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Is it me or has this 'restoration' completely killed this house?

66 replies

NorthernLurker · 29/05/2013 20:14

link

Now this is on a street of stunning Georgian houses and clearly a lot of time (and by the price tag - money) has been spent here BUT from the photos it just seems utterly, utterly souless. Like a new build not something 200 years plus.

OP posts:
GetOrfMoiLand · 30/05/2013 13:44

I don't either, I seemingly is the thing though to have island units even in the smartest kitchens.

ubik · 30/05/2013 13:50

"A stunning five bedroom Georgian townhouse at the juncture of contemporary design and majestic heritage"

I think they may mean 'apex' rather than juncture

What us it with the en-suite obsession these days?

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/05/2013 13:53

I didn't know that listed buildings were allowed to have internal walls altered. Unless that circular wall for the en suite is classed as temporary or something.

Planning permission makes me wonder tbh, XP is a builder and tells stories of beautiful regency houses in Cheltenham with permission to have their guts ripped out of them, he hates it as well.

SoupDragon · 30/05/2013 13:54

Thing is, you don't know what was there when they started. It could well be that there was nothing of note left in the building and what they've done is a huge improvement.

SoupDragon · 30/05/2013 13:56

The curved wall isn't an en-suite, it's the bathroom for the bedrooms on that floor. Not that that excuses the curved wall :)

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/05/2013 13:57

Yes, it could have had all the original features ripped out in the 70s or whatever. I grew up in a Victorian house, ours had all the original features but next door renovated it in the 70s/80s, and took out all the deep skirtings, dado rails, pictures rails, cornicing, every moulded door and smashed all the stained glass and replaced it with textured glass. And covered the bannisters with board and wallpapered them. And then artexed every flat surface. There was nothing original left.

SoupDragon · 30/05/2013 14:00

What I want to know it WTF is that bay window on the first floor?? Has it been stuck on?

JenaiMorris · 30/05/2013 14:04

I don't get the en suite thing at all, ubik.

I like to have a bit of hallway/landing between my bedroom and I when I have a poo.

Quite a lot of Georgian places were done up in the early 20th century. I bet a lot of those have had nice 1920s features ripped out and replaced with pretend Georgian stuff from B&Q.

ubik · 30/05/2013 14:11

We are in a large tenement built around 1840 which has sash windows, original shutters.
Sadly although the fire surrounds remain, the tiles have been taken out/ tiled over with horrid maroon bathroom tiles, doors replaced with fire doors, cornicing ripped out if every room but the front room, ceilings lowered to cover water damage, everything painted magnolia with brown carpet.

Last week we uncovered a recessed cupboard which had been covered with plasterboard and an whole intact parquet floor which had been spattered with paint and plaster. It took us an entire weekend to clean and polish it.

Shocking what some people do to lovely old houses.

moondog · 30/05/2013 22:34

What a crime Ubik!
We once restored a Georgian townhouse from 70s hell (bubbly glassed doors and woodchip wallpaper) to something approaching the original-wooden shutters, sash windows, lovely light fittings, cornicing. It looked so lovely when we sold it then someone came along and cocked it up again.
The worst thing is one of those huge bendy naff hosepipe things over the sink that I see in the basement kitchen when I drive past.

Now I live in a modern house so anything goes.

ubik · 30/05/2013 22:37

Oh the hosepipe things are ridiculous. But I am jealous of my friend's boiling water tap Grin

Chubfuddler · 30/05/2013 22:40

It's hideous op. the one on the Mount otoh is beautiful.

People who turn beautiful period houses in footballers wives style monstrosities should be beaten to death.

JenaiMorris · 30/05/2013 23:03

Recessed spotlight nastiness - why?

xabiuol · 31/05/2013 14:40

I agree OP, they've made it look like a new-build!
Hideous!
This is what I hate when looking at houses. Bland bland bland!

Brillig · 31/05/2013 14:48

The rooms are just boxes. Luxurious, but boxes: it could be any upmarket estate house.

Period properties generally don't have dead straight walls and floors, hotel-style bathrooms (which I loathe with a passion) and designer kitchens.

I get that it's 'dressed' to sell but it has zero character.

Now, this is a Georgian house, properly restored.

Flosshilde · 31/05/2013 14:57

I hate bland houses. I went round one once which had been done up to sell and the whole thing was beige. Everything. It was my worst nightmare and needless to say we didn't buy it.

Love Dan Cruickshank's house.

TunipTheVegedude · 31/05/2013 15:03

The one I saw recently that really upset me was a seriously medieval house in Masham that just ended up looking minimalist and freezing. I like a sense of accretion over time, not a feeling that everything's been stripped out except the bare bones.

TunipTheVegedude · 31/05/2013 15:05

here's the Masham one

To be fair, it could still come back to life if you put enough junk in it, but I bet it was better before.

TunipTheVegedude · 31/05/2013 15:06

and I hate all that patting-yourself-on-the-back 'restored to its former glory' crap. Cardinal Wolsey would have hated it like that. He'd want a few more tapestries and carpets, some colour and luxury.

SoupDragon · 31/05/2013 15:09

I hate Dan Cruikshank's house. It looks like a museum rather than a comfortable home. (but it's his home and he is a historian so [shrug])

SoupDragon · 31/05/2013 15:13

That Masham one has a horrendous staircase and "Mediaeval Disney" bits of stone left round doorways/windows which are crimes enough. I'm not convinced the hyper-modern kitchen and bathroom are fitting in any way either.

TunipTheVegedude · 31/05/2013 15:15

ha - 'medieval Disney' is it exactly!

Brillig · 31/05/2013 15:17

The Masham one is truly appalling Tunip. It reminds me of some of the worst TV property shows where a fund manager or something is determined to spend massive amounts of money on gutting a lovely old house of all its soul.

I don't like Dan Cruickshank as a presenter but I do like his house!

SoupDragon · 31/05/2013 15:18

I can't claim to have made that up :) I remember it from, I think Restoration Home ? The programme where 3 experts and a presenter followed a different family's restoration project each week.

JenaiMorris · 31/05/2013 15:22

Dan Cruickshank's house is bloody lovely. The bathroom is super.

It reminds me (although neither is anywhere near as grand) of my MIL's and of the flats I grew up in.

I much prefer interiors where things have come together over time, even if some of the bits and bobs are a bit Hmm than ones that look as if someone has bought the lot in one shopping session.