condition was that we had to turn these two houses into one.”

The couple poured £30,000 into the two-year project restoring the house, aided by Gus Alexander being an architect. The couple has owned the home since.

“Some people refused [the prize] because of the cost and scale of the work that needed to be done,” explained Mrs Alexander. After installing plumbing and replacing the electrics, the couple added design features inside, including a mezzanine level and large windows. The property also has a garden.