The Headington Shark House, real name “Untitled 1986”, is a property located in Headington, Oxford, England. The modest 4-bed Victorian cottage was once your standard home, no different to numerous other houses on the street. That was until 1986 when an odd sculpture was added to the roof.
THE HISTORY OF HEADINGTON SHARK HOUSE
Up until 1986, the Headington Shark House was just your standard Victorian-era cottage. That was until house owner Bill Heine commissioned a sculpture to be placed on his roof. Bill was an American-born BBC radio broadcaster and writer, known for his controversial and opinionated presenting style.
Bill Heine, the house owner who commissioned the shark watching the crane drop it into position.
The 200kg, 25-foot long shark made from painted fiberglass first appeared on August 9, 1986. Taking three months to build, it was put into position by crane, and named “Untitled 1986” as seen on the house gate.
The sculpture was erected on the 41st anniversary of the atomic bomb landing on Nagasaki. Designed by sculptor John Buckley, Heine said “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”.
Bill Heine cleaning the shark in 1990.
Over the years Oxford City Council has tried to get the sculpture removed on safety grounds, and then later on the grounds that it had not been given planning permission. However, there has been a lot of local support for the shark to remain in place.
Eventually, the case was taken to the central government, where it was determined that the shark could stay. They assessed in 1992 that it would be allowed to remain as it did not result in harm to the visual amenity.
In 2002 the house featured in a newspaper advertising campaign for a financial advice service offered by Freeserve.
After 21-years on the roof, in August 2007, the shark underwent renovations by John Buckley after complaints about the condition of the sculpture and the house.
The property undergoing renovations.
In 2011 Bill released a book, “The Hunting of the Shark: The Story Behind the Tale That Crash Landed on an Unsuspecting Oxford Suburban Street“. The book goes into detail about planning battles, arrests, the public inquiry and the intervention by the Secretary of State for the Environment.
In more recent years, the house has continued to receive attention. In 2013 it was the subject of an April Fools’ Day story in the Oxford Mail. They announced that Oxford City Council had a £200,000 fund to create similar roof sculptures in the surrounding area.
In 2015 the house also featured on Damned Designs, a show that focused on properties that didn’t follow planning permission.
THE HOUSE TODAY
Since 2016 the Headington Shark House has been owned by Magnus Hanson-Heine, son of Bill Heine. Magnus bought the house in order to preserve the shark his father commissioned. The property has been run as an Airbnb guesthouse since 2018.
The 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom property is located just 1.5 miles from Oxford city center and available for around £187 per night.
