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

What @dopenguinsdance foiund it....It's Didsbury chic, innit?
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/107722268#/?channel=RES_BUY
Other South Manchester suburbs are available.

Hideous indeed.

After is just plain terrible , if you want a house like that buy a sterile new build somewhere

@Bluebluemoon

I agree with you re ripping out the original features like fireplaces - sacrilege!

However! From a business point of view they have obviously bought it to sell on. The kind of ultra-modern, extended-to-death style they have chosen will fetch a bigger profit. Sad but true.

Things like original fireplaces/cornicing/tiles etc are often damaged and they are very,very,very expensive and time consuming to replace or to get them restored.

It's like people who buy a perfectly "nice" house and knock it down to build a megamansion. People may tut tut and wonder why and the answer is: money! Patching up a dated house that needs new boilers/electric sometimes everything just often isn't worth doing and having a brand spanking new-build will not only be done to their specific taste, it'll also probably be worth more if they sell (usually).

The people who bought the house you posted could've decorated and tarted it up a bit but it just wouldn't be worth as much in the end. It's all about maximising your profit in the property world.

I don’t actually think it would add to the value somewhere like Didsbury…. I might be wrong but I think it would put of a lot of the potential market that will have to add features back in (albeit in a modern way).

I feel your pain OP there is a lovely double fronted Victorian villa near me that I always fantasied about moving into when the kids move out (too small for us and £££ for the size). It always looked a little shabby, but stunning. Totally soulless now and also getting shabby, but not in a good way.

well i much prefer it to the first photo

and not much has been "ripped" out anyway!!

I love the catflap as well

@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.)

The first one is the original

Currently house hunting and this is SUCH a pet hate of mine. They're generally not as bad as what you've posted OP, that is absolutely devastating 😭

I agree it looks awful and tacky. What a shame!

I completely agree @Mushrooms0up getting rid of that lovely parquet flooring should be a crime! The original house was lovely and didn't look like it actually needed anything replacing. The "upgrade" is like some bland newbuild and everything looks cheaper than it is and will date horribly. They've even made the garden look worse.

I'm not sure there's any real virtue in preserving a house as it was at the time it was built. My 130 year-old house is a hotch potch of features. Some original, others from the 30s, 50s, 70s and 80s. I like that the different generations who have lived there have left their mark, and that while the exterior stays the same, the inside is reflective of the different people who've lived there over the years. One day that interior will be of historical interest too.

You know the blinding white TV room in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Mike Teavee flies through the air in 1000,000 tiny pieces...? (The original obviously, in keeping with the theme of this post )

@dopenguinsdance

It's Didsbury chic, innit? www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/107722268#/?channel=RES_BUY Other South Manchester suburbs are available.

I love a Rightmove mooch round my old South Manchester stomping grounds. Didsbury houses are usually horrid. Updated houses in Levenshulme are usually much nicer - updated while keeping original features.

If you like a new looking house, go and buy one. 100% with the OP that older houses with character should, where at all possible, be left that way and renovated in sympathy. There is a Tudor house near me that was done up by a v wealthy second home owner. I won't say how I know but basically they paid £££ to have modern wiring, lighting, wifi, plumbing etc but solid flagstone floors, big fireplaces, lots of wood everywhere etc. It still looks v much Tudor but beautifully done renovations means its comfortable to live in, easy to clean, warm, not damp etc .

Soulless is the word. I can just imagine the house ghosts being so disgruntled they just up and leave. Or... swoosh and leave. (My ghost knowledge is minimal.)

Given that some parts of my house are the same as they were 500+ years ago I am a bit at the idea that ripping out those fireplaces, that floor etc, was a good idea for anybody!

There are waya and means to get 'modern essentials' into an old building. Gutting it isn't necessary. Pick a new build if that's what you want to live in!

Yanbu hideous

That is a disgraceful 'refurbishment' a crying shame 😡

It’s not even in Didsbury!

they have kept the windows.picture rails, ceiling rose, coving and doors from what I can see

i dont believe anyone wants those shiny orange floors, avocado (?) tiled bathroom and brass light fittings

I dont like the garden but i do like the interior renovation, clearly in the minority!!

@BitcherOfBlakiven

Every single fucking house will look like a Hinch new build soon.

How depressing.

she now lives in an older property "farmhouse' style, with land

complete with animals

Am i the only person that doesn't like white marble? And as much as i love cold, wet manchester, white marble does not belong there as a flooring choice.

Why don’t people budget for curtains?

They’ve obviously spent a lot of money but hung sad, limp pillowcases up instead.

And that house looks so cold looking it needs nice curtains.

@ChampagneLassie

I completely agree *@Mushrooms0up* getting rid of that lovely parquet flooring should be a crime! The original house was lovely and didn't look like it actually needed anything replacing. The "upgrade" is like some bland newbuild and everything looks cheaper than it is and will date horribly. They've even made the garden look worse.

Who wants a community centre floor in their house? 🤮

Thats an awful refurb, the flooring before was gorgeous!!