Making house calls
THE BUILDERS ARE IN. THIS IS, IN THE MEDIUM term, a good thing. When I moved into my house (over ten years ago now), it was in the knowledge that it was a “fixer-upper”. A late-Victorian mid-terrace, it appears that it was last renovated sometime in the seventies, when it was wired, plumbed, given a lean-to kitchen extension — and had all the original features ripped out.
That last decision on the part of previous occupants is more than a little heartbreaking. Neighbours whose houses had the benefit of neglect in the twentieth century have beautiful plasterwork detailing, and (most enviable of all) cast iron fireplaces with handsome tiles. What were the owners of my house thinking when they gutted it, replacing anything of any character with…
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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2025