The Prestwich house once owned by the late The Fall frontman Mark E. Smith has gone up for sale.
Photos of the property on Winchester Avenue show a number of what appear to be old possessions of Smith and Smith’s widow and former Fall keyboardist Elena Poulou still on site, including his writing desk, tape recorder and books, and clothes that have been worn by Poulou in press photographs. You can see them and the full listing here.
tQ has contacted the estate agents, Clive Anthony Sales & Lettings, about the possibility of rescuing some of the items for preservation. They said that any items would have to be removed by Smith’s family.
Graham Duff, a friend of Smith’s who, with him, co-authored the book The Otherwise: The Screenplay For A Horror Film That Never Was told tQ: "Mark himself would no doubt have been disparaging about the notion of his old house being turned into some kind of museum or monument. Yet if there are personal possessions, books, notebooks etc within, then it seems ridiculous if these can’t be removed and archived.
"Mark’s legacy and influence can only grow and it would be ludicrous if potentially important artefacts and documents aren’t saved. This was also Elena Poulou’s home for over a decade, surely she should be consulted about any remaining contents."
tQ has contacted Poulou for comment.
DJ and writer Dave Haslam said on Twitter: "Really heartbreaking this, Mark E Smith’s old house is for sale. Still many possessions there. Oh, Mark. So missed. What can be done?"
The estate agents’ official listing says the house "offers scope to improve and add value and is in need of modernisation throughout, giving the successful buyer the option of putting their own stamp on the property."
The house is thought to be the one immortalised on The Fall’s 1985 track ‘My New House’, written about his purchase of the property with former wife Brix Smith Start.
"Our biggest purchase together was a house. It was round the corner from Mark’s childhood home, where his parents still lived," she wrote in her memoir The Rise, The Fall, And The Rise. "It was very comforting to him to live a block away from his mother. We bought the house from a Baptist couple. They had kind, calm energy and there was a good vibe in the house."
Pictures of the house reveal a Smeg fridge. Smith once famously claimed he did not own a fridge until he met Brix. Similarly, he once claimed that he only owned two chairs, something not borne out by the estate agent listing.
