Ugly period properties

[Feltwell]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - or is that beer holder?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18056612

 

[middi]

I wonder if the queen is in the house swap market

Middi

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Peter York, as usual, gets it wrong by describing the white and gilt staircase and similar interiors as "High Victorian" - they're part of the remodelling for Edward VII.

 

[CliffordPope]

Two lovely stories about BP I have heard, neither necessarily true:

The upstairs servants rooms originally had no proper sanitation, and the toilet waste was discharged into the rainwater hoppers above Queen Victoria's bedroom.

A visiting Shah of Persia had a servant executed and buried quietly in the garden.

 

[LadyArowana]

..... stories about BP I have heard, neither necessarily true:
A visiting Shah of Persia had a servant executed and buried quietly in the garden.

That story gets a mention in this article too http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...uite-Obamas-stay-visit-Buckingham-Palace.html

 

[Penners]

I wouldn't describe Buck House as ugly.

But I wouldn't call it beautiful, either. It is, however, suitably majestic to be the official residence of the monarch.

I find the Duke's weekend cottage, Stowe House, to be much more beautiful in its "modernised" (ie: early C19th to today) form than Buckingham Palace. The North Front of Stowe is very handsome, the South Front is glorious.

 

[MattW]

Penners - agree with you, as one who was lucky enough to walk past the south front every day for five years, that it's a lot more beautiful than Buckingham palace. Though I wonder whether you might have a typo in the date? Shouldn't it be C18th century (1779 to be precise)?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, lovely Stowe.

Though I wouldn't say no to Buck Palace, and the bits Mr Hughes did are lovely (not joking, I've seen the pics!).

 

[Penners]

I wonder whether you might have a typo in the date? Shouldn't it be C18th century (1779 to be precise)?

I'm entirely ready to yield on dates, Matt, because my memory of the chronology of various Stowe facelifts is hazy, at best. I agree that the major series of redesigns were in the C18th, but I had a vague idea that the final facelift of the South Front was done between 1801 and 1804, in time for the visit of the Prince Regent.

I also spent five years there, although as a Cobhamite I tended to take the shortcut through Plug Street!

 

[daniel22]

I wouldn't describe Buck House as ugly.

But I wouldn't call it beautiful, either. It is, however, suitably majestic to be the official residence of the monarch.

I find the Duke's weekend cottage, Stowe House, to be much more beautiful in its "modernised" (ie: early C19th to today) form than Buckingham Palace. The North Front of Stowe is very handsome, the South Front is glorious.

Yeah I agree, that's what I think too.