A to Z of Period Properties

[DaveBrigg]

Just time for a quick mention of
FREEZING - a period property with original insulation and a dodgy wood powered boiler.
FORTUNE (SMALL) - the cost of getting a roof replaced. Coincidentally this is what you can also expect to pay for a full rewire, replacement of a lath and plaster ceiling or getting a dodgy wood powered central heating system fixed.
FLUSH - level with the surface when referring to screws, or a modern imposition when discussing Georgian toilets.

 

[DaveBrigg]

GRADES of LISTED BUILDINGS
GRADE I - Listed buildings of exceptional interest. 2.5% of the total.
GRADE II* - Particularly important buildings. 5.5% of the total
GRADE II - Nationally important and of special interest. 92% of the total.

 

[philpjuk100]

Re Gainsborough old hall,see F for Fortress House,ENGLISH HERITAGE!, so if you plan a visit make it soon!

 

[Moo]

HAMLET and VILLAGE. What's the difference?

 

[Nigel Watts]

HAMLET and VILLAGE. What's the difference?

In general a village has a church but a hamlet doesn't

 

[Jon Maine]

HAMLET and VILLAGE. What's the difference?

I was going to say you cant smoke a village but then the Vikings showed us all about that..........

but seriously hamlet =

1. a small village or group of houses
2. (in Britain) a village without its own church

 

[DaveBrigg]

GREEN OAK
Popular building material, for repairs and new build projects. I could not find a standard definition that defines the degree to which it is seasoned; is there a preferred moisture content? Perhaps one of the posters with much greater knowledge could be more precise.

G seems to be a pretty lean letter. How about H?

 

[Jon Maine]

Lean, you are not trying, how's rthis for starters

Gilding - A technique of applying a gold finish to a surface: usually by application of either gold paint or gold leaf.

Gold leaf - A very thin sheet of rolled or hammered gold that is used for gilding decoration.

Ground heave - The swelling affect of clay sub-soil due to absorption of moisture, can cause an upward movement of foundations resulting in damage to buildings.

Gully - An opening into a drain, normally at ground level, placed to receive water etc. from rainwater downpipes and surface water. In older properties, sink, basin and bath wastewater may have fed into a gully, however this is not allowed with more modern buildings.

Guttering - The collecting channels at the lowest point of a roof for collecting the rainwater. Usually cast iron (on older properties) or plastic - may be Asbestos cement. Various profiles are available; the two standard traditional ones being Half-round (with a semi-circular section and supporting brackets fixed to the fascia) and Ogee (a moulded pattern with a flat back, where it is made from cast iron, lengths are secured to the fascia by fixing screws through the back).

 

[Jon Maine]

Grate

 

[Penners]

Just time for a quick mention of
FREEZING - a period property with original insulation and a dodgy wood powered boiler.

No, no, no....

FREEZING - any temperature below 20 degrees celsius (according to the Mrs P definition).

 

[DaveBrigg]

Good work Jon, an ample demonstration that when you want a job doing properly, call in a professional. Also overlooked was:
GEORGIAN
A period covering 1714 to 1830, years linked by a distinct lack of imagination in the choice of monarchical names. It was a period inspired by classical architecture, producing architects such as Inigo Jones and Robert Adam, the great terraces of Bath and London and many notable country houses. Georgian houses almost always had sash windows, with small panes held in place by narrow glazing bars. Symetrical designs prevailed, with elegant proportions and skilled use of brick or dressed stone. Unless, of course, you were poor, in which case wattle and daub and thatch remained the materials of choice.

Edit As Gareth points out, Inigo Jones did not live to see a George on the throne In my defence, he was a proponent of the Palladian style, which became popular in the early Georgian period (as many here know better than me of course )

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Oh Dave! Inigo Jones died in 1652. Just ahead of his time...

 

[Jon Maine]

Good work Jon, an ample demonstration that when you want a job doing properly, call in a professional. Also overlooked was:
GEORGIAN
A period covering 1714 to 1830, years linked by a distinct lack of imagination in the choice of monarchical names. It was a period inspired by classical architecture, producing architects such as Inigo Jones and Robert Adam, the great terraces of Bath and London and many notable country houses. Georgian houses almost always had sash windows, with small panes held in place by narrow glazing bars. Symetrical designs prevailed, with elegant proportions and skilled use of brick or dressed stone. Unless, of course, you were poor, in which case wattle and daub and thatch remained the materials of choice.

glazing bars ( sorry couldn't help that one!)

Glue to stick your historic components together again

Grit a component of mortar often

Gondola, soon to be a requirement for traversing between period properties on high ground

God, one whose acts of, seem to flout the property listing system

Goulash, until recently the favourite meal of many building labourers.......

Gravity, defeats many unstable period properties

Grout, lime, useful for stabalising unstable walls

Glass, preferably nice and wobbly

Grange a type of historic property

Glaster, a recycled mix of glass and lime for plastering finish

Ground source heat pumps as newly fitted in many old properties.



Surely we can nail a few more G's this week before trying the H

 

[JoceAndChris]

Blimey Jon, I think you really have nailed all the Gs there! I'm glad Georgian got mentioned, I didn't want to attempt it either. It's such a BIG period.

HA-HA- "The Ha-ha is an expression in garden design that refers to a trench, the inner side of which is vertical and faced with stone, with the outer face sloped and turfed, making the trench, in effect, a sunken fence or retaining wall. The ha-ha is designed not to interrupt the view from a garden, pleasure-ground, or park, and to be invisible until seen from close by."

I think I can safely add that the ha- ha would prevent sheep clambering into your rose garden and destroying it.

Mine is made of brick, not stone, and I love how they laid them:

It encircles a lot of the property, though very sadly overgrown. I'm tempted to restore it but I'd lose so much privacy and security.

HO-HO: The ho ho bird, or phoenix (or other names for other cultures), is the wonderful Chinese mythological bird that lives for a thousand years and then sets fire to itself to emerge anew from the ashes. The tears of the phoenix can heal anything at all. The phoenix has consequently come to symbolise resurrection, healing, power, immortality. You'll see them carved and painted on thrones, mirrors, clocks- they're an important feature of ROCOCO DECORATION.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Have we missed Goth, gothic, gothick and Gothic?View attachment 2

Goth: one of the Germanic tribes who overran the Roman Empire during its decline, hence (from the Renaissance onwards) an appelation which suggests the primitive and uncivilsed values of the tribes that overthrew Rome.

The pointed-arched architecture of the post-Norman Middle Ages was thus characterised as “GOTHIC” in contrast to the (supposedly) civilised Classical manner. Mediaeval gothic (in England) comes in three basic flavours, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular, very roughly of 1150-1250, 1250-1400 and 1400-1550.

An arguable gothic “survival” has been identified, running into the early eighteenth century, in which the motifs and forms of mediaeval architecture continued to be used in a manner consistent with mediaeval practice. Overlapping with the tail-end of this is the first GOTHICK revival, in which the motifs – particularly pointed and ogee arches, battlements and pinnacles, were applied in an unscholarly way to create a romantic effect. The gothick style was first used for minor estate buildings and particularly follies and was popularised as a rather insubstantial fashion by Horace Walpole.View attachment 1

The second Gothic Revival was a scholarly riposte to the outrageous fripperies of the gothick, and was spearheaded by the somewhat serious-minded religious fanatic Augustus Welby Northmore PUGIN in the years around 1830, becoming a crusade for morality in architecture.

 

[Nigel Watts]

It was the French who invented the Gothic style - the first full working out of the implications and possibilites of the pointyed arch was done at St Denis in Paris.

The pointed arch allowed much more flexibility and frredom for church builders than the. Romanesque style which required round arches. In was in France too that the gothic church achieved its greatest expression withe the astonishing clutch of cathedrals in the area around Paris: Notre Dame, Chartres, Amiens, Rhiems and Beauvais to mention just a few.

English gothic was never as ambitious or spectacular but achieved equally poetic effects. BBeing lower and longer and divided my screens the English gothic cathedral in generally more mysterious

 

[JoceAndChris]

I just don't see how it's humanly possible to remember all of that! Maybe write it on back of hand for a while and keep repeating!

 

[Flyfisher]

English gothic was never as ambitious or spectacular . . .

Does Friar Park in Henley qualify as English Gothic? It's certainly impressive.

George Harrison used to live there and the following was filmed in the grounds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7yVkBwGiLc

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I think Nigel meant English mediaeval gothic (though I'd put Kings College Chapel up against any French competitor - the French didn't do Perpendicular).

Friar Park - like many of the more spectacular Victorian gothic houses - is revived French gothic, which I suppose does slightly help Nigel's point.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

GARDEN: The essential setting of many period properties, gardens come in as many shapes, sizes and styles as period properties themselves. The garden may be embellished with GAZEBOS, View attachment 2or GATES, View attachment 1or GODS and GODDESSES inspired by ancient myth.