To presume Victorian terraced houses are hard to live in

[Allinadaystwerk]

I know they look pretty with great character but imagine they are cold and difficult to heat with the high ceilings...and the layout with downstairs bathroom is awkward. Anyone that lives in one beg to differ?

I love our Victorian Terrace. It has loads of history as it was station master quarters. The galley kitchen is a bit crap, but the downstairs bathroom has been great with young children. The backdoor is next to the bathroom so the kids get all muddy in the garden and go straight through to their bath without getting mud everywhere. It's cool in summer, warm in winter and there's only one part of the house with poor soundproofing(uostairs hallway which is 1m squared so not exactly much space).

We love it so much we're moving to another, bigger one soon.

Lots of space. Also the one my son owns has an upstairs bathroom as it was built on out of the back - he deliberately avoided those with downstairs ones on that road (it is a 2 bed house terraced). It is now let out an has no parking off the street in most cases but you can walk to the tube so not a big issue although some potential tenants were put off by lack of parking. You can do residents parking on the road with a pass.

My daughter's flats (each in a Victorian house) have lovely high ceilings and lots of space - that is a plus point not a negative.

Nothing is perfect. When I bought my current house I was after an old house with cellar, attic etc but ended up with a 1989 built one - no cellar and no proper attic!

I'm mine off the odd ones on this in that I live my downstairs bathroom (I didn't expect to)

It's been moved to the middle of the house so right at bottom of stairs for middle of the night and as no landing it's just like walking along the corridor. Much more convenient for visitors as toilet downstairs and you don't have them traipsing through the house. Also great for toilet training. Also when children are old enough to be left in the bath for a bit you can be cooking dinner but still in earshot.

I lived in a succession of Victorian terraces all my life until I was 40. Then moved to a fifties semi then a thirties detached. Victorian houses are pretty but I think they're impractical. Big chimney breasts and fireplaces in every room - most of them no longer functional, taking up space, creating alcoves you can't fit decent-sized wardrobes into, then you have to attach radiators to another wall creating yet another area it's difficult to place furniture against. In the smaller terraces, the bathroom was downstairs and through the kitchen. They are also quite dark. I couldn't believe how much light the fifties house let in when we moved. We'll downsize at some point but I don't want to go back to a terraced house.

I think it depends on what you want from a home. I live in a victoriana terraced house and I like it.
It's warm, the rooms are big, the garden is about 4 times the size of any new build garden.
The toilet it downstairs but it doesn't bother me as I don't pee in the night and am mostly downstairs in the day anyway. DH isn't a fan of it, though.
Parking can be an issue, but we don't commute so we only go out in the car once a week on average.
Our neighbours are lovely and quiet and have never disturbed us, but I do occasionally worry that we disturb them. Especially right now as my baby is teething....

4 bed Victoria terrace here and hate the thought of having to move one day.
solid walls, lovely garden at the back, upstairs toilet (yet to see one with a downstairs toilet), 3 large reception rooms, cant really hear the neighbours as we have solid walls, stays cool in the hottest summers and warms up quickly in winter.

Now I have friends who have bought brand new houses and when they walk up the stairs the whole house shakes - buying a new build fills me with fear. ill take a Victorian house any day.

Depends how modernised it has been. If it still has the old wiring and plumbing, with the old lath and plaster walls, any DIY or repairs will be a nightmare.

I live in one, one of the slightly wider ones so you have a hallway and the bathroom is upstairs. I do hear a bit when next door are having a row but otherwise nothing. Long thin garden that is overlooked at all angles, but that's going to be the same anywhere. Parking is the only issue really. I especially love it in summer when the house stays cool no matter the temperature outside. I love the huge windows, curtains are expensive but you don't buy them often! It still has the original tiled hall, which is lovely. The tall ceilings just make your decor look great, you can get away with some really dark/vibrant paint as you get so much light in the rooms.

We live in one. It's cosy - would be better if we got it double-glazed but there's only so much money to round. Bathroom is upstairs but we did get a downstairs loo put it. But yes, there's no parking, not a lot of privacy outdoors (all the gardens overlook each other) and noisy - we can hear just about everything the neighbours do. I've got up in the night to go to a crying child before, only to realise it's next doors kid.

It's not my dream house but it was the best we could afford we bought it, and I do like it. It's a fantastic central location, in a pretty bit of town, and the house itself has bags of character. In a couple of years we'll want to move and I'd buy a terraced again - I'd rather have a terraced period property than a detached new build.

I live in a victorian terrace and i love it. High ceilings, big rooms. Ok, kitchen isnt very big but there is only me and DH here now so adequate for what we need. Only thing i miss is having a garden, we only have a back yard but we have two big outhouses which means i can have a tumble dryer even though my kitchen isnt big enough to accomodate one.

I live in a Victorian Terrace! Although technically it’s a Victorian semi - was a terrace - I’m on the corner on the end of the road, my neighbour is attached, then there’s a space with 1950s style semi detached properties next to us then a space before the terraces restart. Across the road is a big long line of terraced houses.

As you’ve probably worked out, the gap stretch’s back to WW2 and I’ve looked up the history records out of interest. Right next to my home was where a bomb dropped! Took out 4 homes.

I like mine. It’s got character, it’s got thick ass walls (the wall between neighbours is a bit thinner I admit but the outer walls are good. Fireplaces (blocked now) in every room. Bit creaky, bathroom has been moved to upstairs. Lots have it downstairs sticking off the back of the kitchen around here. It’s reflected in the house price. Those houses are cheaper.

I'm in the process of moving into a Victorian mid terrace and I'm beyond excited. It's so diddy and cosy. Enough for me and DD. Moving from a large modern detached 3 bed bungalow which we presently rattle around in. Luckily it has two bathrooms - wouldn't have considered it if it just had the downstairs one only. Has a galley kitchen which I don't mind at all.

My In laws lived in one and I spent lots of time there . No noise from next door but yes bathroom was at the back via the kitchen and was always freezing ( I think it was easier and cheaper to convert old outside toilet at back hence so common ) FIL had put in a small loo upstairs . Rooms small and stairs very steep .They had parking but it was to a garage via one drive which was shared with the neighbours and it was a tight fit to get cars through. Long narrow garden at the back and yes you see all your neighbours .

I lived in one and loved it. It had most of its original features including beautiful sash windows. I found it easy to heat In winter and airy in the summer. The garden was long but narrow. It was in West London and even 30 years ago parking was difficult. There were times when I had to park a couple of streets away and get home with a toddler and a load of shopping. That said, I really enjoyed living in the house.

From experience. Noisy neighbours (even if they don’t mean to be), no parking and slugs seem to come in through invisible gaps.

Also very chilly! And we had drain problems that were common for the area & age of house.

I’m still looking to buy one though!

I think they have advantages and disadvantages. Given their age a lot of them are holding up pretty well. With a 50s house (in one now) watch out for solid walls (much more external wall than terraced), teeny box room, and hard to extend hipped roof.

@Allinadaystwerk

They do look lovely I agree. I've never lived in one but might potentially. There is an upstairs bathroom but it has taken up too much of the bedroom so I'd need to reduce it to a shower room and install a bath downstairs in the utility space. Which I guess is doable. No driveway, decent street for my budget but narrow. Would a 1950's semi with a bit more space and driveway but in need of total renovation be better?

Go for the Victorian.

1950s build quality is generally awful. We had more horrible surprises with our 1950s house than we ever had with older houses.

I’m currently living in a late Georgian cottage and love it

Hard to heat, expensive maintenance issues, parking issues, lack of toilets/bathrooms, lacking flow (no money to change any of these issues) was my experience growing up and are the reasons we avoid them. But the rooms were massive, no denying that. I love new builds, for exactly that reason, easy to live in. Off street parking, economical, low maintenance, I even like the smaller than average low maintenance gardens. I've never felt the need for my home to have "character", functionality wins for me.

We used to live in a large one, it was a beaut. Lack of garden tho and noisy neighbours on one side did it for us so we moved in the end.
The kitchen was cold, otherwise it was fine heating wise. I think we had one small leak but that was it. The bathroom was upstairs. Still miss the space and character from time to time!

I grew up in a Victorian terrace and didn't discover until I went to Uni that indoors is not necessarily lovely and cool in the summertime. We rented a Victorian terrace the following year.

@ChavvySexPond that's true I've never thought about it but I don't have a single memory of not being able to get to sleep on a hot night growing up (although the memories of shivering are numerous ha!)

When the bathrooms went in in the 1950s onwards, most families split the second bedroom upstairs to make a bathroom and a smaller bedroom. Some put them as offshore downstairs but I don’t think that was the most common approach. I didn’t remember being cold in my mid terrace but the double glazed 1960s house we bought next was warmer. But no nice features and really love ceilings and bedrooms have less room.

Our late-Victorian mid-terrace has lovely features - fireplace, original hall floor tiles, ceiling rose. We find the sound insulation is great, we hear very little from either side.

But... main bathroom is downstairs, off the utility room. We're totally used to it (and have a tiny ensuite upstairs with toilet and basin) , but it's a pain for overnight guests, and as DD gets older it will get more problematic (currently aged 11).

We find it cold in winter, and cool in summer downstairs but boiling upstairs. The lack of off-street parking is a complete pain in the arse, but the location close to town and railway station is great, and the main reason we originally bought it, pre-kids. If we ever moved I would insist on upstairs family bathroom, with or without an ensuite, and parking. We have no money to convert anything in our current house, or to move, and if we'd thought ahead would probably have made a different choice of house.

Agree with Freakstar.

The good thick walls make them resistant to temperature change. So, cool in summer and warm in winter. Also, the noise from neighbours isn't an issue for the same reason.

We live in one, currently house hunting and if I'm honest newer houses are leaving me cold. We currently have 3 bedrooms and are looking for 4 but any houses I've seen for a comparable price are just shoe boxes and we are having to lose so much space in both reception rooms and bedrooms that overall the houses are smaller. It's going to end up being a bigger victorian terrace I suspect (seen a fantastic one over 4 floors)

Both current house and one I'm looking at have upstairs bathrooms