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?

Heartbreaking. Soul less moron.

Can someone pleeeease post this, all a search has revealed are other posts saying how funny it was. And penis beaker and cancel the cheque, of course.

also, OP, yes, it’s a shame. Try and get in there and see what what else he’s planning to bin and find a loving place for it with you?

What a silly reaction; it's really not your place to be deciding what your neighbour should or should not do to their property.

And all this I'm so refined look at me be devastated over the removal of the period features, history blah blah blah.

I bet you don't protest at front gardens being turned into driveways or petition if a supermarket opens up near you so everyone can go to the traditional butcher and green grocer. It's just attention seeking posturing.

Installing any compromises the original design.

But not the integrity of the building. I used to work for an award winning conservation architect and as long as its done sympathetically it is considered to be fine.

And there is a huge difference between that and ripping everything out but I'm sure you know that.

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

No, its not.
The house was designed without any of those things.
Installing any compromises the original design.

I think you're deliberately missing the point of what original features are. The whole thing with a feature is that it stands out amongst the less-special stuff.

A beautiful fireplace, oak panelling, a hand-crafted staircase etc. are all features that (you would think) most people choosing to buy a period house would want to preserve, but this doesn't mean that the space behind or underneath them was also designed as a specific feature.

Yes, it's nice to keep as much original as is feasible; but cutting a small, discreet channel into a normal part of the wall to instal wires or pipes is completely different from ripping out a beautiful, unique, fully functional hundreds-of-years-old door and replacing it with one of those nondescript grey ones that look like the entrance to an office block, that you see more now.

Carefully and sensitively adapting an old house so that it can be lived in with what are considered essential utilities now - such as electricity and running water - is a way of preserving its integrity in a way that keeps it in regular use. It's a careful balance of history and basic practicality.

Surely nobody is more meticulous about preserving the history and integrity of beautiful old period buildings than the National Trust - and every one of their stately homes, however old, has electricity and running water - designed to be in keeping and unobtrusive wherever possible. What they don't do is needlessly rip out an original walnut staircase and replace it with a pink plastic fireman's pole, just because somebody thinks it looks funkier.

Similar happened to my PILs. They live in a gorgeous Edwardian semi-detached house, with a front fretwork veranda (deep enough for a table/chairs) wrapping around the front and sides of the two houses.

I expect you can guess where this is going.....new neighbours moved in, removed the veranda infilling the space with a wrap around porch, grey windows and all. What makes it worse, is that the pair of houses stand alone on a rural country lane (the houses were built for a farmer's sons) so the alterations seem even more incongruous than if it were in a town.

So what was destroyed, or redesigned, to install the in house lavatory?

What happened to the design when radiators are added to walls where none were expected?

How does an area become a conservation area? I wish more areas were conservation areas so all the grey door types could be herded away.

They are quite popular around m. There are beautiful arts and crafts streets with detached or semi detached houses, and then a grey box slotted in between them just looking ugly and odd.

They're loathed. Very loud parties. Owners coke heads, part of the land looks like a scrapyard. They tore down dry stone wall to get a wagon in. The neighbours are traumatic. We got some stick for selling to them. Outwardly the time we met them they seemed okay. Still feel guilty though

The phrase “crying my eyes out” means you were physically crying a lot. It doesn’t mean you were appalled but not crying at all. That’s why people have said you’re being ridiculous.

Sadly new builds are often built without big gardens and without high ceilings which is what makes some period properties appealing to buyers. Period properties also tend to be in the nicer parts of towns or those with established communities and facilities. Some removal of period features is very sad, but not all are nice. We nearly bought a house with a hideous fireplace, I was half relieved when the sale fell through because I would have either had to live with this monstrosity (in my eyes) or have the guilt at removing it.

Crying your eyes out? God help us, the sheer babyishness of some people.

Where I live people have lost their houses to quakes and flooding. I couldn't be bothered to cry my eyes out over someone doing something cosmetic to a house they own.

@Rinkydinkydoodle Not sure if someone has posted a link already as I haven’t read the full thread yet, but here is the link

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3178898-DH-embarrassed-by-my-sensitivity

I agree!

We know someone who bought a beauriful ten bedroom early Victorian pile (sadly not listed), tore it down and built a fugly pastiche of what was originally there complete with hideous plastic windows et al.

In the process they ripped out a stunning oak staircase, loads of original fireplaces and parquet flooring - all of which went on the bonfire. Sadly this was before we knew them, otherwise we'd have taken some stuff off their hands for the property we're restoring after all its features were taken out in the name of modernisation.

They didn't even try selling any of it, just tossed it away.

They also decimated the mature gardens, replacing the lot with acres (literally) of lawn and 'lollipop' trees - basically nothing that flowers. They then suggested keeping bees, lol! After the pair of topiary trees flanking the front door dropped a few leaves, they replaced them with plastic ones....fucking philistines!

I feel your pain @LoveMAFS

@Procrastination4 thank you, am nosey about in-jokes 😂

So,you aren’t actually crying your eyes out?

this is all very dramatic. I think most folks don’t know what to say.

I have to ask op…did you scream a little too? 😄

Utter bollocks. Our house is 400 years old. Installing utilities hasn’t involved removing the exposed beams or the inglenook.

Where I live people have lost their houses to quakes and flooding. I couldn't be bothered to cry my eyes out over someone doing something cosmetic to a house they own.

That's tragic; but it seems horribly defeatist to not even try to keep/make things beautiful where you can, just because there are many occasions where you simply can't.

"Stupid is as stupid does". ..... Forest Gump

Sorry that's for Veni not @Blossomtoes

I wish the period properties where I live were in the nice part of town, all the large once beautiful Victorian houses are now HMO’s, such a shame.

So what was destroyed, or redesigned, to install the in house lavatory?

Probably little, if anything. It's easy to research plumbing and heating in middle class Edwardian homes.

I think it got deleted. It's was a proper pile on.

Basically a posters DP/DH was proper appalled with her because she got overwhelmed and started crying and screaming at the sheer beauty of the Sistine Chapel.

Turned out she was over dramatic but he was a knob.