Character properties are being ruined

[MaybeMaybeNotJ]

Is it just where I am?
All character priorities have been gutted and the inside is now bland and characterless.
I hate it.

OP totally agree and say this all the time! Big boxes devoid of any original features. Horrible.

Yep our neighbours did it, ripped apart a 1910 semi made it all insta modern glass & grey. I genuinely have no flipping idea why oh why they didn’t just buy a new build detached box with plastic grass rather than destroy everything an old house has in style and the mature gardens cut everything down (including half our tree). You can tell the other neighbours either side are not fans! Including the weird office block front door. As a style in the right building fine but don’t wrap it around an old house it just looks crap not stylish.. There’s several new build estates locally they could have just bought that style of house from not ruined this one (&our peace n quiet for months whilst they did it!)

Please tell me you fished it out of the skip :)

I like having rooms plural.i love cosy.not cramped or anything but actual rooms.
when on property shows you came in the door to the left a lounge then to the right the other.now it's walk and and sweep over the whole live,dine cook room! And so much they look like a cold lab.there should be a dead body on the island in the middle.

Ours is interesting because it has literally every original feature internally, original front door, but upvc windows! The thing is right now I’m appreciating them as it’s a London road and I can’t imagine spending 30k or something ridiculous on wooden double glazed.

My neighbours have just done this to their home. I can see into their rear open plan living room/kitchen/warehouse of their 1930s semi when they have their lights on at night. They look like they're sat watching their (massive) telly in a car showroom. They had the cheek to accuse another neighbour of spying on them. Get some curtains for your bifold doors, then 🙄

Yes, another instance of period features being ripped out in the 70s. We got told one of the neighbours was a door man and replaced a whole batch of the streets' front doors with stained glass, for modern 70s version! 😩

We've moved in and put back in a large cast iron fireplace and new stained glass in the front door/porch area. It's not been cheap but looks amazing!

We are in the process of extending/renovating our Edwardian semi. We are putting a fairly modern extension on the back, because the small kitchen and dining room don't work particularly for us as a family. BUT we are retaining the original layout at the front, and actually having various original features such as the Minton tiles in the hall restored. We've already had stained glass in one window replaced, and encapsulated into double glazing, and had a new stained glass panel made for an internal door. So whilst we are going more modern with the kitchen/diner, I think we are doing our best to retain the rest of the house in its original form.

Totally agree that a house needs to meet the needs of the family living in it, but like other PPs wonder why some people buy period houses, to then rip out all the internal features. Rooms can be dressed in such a way to still look really contemporary with period features.

I’m not snobby about ‘soul less white boxes’. It’s just a different character and aesthetic to the one you prefer. I’d agree it’s a shame that there aren’t more listed houses from more modern times. If you look around stately homes they’ve almost all been partially rebuilt, changed, added to, style changed over the years. That’s just what happens. I think it’s lovely to retain original features but if you’re replacing them whether you go for modern or reproduction it’s not original to the house so I hate the difference apart from preference. I can see why people want to replace drafty single glazed windows and wooden doors, what you replace them with is just about your own aesthetic. Houses are there to be lived in, if they’re of particular merit or interest apply to have them listed

I agree to a large degree but sometimes original features are a pain to live with.

For example, my parents live in a very old listed building. They have beautiful stone mullion windows, but even with secondary glazing they are very cold and drafty.

I replaced my wooden front door with a modern one recently. In my defence the door wasn’t original. It was single glazed, not at all secure and, badly fitting.

One of my happiest days was uncovering this beautiful Edwardian fireplace in our house.

The tiles had been painted over in puke-coloured paint.

Thankfully it hadn't been completely ripped out.

YANBU op. If people want sleek minimalism they need to buy a house from the 70s or younger.

Even things like "just" doing a DPC and adding standard plaster, emulsion paint, tanking a basement etc causes a lot of issues in the long term. Old houses need to breath.

I completely agree. Brought to mind this absolute travesty which makes me want to weep: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85580457#/?channel=RES_BUY

There's a house near me for sale that hasn't been touched in years. It comes with planning for an ultra modern overhaul. While it most definitely needs work (it's in a poor state, needs all new wiring, plumbing etc) it's a pretty decent size and could be amazing as it is. Possibly a small extension to make the kitchen bigger. I fantasise about winning the lottery, ignoring the current plans and making it into the beautiful swan it could be, fireplaces, picture rails galore.

A story of encouragement. Beautiful 1800s house on the market. Lots of original features. Quirky layout. Very rarely something like that comes up as we are predominantly a new town. Anyway. Turns out a mum at school I'm friendly with bought it. Previous owner commented that she'd probably rip it apart and remodel. Friend quick to reassure her no way. She's adding colour and that's it. So sometimes a house meets it's human soulmate and it's beautiful.

My ex friend did this. She bought a beautiful intact 30s property. Every solid oak panelled door went in the skip because she couldn't stand the panel edges gathering dust. Ditto the 'hideous' stained glass windows - all in the skip. To be replaced with horrible non-sight-aligned plastic windows. The hallway was panelled, that was stripped out and white gloss floors were added throughout. To top it off, the roof was retiled using slate (instead of terracotta tile) which just looks odd. The beautiful mature garden was also ripped out in it's entirety to be replaced with fence-to-fence astroturf as they couldn't be bothered with the gardening upkeep.

Someone bought a beautiful red brick Victorian house by us, they then rendered it and painted it gun metal grey and replaced the beautiful door with you guessed it gun metal grey composite door, what a shame x

I am 100% with you on this one OP.

Why in God's name do people buy a lovely period property and then proceed to erase every single piece of evidence of its history. They rip out all the cornices, the windows, the stained glass door, the parquet flooring, the fireplaces, the Victorian tiled hallway, the stone tiles on the kitchen floor, the stone slab in the pantry, you name it, they destroy it.

Philistines.

In our case the 1970s had got to our 1920s house long before we did... so there wasn't much left to preserve. We did have to let an original window in a very difficult shape be squared off - the cost to get it replaced to the original shape was just prohibitive for us and it was a single-glazed damp magnet.

Thankfully upstairs they'd just shoved plywood on the doors so when I yanked it off it was original doors underneath.

@MassDebate oh god that house in that link 😩😩😩😩😩😩

Here's one in W10 that has had every bit of character ripped out of it

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123683807#/?channel=RES_BUY

You haven't really spent £150,k on wardrobes have you?

@Chewbecca

Thats what I was thinking! Have to see these incredible wardrobes.

I imaging Narnia must be inside!

You should have been around in the 60s and 70s OP. Back then people were putting in serving hatches and bevelled glass doors instead of having it all open plan. No feature walls either - it was fake stone cladding (yes, indoors!) Mid century modern they call it now. Traditional.

Amazing!

This pains me and has for decades. It's not a new thing. The scouring of patina in the quest for 'renovation' is criminal.

uPVC when, properly cared for wooden windows will last hundreds of years. uPVC is a fucking con. Not only does it look hideous, it suffers from UV degradation and doesn't last, PLUS, buildings need to breathe, hermetically sealing them is deleterious to the structure.

See also cement render and pointing rather than lime.

Fucking inset spotlights in any period property.

I could go on.

And on.