To hate the removing of character from old houses?

[Mushrooms0up]

I probably am being unreasonable as it doesn’t actually have anything to do with me. But there is a gorgeous house near where I live on a private road which came up for sale a while ago. It needed a bit of TLC but looked like a lovely, lived in family house.

It’s just come back on market for a lot more money, and I’m so sad at what’s been done. The marble tiled flooring just doesn’t match the house and the character and it just seems so sterile :(
If you like that kind of look why buy a period property? What do you all think?

Here’s the before:

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=73256386&sale=91032045&country=england

And after: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118542002#/?channel=RES_BUY

Oh my flat is in the same style as the 'after picture'. Its a 1930s flat. It even has an electric fireplace! Oh it wasn't me, it was the seller who 'spruced it up for sale' (ex BTL). I was just grateful to find something we could afford in London, in our preferred location! We haven't changed it, i am just not super interested in interiors.

I say its because we want to upgrade to a 3 bed flat and would rather save the money, but at the same time, I am steering away from big renovation jobs but looking for livable flats, so we would probably end up buying something with period features (but completely ruined by another ex BTL landlord cos those are the kind of people who seem to own most london apartments these days)! I can't afford a new build and new builds tend to be in worse locations anyway. They tend to have more problems and also problems with the lease while the freehold of older flats are often owned by the leaseholders.

Its probably not a BTL landlord given the size of the house? Cos this seems to be their style...

I think it's okay. Not my taste. I grew up in a 1920s house which had been sort of renovated in the 1970s. The original windows didnt close properly, there was a huge gap round the original front door. I remember it was always freezing cold and draughty.

[quote Mushrooms0up]I’ll stop posting links to random houses soon but this is also on the market round the corner and a much nicer upgrade IMO

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113328941#/?channel=RES_BUY[/quote]
That's lovely

@Blossomtoes

where are these character selling points people are mourning the loss of?

Fireplaces, original wood floors, coving … perhaps you missed them?

coving is still there, the fireplaces were run of the mill , floors...original?? not so sure, they were all different...its all just standard for houses of that era. They kept the picture rail, ceiling rose and original front door

I'm with you OP.

I recently made the mistake of googling my granny's old house, where she lived during my childhood. I have lovely fond memories of a big 1930s house with bay windows, a curved staircase with a shiny bannister, big french windows with lots of little square panes, all the original 30s bell pulls that jiggled in the kitchen to say 'bedroom 1' etc, and pretty curly carved bits round the door lintels. It's all gone, there are tiles and open plan and lots of grey and white, like the one you've linked to in the 'after' pics. And they've dug up half the garden to make a stupid kitchen extension that looks like a black marble monstrosity, and charged 10 times the price.

I can't see the before!

Agree with you 100% OP.

@Allhallowseve

I can't see the before!

I can't either and I really want to!

The first pictures just look so depressing and old fashioned. The second pictures look clean, bright, modern and minimalist. I think they have done an amazing job!

I totally agree with you. It has stripped it of all its character. And its lost its cosiness.

We recently sold our Victorian house and the couple that bought it have absolutely removed all trace of any period features (knocked down wooden walls, ripped out fireplaces, removed tiled floor, removed period parts of the ourside ). I know this because we still regularly visit our old neighbours and I see the house, and my neighbours have been inside there since.
It's none of my business (it's the house I grew up in and my mums ashes are in the garden there so it stings a bit, but I do know it's none of my business) but I can't help wonder why buy a period property and then remove all of the character. They could have got a more modern and probably better home for about 75% of the cost.

My cousin lives on that road MushroomsOup and I did not know they were quite that expensive! I mean, they're nice houses but £875,000... 🤤

That kitchen is appalling. Awful. You're not being unreasonable.

YANBU at all.
I wish I could unsee that monstrosity.

Its bloody awful now but at least it's still a family home. Around my area (South London) that house would have been boxed up into tiny rooms and made into a HMO (house of multiple occupancy) Or squashed into 2 or more flats which is even more depressing.

It's seriously awful, looks just wrong, like a plastic surgery clinic in places & soulless. Will date very quickly, (well, it's already dated) & look cheap & tacky and need a other overhaul. Someone will love it, each to their own.

I think both of them are awful tbh
House number 1 is old fashioned and neglected
House number 2 is cold and sterile
I would have updated house number 1 with a more classic style.

I can't see the before but the after is awful.
It will date so quickly. Looks cheap and nasty to me ( and probably cost a fortune).

Oh my life that is awful. Kitchen diner looks like some sort of morgue.

@PurpleRainlnTheSky

Well, they can hardly replace everything, and keep it looking 150 years old inside can they? They both look OK to me, and the first one looks lovely.

So YABU (IMO.)

There is a happy medium, no one is saying leave it in 19th century style, if it's done well the marriage of old and new can be spectacular, this is just sacrilege..

That's a love island inspired house. Basically lack of imagination and boring.

@ShinyMe

I'm with you OP.

I recently made the mistake of googling my granny's old house, where she lived during my childhood. I have lovely fond memories of a big 1930s house with bay windows, a curved staircase with a shiny bannister, big french windows with lots of little square panes, all the original 30s bell pulls that jiggled in the kitchen to say 'bedroom 1' etc, and pretty curly carved bits round the door lintels. It's all gone, there are tiles and open plan and lots of grey and white, like the one you've linked to in the 'after' pics. And they've dug up half the garden to make a stupid kitchen extension that looks like a black marble monstrosity, and charged 10 times the price.

I'd be devastated if that happened to my granny's house!! Parts of it are 400 years old but I wouldn't put it past some people.

I just don't understand the obsession with grey and white sterile "homes" that feel more like a laboratory in a dystopian film.

Oh it’s awful! The poor house! They should have bought a crappy new build!

Good grief. I couldn't see the before photos so thought it must be a really old fashioned houses judging by some of the comments ut no, it's warm and lovely and sympathetic.

It's a home.

The refurb looks like an Argos showroom.

Yuck to the refurb. Subtle and sympathetic updating was all that was needed.