Ruining traditional houses should be illegal?

I really dislike all the Victorian houses who knock out the back rooms and have a massive kitchen / diner with bi folds. Yuk. They all look the same and are totally not in keeping either the style of house. So many of them on Rightmove. We have an Edwardian terrace which still has a hodgepodge of smaller rooms and I absolutely love it.

I do somewhat agree. Modern refurbs can nicely compliment traditional features.

we live in a Victorian (ish) house. When we were viewing the owner referred to the patterned Minton tiles in the hallway. As soon as I got excited at the mention she cut it down saying they didn’t like them and ‘ripped them out and covered the area with carpet’ 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ Sure enough I was picturing lovely Minton tiles staring down at a dingy burgundy carpet.

Flood risk as well as unattractive.

And I want to live somewhere that - imo - looks beautiful, not a characterless box the same as everyone else's!

Original features all the way for me - we've owned lots of old houses (the oldest was Tudor) and we've never felt inclined to remove anything that lends period charm. However much those chimney breasts/fireplaces, for example, might impede 'modern' living, their beauty outweighs any inconvenience, imo.

Sadly, our current grade 2 listed cottage (Georgian) was butchered in the mid 1960s and by the time we bought it in 2024 had no original - doors (except the front door), staircase, skirting, architrave, fireplaces, ceilings, floorboards (apart from one room) or even plaster remaining. Every internal wall but one is a new stud wall too. It even has an integral garage where there used to be reception rooms 😢 At least the timber windows they put in resemble - kind of - what would have been there.

We're gradually (with permission, obvs) attempting to sympathetically restore it and give it some dignity/character back, but I'd cheerfully strangle the idiots who ripped everything out and thought a crazy paved fireplace was an appropriate replacement!

My friend wanted to renovate the listed house she grew up in. It’s not that special and I was very surprised it was listed. The kitchen was tiny for a four bed house, and she wanted to add a granny flat extension for her mother that would not have affected the original building other than a hallway that would attach the buildings. She was refused permission. So her family home is awkwardly laid out and not really fit for modern living. At least they allowed her to replace the kitchen so she can have a dishwasher!
I also own a listed house. It is a small cottage of no particular merit on its own but as one of ten together they form a listed terrace. Everyone has removed the old coal range in the kitchen when remodelling. They did not get permission to do this. I want to remodel the old 80s kitchen which is falling apart. I can do that, but I can’t get rid of the stove. While I recognise it is an original feature, it is not a neutral feature like coving or a even a fireplace, it actually makes it very hard to update the kitchen for modern use.
while I agree listed buildings should need permission if changes are to be made, but with a more pragmatic view. It seems bizarre to insist this one feature be kept when the house has been changed so much the original occupants would not recognise it, and the feature is hardly rare. And the ‘experts’ are not infallible. A friend, when meeting with the listed building inspector about removing a wall between her kitchen and dining room, was told that an opening could be made but they must take care not to damage the paneling and coving. The panelling that was added in the 1980s (long after the building was listed) and the coving was from B&Q!

We don’t use our fireplaces but they do give focus to a room. I always feel that there is something missing in a living room without a fireplace. And I think the alcoves on either side are rather elegant.

I live on a 1930s estate. In so many houses the beautiful original stained glass in the windows and front door has been ripped out and replaced with plain glass or worse, leaded lights. Such a shame, we preserved the original stained glass when we replaced our windows.

I love this kind of nonsense.

So based on that houses should all be square, utilitarian boxes, and decorated in the cheapest, most neutral way possible.

Houses are for living in, not looking at.

We have a fireplace we don't use. It'd cost a fortune to remove the chimney. There's no correlation between my fireplace and opinions on climate change

yanbu. Home decoration to cut your wrists by !!

In two years time there will be a roaring trade for builders in ripping out dreary grey panelling & flooring, and restoring houses to something like normality.

I'm looking for a new home and am happy to say the houses that haven't had a depressing accident in a paint factory (ie not uniform grey) are about £200,000 less expensive.

There are still plenty around that haven't been ruined. Just keep looking OP.

I voted YANBU, but I do not actually think it should be illegal. We have ways to protect important period homes but we can't control everything, it would do more harm than good.

I do judge people like this inside my head.

It's common enough however, especially with more recent older homes. I remember when everyone was ripping out good quality mid-century stuff, in good condition, and almost everyone agreed it was awful. This was just before it came back into style. And the same thing happened to a lot of Victorian places in the mid 20th century.

Fireplaces have no business whatsoever in town centres in our day and age. They are massive polluters and not energy efficient. Unless the house is listed, my view is that chimney breasts should be removed. It does add quite a lot of space to a room, and makes furniture placement a lot easier. You absolutely don’t need a fireplace to add design interest to a room.

Whenever I see a living room with a fireplace, I think the owners are climate change deniers and self-indulgent snobs.

I hate the ultra modern electric fire with a massive TV attached to the wall on the chimney breast above that takes the place of a proper fire place. The shiny grey kitchens too that are so out of keeping with the property. I’m with you OP but once it belongs to someone they can do what they want with it.

This drives me nuts. Leave people alone to do what they want to do. It’s their house.

Someone on our towns Facebook page has just started a pile-on on some poor property owner who had the audacity to put slabs down in his own front garden. Who do these people actually think they are?!

It’s their house, they can do what they want. It’s not like you have to live there.

This is design-unsympathetic renovation.

We did a whole home refurb of a house, which was built in 1953. Our designer pointed out we wouldn’t need coving as it was unsympathetic. Shallow skirting with one curve at the top. Mid-century furniture and accents throughout.

It is absolutely superb and that’s largely because it’s in keeping with the period of the property.

DH has a new job which means that we will need to move. Transport links mean we are very restricted on where we can move to and the number of houses with Astro turf covered back gardens and monoblocked front gardens is very depressing.

We have some lovely old buildings in our town centre. They were used by banks, offices, jewellers who kept the decor/windows in line with the style of the building. Now all the banks have closed and the offices have moved to a cheaper location these lovely buildings are leased to vape shops, pawn brokers and fast fashion. Neon signs everywhere they look awful.

We have just moved into a beautiful Victorian house with loads of original features. It’s a definite project as it’s probably not been decorated this century but we’re trying hard to balance the period features with the need for it to be our family home. It’s possible to do both in my opinion without removing the features.

Not unless it’s listed!

oh yes and then they lay Astro turf over it because apparently they hate bees as well as joy

today I was wondering what to do with the old chimney breast in our kitchen rip out to make space for shiny white cupboards? Or do this? I think i need an Aga

We’re actually debating whether to side return extend or not…

My fil ripped out a mature garden and it's now an environmental desert. He has form for this and he's in his 80s. Breaks my heart...