Crying my eyes out, new neighbour has just put all the beautiful period fretwork from his Edwardian house in the skip -smashed up!

[LoveMAFS]

I didn't even get a chance to rescue any of it... and it's nicer than mine, beautifully detailed. Why do people buy period houses and then strip them bare of what makes them special?

It's not your house - there's no need to fret

I feel the same about people who take perfectly good stuff to the tip. Of course, it's yours to do what you like; but it seems so unhumanitarian and very selfish to not even bother to offer or give away things that you know somebody in different circumstances and maybe with less privilege would really love and might desperately need.

It's an antisocial, insular way of living, to think that the value of something decent is limited to how much you yourself want/need it.

I'm another who can't understand why people buy beautiful period places and then just rip everything out - it often seems that they really want a new-build, but somehow don't quite realise that new-builds exist everywhere....

My theory is they understand period properties are desirable so they want them as a status symbol (a period semi or even terrace with original features like that described sells for more than a similarly sized newer detached in many if not most areas, often a LOT more), but don’t actually appreciate what it is that others love about them.

As more houses get this treatment, the value of the remaining ones obviously goes up...

not referring to you personally just saying and anyway the money being spent on the houses and gardens is money I could only dream about so they may have cleaners nannies and several foreign holidays a year, or not.

That happened to us. New owners ripped out every fireplace, mouldings, staircase etc house built in 1804. The neighbours went ballistic, it's a small hamlet so you couldn't miss what was going on. They took a chainsaw to most of the trees, really ancient massive walnut trees, apple trees. Beech hedges. The house is all glass and bi-folds now. Before you could glimpse it between the trees in the summer. Now it stands on a bare hill.

This with (brass) knobs on.

Why do people buy a house with lovely period features only to rip them out? It is vandalism, and in years to come people will be horrified at what the current generation has done to period houses.

Me too 😞

When i was young a part of my job was to collect someone from their job and take them home. So i would sit in this parking lot each week, staring at this beautiful patch of green with trees while waiting. One particular tree was my favourite. One day i arrived and it was being destroyed, i don't know why. I parked and cried. It was over 40 years ago and i still remember the loss of that tree.

Our environments matter to us, even when they don't belong to us. We can't hold on to everything because of history, but history mashes things more meaningful.

2nd hand cars sell at very good prices these days. Buy one with them, then sell the next day and take the money for what you want?
might make a small loss , but hey they’ll know not to treat you like an 11 year old anymore…50 years old and they pull this stunt 🤦‍♀️

Ok, how did I post this on worng thread 🤷🏼‍♀️😱🤣🙄

I need a link please I haven't seen that!

OP it is a very sad thing to see. Hopefully the neighbour had a good reason other than simply ruinous. And I understand why you used the metaphor for being appalled.

This hurt my heart to read.

Yanbu op. I'll never understand why people like this don't just buy modern instead of bastardising period houses. I see it so often. Driving past a road of gorgeous old houses until you reach the grey and glass shitbox amongst them. I know it's not my house/not my business but it seems so wrong.

I love seeing fireplaces in peoples houses . My mum has a stunning fireplace with mosaic picture in her house and cried over the fact that when she sells they will just rip it all out. Sadly when someone buys a house and they don’t like it it’s up to them. It’s not nice tho.

Do all those criticising not have electricity?

Or mains gas?

Or double glazing?

Or indoor plumbing?

Houses are to be lived in not preserved as museums.

I understand how you feel OP.

So, do you have any of the above in your house?

As I say to my teenagers when they tell me something they said is obviously not the case... it's not obvious to me!

It's not your property, so not your business.

I live in a new build. If I had original features in an old house I would try and preserve them.

If that’s your biggest problem you are very lucky

I often think there should be a special section in hell for people who vandalise period properties like this. See also planning officers that allow those awful 1960's pastel painted concrete buildings to be built along beautiful Regency sea fronts.

Not so sure I've ever felt the need to cry, a little forlorn maybe.

*Do all those criticising not have electricity?

Or mains gas?

Or double glazing?

Or indoor plumbing?

Houses are to be lived in not preserved as museums.*

It's perfectly possible to install those features without destroying the integrity of a house.

@thedogsmababy if you can't care for a garden, don't buy one. A house with a decent plot, let alone a mature garden, is like hen's teeth.

Buy a new build if you don't like older houses and gardens.

No, its not.

The house was designed without any of those things.

Installing any compromises the original design.

Just out of interest, how do the chainsaw people get on with the neighbours now justasking111?

I understand. I felt like crying when a neighbour tore up a beautiful front garden to bloody well pave over. Absolutely none of my business and it’s their choice but I hate the destruction of beautiful things.