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Bill Bryson has a bit in "Notes from a Small Island" (I think it was?) about how depressing it is that the British keep taking these older beautiful buildings,
by Twirrim 3y ago
Bill Bryson has a bit in "Notes from a Small Island" (I think it was?) about how depressing it is that the British keep taking these older beautiful buildings, and then plonking down uncharacteristic, dull modern style steel and glass buildings right beside them, or replacing lower levels with them etc.
It was always something that bugged me as a Brit to some degree, but, of course, as soon as I read that, I noticed just how much of it there was. It's ever where, on almost every high street. A bizarre mishmash of character and "meh".
> The building, recently sold on to the New River Company, is repaired and refitted for use as offices and a bank. The building looks rather less dazzling at ground floor level as a result.
The Angel, Islington is a supreme example. The same goes for the buildings along the road from it. The building above the ground floor has character. The ground floor looks exactly like what you'd see in almost any high street in the country.
Near where I worked in London, plans went up for renovation that I think ended up working out reasonably well, https://maps.app.goo.gl/XSpdfzdyQE4DpTXr8 https://maps.app.goo.gl/XSpdfzdyQE4DpTXr8. Where that Metro Bank is, they ripped out everything behind that brick facade, and rebuilt (it badly needed it), then worked to do up the brick, maintaining the original style.
This kept the building in the characteristic style of the neighbourhood, (see https://maps.app.goo.gl/US1GvYA1fCQ9VCZi6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/US1GvYA1fCQ9VCZi6 for examples of other buildings in the area that are of similar age), but didn't leave it stuck with the maintenance issues. Of course you can see just beside it where they didn't do that, and shoved something decidedly more modern in place, and completely at odds with the styles of the buildings on either side of it, or across the street from it.
- hprotagonist 3y ago> It was always something that bugged me as a Brit to some degree, but, of course, as soon as I read that, I noticed just how much of it there was. It's ever where, on almost every high street. A bizarre mishmash of character and "meh". i remember reading something somewhere that you can use this aesthetic to see where the blitz hit worst.
- renewiltord 3y agoThe ability to do that is what allowed London to prosper while older European towns turned into tourist theme parks. It is one of those wonderful things. You make money as an American and you are like a God to these Europeans, their luxuries are trifles. At some point people wish to become ossified and want their homes and cities to become tomb worlds visited by gawking tourists.
- ljm 3y ago> You make money as an American and you are like a God to these Europeans, their luxuries are trifles. Actually, you would just be seen as arrogant. At best.
- renewiltord 3y agoOf course, what God is humble? Their people struggle on their $30k/yr incomes living in small homes on the outskirts which cost the majority of their income so that they can preserve their cities for our divine visitations. Like a poor craftsman makes a sculpture for the king, they preserve their cities for us so that we may be entertained, because they cannot live in them.
- dan-robertson 3y agoMany of the Victorian buildings we may think of as worthy of preservation were eyesores of their times. St Pancras station hotel is a well known example. Mostly, I like the variety and would prefer a planning regime that would allow a larger variety of designs to be feasible to get approval for.
- dukeyukey 3y agoI'd argue it's almost the opposite - huge swathes of London are housed in shitty Victorian and Georgian homes and flat conversions, and we can't fix them up or replace them with modern homes because of extreme local conservation laws. Right now I'm living in the most modern home I ever have - a 700sqft 2-bed from the 1960s.
- zem 3y agoyeah, precisely. there's a reason new houses aren't built like that any more. you have the same problem in parts of the US where houses that are really not all that great to live in are nevertheless preserved as-is because they are "historic"
- cpinto 3y agoexactly! I do not understand the British obsession for preserving insane amounts of crooked-walled buildings with horrible insulation ratings. zero historical interest, 100% NIMBY-ism. then the general populace mopes about the lack of housing, and dreams 15-minute cities without realising the only way to solve both is tear down what’s taking up space and build tall instead.