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

It was beautiful and is now hideous, what a travesty and a great shame.

the fireplaces were run of the mill , floors...original?? not so sure, they were all different.

The fireplaces were the originals and suited the house. You do know you can stain wooden floors different colours? And a lot of houses that age have a combination of boards and parquet.

@Ozanj

I prefer the second pic and I bet many other people from my backgrounds prefer (in fact I’d go as far as to say in Didsbury they’re aiming for the wealthy South Asian market that I fit into). It looks cleaner, is easier to maintain, and doesn’t look like the shambly horror the first set of pics looks like.

Yeah, the "after" looks like Indian relatives' houses and I HATE it. No character, no sterile, bland, completely lacking in taste. The "before" needed modernising and updating but it was warm, homely, cosy and full of character.

[quote WhatDidISayAlan]This is an Arts and Crafts house in north Manchester that needs a LOT of work. I’m tempted, but it’s not in a great area, and it’s listed so would be so stressful to do. But the right person could do something really special with it.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115905707[/quote]
This has beautiful bones but TBH also messed up by a previous owner with those dreadful fires.

That's absolutely awful. I'd have bought the before in a heartbeat, but wouldn't touch the after, in my opinion it would need everything ripping out and something much more sympathetic putting back in.

Ugh. I’m with you OP. I live in a draughty and cold Edwardian pile. The people who built it must have been frightfully new money, it has enormous bay windows and enormous galleried landing, big arts and crafts oak fireplace/inglenook, parquet floors.

We did have to do an extensive renovation to it and spent so much time putting things like picture rail and cornice into rooms where it was missing. All alterations had skirting and architrave templated to match the original and doors made to match too.

We’ve definitely done some things that are ultra modern but I hope we’ve kept the soul of the house.

A neighbour has done a full back to brick rip out though and while their house is lovely I don’t really get the period feel of it.

The kitchen looks like a Dentist's surgery, it's so cold and clinical, and I'm sick to the back teeth of grey interiors with ultra polished floors ,they seem to be in every bloody refurb..

Kelly hoppend.

Why do it to an old place. It's like some of the new, agree we can't keep orange pine for ever.
However it's so samey, the grey etc.

I was going to say yabu but then I clicked the links. WOW. That is one ugly renovation.

Who on earth replaces stripped wood flooring with Italian-palazzo style fake marble tiles???

YANBU!!!

High gloss white floors and grey walls already looks dated.

The fake grass is especially hideous. Why would you deliberately design a garden to minimise nature. The feeling of bare feet on grass is such a special feeling. And fake grass is terrible for biodiversity.

That is seriously bad.

It looks cheap and uncomfortable.

All that I can say is that I hope that they make a huge loss on that house.

Its awful. It wasn’t an especially characterful house initially - nothing wrong with it lots of original features look stripped out over the years.

It’s more than being sterile and cold it looks cheap and badly done. Eg. The kitchen tiles are an awful marble effect ceramic, rather than marble which would actually works well in a period house.

I am a terrible snob but I find it actually horrible

I actually like it but don’t think it suits the house be better suited to a new build on a cul de sac sort of house

I’m with you Op!

Hate what they’ve done to it, totally not what I was expecting.
The interior looks like every other fancy new build you see on the market and the exterior of the building looks totally out of whack with what they’ve done to the garden.

I love character houses, this is such a shame!

But they ripped out a lot before! Where do you stop?

I can't see the before thankfully but never understand why someone would buy an old house and then rip the heart of it and completely modernise it. Why not just buy a new build or more recently built house if you want ultra modern! Makes no sense to me and makes me really sad.

I interviewed to be a nanny for a family living at 'The Old Vicarage'. How they could sleep at night win the metal/glass/plastic grass monstrosity they'd 'renovated' it to I don't know. It was terribly sad.

@TooManyPJs new builds tend to be in worse locations. In London, the best catchments often are in places with lots of period housing.

I did buy a period flat with this kind of revamped interiors even if I didn't find it aesthetic pleasing. If it's at the right price and I don't need to renovate it, why not? Location matters more to me than how it looks. And the inbuilt WFH office in the lounge, converted gym are fairly practical additions. £875k wouldn't be seen to be a a bad price by any ex Londoner who owned a terrace in a decent area.

@Ozanj it’s interesting you say that, we live in another suburb of Manchester with a diverse population. I have noticed the south Asian residents will often use a lot of grey, very modern kitchens, many have repaved original brick driveways with big concrete slabs and put very intricate fencing in. A house behind us is being renovated by a (lovely) Indian couple and even the roof has been painted grey. It’s a beautiful Edwardian house and a shame imo but it’s their taste! Must be at least in part a cultural thing.

Bloodyhell, they’ve been on Pinterest far too long.

Its awful. Really awful.

I live in a 250+ year old traditional long cottage. When you are in ownership of such a house, you have to be sympathetic to its age and character. Because it has character and it needs looking after. You just cannot strip out whats there if its not what you like.

If you want a house without the history and character, buy a new build where clean lines and the sterilised look sits well.

I can't see the before for some reason.

It sold in 2020 for £712k. They can't have made much money on it given the extent of the refurb. I'm assuming it's been bought specifically for that purpose rather than as a family home?

Also there's nothing wrong with modernisation per se nor a mix of modern and old styles. It's just that this one lacks any design flair or interest. It's just a 'high-end' luxe type finish that they've seen in a 1000 houses and copied room by room.

The bathroom and shower room were hideous in the first one and look so much better after the refurb. I also didn't like the colour schemes in the before all the rooms look dark and drab. I couldn't have lived in it like it was but needed to be some sort of middle ground.