Oxford home where J.R.R. Tolkien wrote most of 'Lord of the Rings' is for sale
(KUTV) — Not only can you purchase the home where J.R.R. Tolkien wrote "The Hobbit," and the bulk of "The Lord of the Rings," if you live in the Oxford neighborhood with kids, your children may attend The Dragon and Wychwood School.
Tolkien, the writer and Oxford academic, lived at 20 Northmoor Road in North Oxford from 1930 to to 1940s while at Pembroke College, of the University of Oxford. There he authored "The Hobbit," published in 1937 and wrote the first two published volumes of "The Lord of the Rings." The listing price is 4,375,000, or approximately $5.6 million.
The home and property, according to the listing with real estate agency Breckon & Breckon, "remains largely unaltered since it was built." The listing says the property is well served by shopping and transportation in the area, "including Oxford High, The Dragon and Wychwood School."
The home has the U.K.'s Grade II status, that means it is of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve it. It also has nearly 4,000 square feet of space — built in 1924 — with "six good-sized bedrooms" on the first floor, "two with generously-sized en-suite bathrooms," accord to its listing. It also sits in the Central North Oxford area, said to be the most sought-after part of the city.
The floor plan is including with the listing and shows the ground floor containing stairs to the first floor and a number of rooms not always found in American homes including a reception room, a sitting room and more spacious drawing room with windows on three sides and double doors that open into the garden. It also has a "kitchen / breakfast room, downstairs shower room, walk-in larder, utility room and separate loo."
The home bears one of seven blue plaques in England that commemorate places associated with Tolkien. It was marked in the early 2000s with "J.R.R. Tolkien Author of The Lord of the Rings Lived Here 1930 - 1947." The others are homes where he lived and the Sarehole Mill, also in Birmingham.
Tolkien served in WWI and was part of the Battle of the Somme where he contracted trench fever. He worked at the Oxford English Dictionary, took a post at the University of Leeds, starting is career as an academic. The great success of "The Hobbit," convinced Tolkien to try to produce a sequel that eventually resulted in the "Lord of the Rings." A great wealth of his other material remained unpublished until after his death in 1973, much of it researched and published by his son Christopher Tolkien, his literary executor who recently passed and grew up in the property for sale.
Queen Elizabeth II appointed J.R.R. Tolkien a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and was given an honorary Doctorate of Letters by Oxford University. His works have been voted "best loved" by a number of publications, nations and polls. His "Lord of the Rings" is among the best-selling novels ever written, with over 150 million copies sold, according to The Toronto Star. His books have been adapted into lucrative films.
Below is the brochure of the property from Breckon & Breckon, that also granted permission to use the photos from the property's listing.
