what age defines period property

[Sal]

I was sitting looking at the monstrosity of a fire surround in my living room - its some 1960s stone canopy kit job, and that made me wonder what would have been in that fireplace over the years. - maybe a range when it was a two up two down cottage? cast iron at some point? etc.
Generally period properties have seen lots of changes - isn't change part of it's character? should that stop? how old does something have to be to be saved? is today's barrett-box tomorrow's listed building?

Sal

 

[Nemesis]

Maybe, in years to come, one BB may be listed as an example (or an awful warning?)

That's if they last that long...

Here's one of the latest listings:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/5348570.stm

Of course, many of those things Mr Hawkins is getting excited about are not actually fixtures so not covered by the listing.

I note the link to here:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/A2815463


If only it was so simple!

 

[Penners]

For a building to be listed it needs to be of national importance either architecturally or culturally

I confess that I didn't know about the "culturally" criterion. This explains the listing of The Cavern, which (despite being a great Beatles fan) I previously regarded as decidedly dodgy, from an architectural point-of-view!

 

[NT]

Every era has its good and bad and exceptional, its common its uncommon and its rare. There doesnt seem much merit in conserving the common and bad, but the common and bad sometimes does become the uncommon or rare. Prefab wartime buildings may be an example. So yes, if BBs turn out to be bad they all but disappear, some may get listed one day. Its probably equally likely they may be tmorrows slum clearance.


NT

 

[Nigel Watts]

Each generation tends to react negatively to the work of the previous one. Pugin and the 19th Century goths regarded classical architecture as an abomination. Victorian archicture was despised by the modernists of the 20th C. Modern architecture was vilified by the post modernists. As time passes however, we generally come to take a more objective view.

In preserving or modernising an old building we should not be shy of using new materials or new styles, but this has to be done with judgement. If extending an old building, for example, I believe it can be often better to do so in a contemporary style than trying to ape the older work. Of course there will be a risk that the next generation will hate what one has done, but if the quality is good and the design sympathetic it may last both physically and aesthetically. William Morris hit the nail on the head fo me in his manifesto for SPAB.

 

[Sal]

hmm yeh - perhaps because i was born in the 60s, and therfore grew up with 60s 70s taste surrounding me, is why I loath it now.

my point really was tho, isn't change and adaption part of the picture? my house was originally a two up two down house (we still have the original roof inside the current roof, ) but 'new' part of the house is still in the region of 200 years old. the reason my house is not listed is because its seen lots of changes.
my fireplace has seen lots of different fittings.. currently its stuck in the 1960s but i intend to take that out, and put a woodburner in. (anyone aghast at the sacrilige of destroying 60s grot feel free to contact me and you can take it away for your house....).

 

[Nemesis]

Has it ever been assessed for listing?

 

[Carol]

I think that Sal's questions are the key ones in PP ownership! How many of us could live in 'their' house as it was originally? Even our previous place of 1906 vintage had new draught excluders and central heating and the thought of doing all cooking on the 'range' would fill me with horror. Change sometimes has to happen and all we can do is to make sure our old houses maintain their character and integrity as far as possible. If my current 1450-ish house had not been considered habitable by the Victorians, it would have been demolished as were many others. The 19th fireplaces are part of its history. The beleaguered Conservation Officer treads a tricky path between protection and pragmatism!

 

[Nemesis]

Here's PPG 15 - Part 2 is relevant.


http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/311/PlanningPolicyGuidance15Planningandthehistoricenvironment_id1162311.pdf

It doesn't mean though that 'original form' cannot also include additions and alterations over time - and quality and/or significant alterations can be important and are covered by the listing too.

 

[biffvernon]

my current 1450-ish house

I suppose you chucked out the oiled parchment and put that new-fangled glass stuff in the windows?

 

[Carol]

Er, no! I'm sure the CO would have loved us if we had! Also there was glass and frames when we arrived so we couldn't change it, could we? At least not without permission. Change is often a good thing!

 

[Penners]

I suppose you chucked out the oiled parchment and put that new-fangled glass stuff in the windows?

I've spent a fair bit of today fitting a number of pieces of that new-fangled glass stuff to a new window. Bl**dy stuff - the glass supplier cut it 2mm too big. What a load of hassle.

Give me oiled parchment any day.