Live in a Former Toilet -- Only $200,000
Thu May 30,12:09 PM ET

LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) - A former Edwardian public toilet in south London, measuring just four meters square, is to be converted into a two-story "duplex apartment" and will be worth 135,000 pounds ($200,000), say estate agents Acorns in Lewisham.

"I don't think the fact that it was a loo will put people off," said an Acorns spokesman of the convenience, at 17 Devonshire Road, on the busy South Circular road.

"It is very convenient as it is opposite Forest Hill station," added the spokesman. "It has its own front door, it is split level and you have no one above or below you which is unusual for a flat."

The property's owner Hambridge Homes have yet to decide whether to sell or rent the toilet, which has been derelict for 10 years, when the conversion is finished in six months.

"I think it is one of the more imaginative spaces we have taken on," said a spokesman for Architects Plus, who recently designed an "upside-down house," built into a hill in Kent.

As for the design of the converted lavatory, the architects said they planned to give that a considerable amount of thought. "It will probably be in a classical Edwardian style," the architects' spokesman added.

On Thursday the Nationwide Building Society said Britain's annual house price inflation was 17.9 percent, the highest rate for 13 years.