Historical examples needed

[alice]

My husband and I (we live in Texas, another story...) have just purchased a summer house near my mother's (Lowestoft), and only one block away from the beach. We're excited to have this house, which we'll eventually retire to, but are at a loss as to the best way to get started with restoration.

The good news? It's in beautiful shape... new roof, new electrics, etc.

The bad news? The same update/ remodeling enthusiasm the previous owners had meant removing EVERY bit of character and charm from the house. I mean every bit. It's now graced with a fitted kitchen (no sink! for some bizarre reason), light fixtures, fireplaces etc that are, without a doubt, the ugliest and blandest available. It has plastic (UVPC) windows and vertical blinds. Oh, and almost every wall and ceiling is slathered with Artex.

My goal is to restore this terrace to an appropriate state that is consistant with it's age and location. I think it was built around 1870-1880 and the terrace was inhabited by the solidly middle class. The owner in 1901 was a doctor.

I think a good goal would be to look to decoration, fittings and fixtures in the Arts and Crafts style, with Gothic revival touches.

My reason for posting? All of my books (and I must have 20) of this type of style and era all focus on the homes of the obscenely wealthy. I know I could have gold plated faucets, but that wouldn't be in character with the house, now would it? Does anyone know of any websites of restored houses that focus on the way ordinary people lived? Particulary those with photos. I can't find much during my searches, and being a computer techie in my 21st century incarnation, I'm pretty good at that. Any comments and advice and shared photos of finished work would be more than welcome...

Here's a couple of photos, more to come later.
http://w172.photobucket.com/albums/w21/taylora27/

click on "slideshow"

the Friend's password to this site is "house"

thanks!
alice

 

[plumbers mate]

Try going to some of the open-air museums - most have housing in them in one way or another - some are very lowly workers' housing, some have the more middle class home you are talking about.
I wouldn't have any idea as to the nearest around Lowestoft though.

Is there any chance of checking other houses in the street to see what they might have left in them? A causal walk past when they have the ligts on and curtains open is a good way if you don't feel up to cold calling (borrowing a dog to walk past with is a good ploy).

 

[alice]

Thanks, those are both good ideas. I'm going back this summer and my plan was to introduce myself to a few of the homeowners on my terrace and see if any have original features they'd be willing to let me see and photograph. Hopefully I won't establish myself as the neighborhood nut.

Open air museums and restored villiages are another good idea, and I'll do a search in the meantime.

However, I'm eager to do my research from here in Texas, and save my limited time in East Anglia for real work (that Artex should be fearing for it's life...), so if anyone has any links or pictures they'd like to share, I'd be grateful.

alice

 

[Nemesis]

The Victorian Society - books and pamphlets - well worth sending off for.

http://www.victorian-society.org.uk/vichsebk.html

http://www.victorian-society.org.uk/index.html

 

[Gervase]

There's a museum at Gressenhall, near Dereham, about half an hour from Lowestoft, as well as the Museum of East Anglian Life at Stowmarket - but most such displays focus on the agricultural labourer rather than the bourgeois town doctor, who would have been a few rungs above, socially. A house of that status would have had live-in staff (or at the very least a maid).
When I lived in Lowestoft (more than a quarter of a century ago) it had a thriving local history society with a good collection of photographs housed at the museum in Nicholas Everitt Park down by Oulton Broad, and that still appears to be going here.
The Suffolk Record Office might also be able to help.
However, for precise details of Victorian decor, Nemesis' suggestion of the Victorian Society is probably your best bet.

 

[alice]

Thanks for the replies. I'll check on the Victorian Society pamphlets; I've looked at their webpage but haven't ordered any literature from them.

I was planning on going to the Suffolk County registry to see if I could find out exactly when the terrace was built. My dating is from the algorithm from the Bricks and Brass site and from the 1901 census info (doctor, wife, two infant sons, maid and cook... so you were dead on with your guess of housekeepers, etc.)

I hadn't thought of the museum in Oulton Broad, but I'll check there, as well.

I'm a bit surprised that I can't find a website were people can post pics of their renovations to share. Maybe I'll set one up, obviously there's a hole in the market!

alice

 

[Nemesis]

You can post that here, people do. However, some of us like our privacy, and think encouraging burglars to spot what we have isn't a grand plan...

Have you the house deeds? They might well have details of when built, as of course might the County Records Office.

 

[alice]

Oh, I'd never consider asking for addresses! And while I certainly understand the desire for privacy, I'm sure that there are many people who are gregarious enough to want to show off their handiwork.

I don't have the deeds here. I understand that in the UK the mortgage holder has them, which was a bit of a surprise for me and one of the many things I learned that contrasted the differences between buying and sellling in the UK and the US. I won't have the deeds until the note is paid off, and that won't be for about 5 years. But I'll stop by the local gov't offices when I get there and see what I can find out. I'm pretty sure the terrace isn't THAT old, so there should be some info on it.

I do have a copy of the property survey I had done when I was looking at the place, but it doesn't have anything in it about the history; it's all mechanics.

alice

 

[MdB]

Mortgage companies hold deeds for properties that haven't been sold recently. With new sales, the deeds end up on the land registry computer which becomes the important bit. The old paper deeds are no longer important apart from being a historical record and the mortgage company no longer asks to keep hold of them. According to my solicitor, an awful lot of wonderful deeds are just been shreaded as nobody realises that they need to ask for them to be kept when they buy a house.

(We managed to keep our new houses deeds but was rather disappointed to find that they only went back to 1950 or so and had been (badly) typed.)

 

[Nemesis]

In the US I know people do have such sites. Folks do post here occasionally with updates of what they have done. Nothing to stop them, either directly or though links to external sites with albums of pics. It's not hard though to track places down at times.

It's occasionally a bit like looking at houses for sale though - great to smirk at the awful bad taste of others... unlike one's own impeccable taste...

Building of the Month via the Homepage is always interesting, usually lovely places.

We are fortunate in that we have deeds and docs, although some are copy docs, dating back to the middle ages, this all being part of a manor.

County Records Offices will have old maps and other docs which will help with dating, but I suspect neighbours and local history groups will know a great deal too.

 

[alice]

OMG! I hope mine weren't shredded! I was told my deeds were with the mortgage company by my solicitor, who seemed a bit surprised I wanted them.

Here in the states I have a copy of the deed to my house, which we get as a matter of course during the closing. The deeds, however, are rewritten with each sale, so to find historical information we need to do a title search, which is a historical timeline of the physical property, ownerships, and bounderies. This is done to make sure the house/land does not have any liens or ownership disputes. I didn't get such a thing here in the UK, at least that I'm aware of. The house I've bought in the UK closed after we came back to the States, and my soliciter handled everything.

alice

 

[Nemesis]

All the information regarding the title should now be registered with the Land Registry, and for a small fee you can download what information is held from the website. That current title and other papers (guarantees etc) will also be with the solicitor

Unfortunately, any earlier paper docs may well have been disposed of as being redundant. If they are with the solicitor you can ask for them.

 

[andrew gayton]

get in touch with the friendly local conservation officer/historic buildings officer; they may well be able to provide you with applicable digital photography from records.................. although they will probably have to be careful about what they share with you due to privacy issues etc.

 

[alice]

Thanks, again. I'll try emailing the CO and see what he says.

alice

 

[alice]

Nemesis....I had looked at the Property of the Month but had thought they were all very grand examples, and that wasn't what I was looking for, so I gave up. I tried it again, on you suggestion, and went further back and there are humbler houses. Thanks for the suggestion.

alice

 

[AMc]

If you're over then this place is really interesting for a crash course in historic interiors.
http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/

Catch the 147 bus North from Bishop's gate outside Liverpool Street Station (rail) which is where any East Anglian rail routes come into London.

 

[alice]

Amc, thanks for the link; very interesting!

I'd never heard of the museum and my husband and I make a point of going to the various art and history museums in London every year. It just goes to show that there's always something new to find in London, isn't there!

 

[Nemesis]

While possibly a little grand:

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/linleysambournehouse/general/default.asp

 

[alice]

Grand, but very interesting. It's fascinating to see how attitudes towards clutter and pattern have changed over the years...and even how it was changing in the 1880's.

alice