Got $0.5m? Syd Barrett house up for sale

The Cambridge, England house belonging to the late Syd Barrett, one of the founders of Pink Floyd, is up for sale for about $550,000 -- and it's reportedly attracting large numbers of viewers. Real estate agents are bringing as many as 40 parties a day to look at the three-bedroom semi-detached 1930s-era house, some of whom are interested in the house, some of whom possibly just want to see the strange interior.

The house's walls are painted pink, orange, brown, blue, turquoise, and lavender, and the rooms are filled with makeshift shelving. The house itself needs some work, or, as the real estate agent puts it, "provides an excellent opportunity for sympathetic improvement and updating."

Barrett's sister Rosemary Breen provided some notes for prospective buyers, in which she explains, "He put his stamp on the house with frequent redecoration.... He slept in all the bedrooms, deciding which one as the mood took him. The only intrusion to his peace was the occasional visits from fans. He could never understand why strangers wanted his time as the reason for his fame was always a mystery to him."

Some of the house's contents will be sold at auction in Cambridge in November, including a classical guitar, books, furniture, an easel, paints, and two hand-painted bicycles.

Syd Barrett had been a co-founder of Pink Floyd in the mid-1960s. He was the band's original songwriter and lead singer, contributing to two albums before overuse of drugs led him to his departure from the group. He maintained a brief solo career before slipping from public view, staying at his Cambridge home and becoming a recluse and an artist. He died July 7th, at the age of 60.
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