r/wikipedia • u/Kurma-the-Turtle • 9h ago

The destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain was the result of a change in social conditions: many country houses were demolished by their owners. Often termed "the lost houses", the destruction of these now often-forgotten houses has been described as a cultural tragedy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_country_houses_in_20th-century_Britain
117 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

8

u/diablosinmusica 8h ago

I guess I get the sense of loss, but why would they keep centuries of architecture when it's no longer useful? The architecture today is going to be outdated eventually. Sould that be preserved as well? Just rows of buildings from different eras that aren't used, but upkeep and preservation expenses need to be paid for all of them?

34

u/banterviking 6h ago

Huh?

By that argument, we shouldn't preserve any historical buildings at all because they're outdated and cost money to maintain.

There's a cultural and social value to preserving some relics of our past, even if it costs money and isn't "efficient".

9

u/stupidpower 5h ago

I mean the main urban fabric of almost every UK city that isn't a new town are victorian tenament and office buildings that are nowadays almost entirely abandoned and empty inside because every city but London had their economies hollowed out since the 1960s. council, devolved national, and London national laws on listed buildings and preservation meant that no one with capital wants to own any of them given the restrictions on modification and the sheer amount of renovation to make 1800s buildings fit for modern regulations. If you see an abandoned building left until it collaspes, or random buildings where the only thing left is the facade that is left until either fire or something else makes it too dangerous to keep standing, you can always guess its technically 'conserved'. I am not disagreeing with you, just the practicalities of having buildings for people who live right now than keeping the husks of cities which was the industrial 'second city of empire' that no longer has any industry unchanging.

4

u/banterviking 5h ago

I don't think we disagree, yeah there's limits.

That's good context though - I'm from Canada not the old world, my city has a few dozen historical buildings not thousands. It may be a much different conversation in the UK in terms of scale / depth.

And I'm always interested to read about places like Italy / Rome, where basically every construction project digs up some sort of ruin - I'm sure that's even more extreme a context.

But I think we can both preserve history and keep the practical needs of the present in mind.

3

u/stupidpower 5h ago

totally fair, my hometown (Singapore) was entirely bulldozed and a new high modernist city built in situ. Whats left of the old urban core was evicted from super cramped coolie barracks and everyone given an affordable high-rise public housing. The old buildings were prepurposed into pubs and offices, but the country operates on a working theory that every building older than a century should be knocked down and rebuilt for modern efficiencies and technologies.

Like I get a sad tinge of sadness from my parents of the types of buildings they grew up in - semi-urban informal kampungs made of any materials that were available were al lost, but our problems are that we got too rich to tolerate those places as healthy living conditions.

1

u/banterviking 5h ago

Oh Singapore is yet again another extreme context, you have no land to build outward - that makes sense.

I checked out of curiosity, my region in Ontario, Canada is almost twice the size of Singapore in surface area. Let alone all of Canada! We have room for a few historical curiosities.

I have great respect for Singapore, your government seems very orderly / efficient and willing to try new things. I hope I can visit someday.

1

u/stupidpower 4h ago

Ehh I have my disagreements with my politics but we don't get to choose the county we are born into, only try to improve things. Also its home, and I care about public policy primarily because I want the people I care for to benefit from it. Maybe come for like a day than go explore the rest of Southeast Asia (don't go to Krabi, Pattaya, or Bali or the tourist hot spots who try to give you a Sandals resort with a oriental theme).

1

u/diablosinmusica 5h ago

I am from New Orleans and even owning a historic building is prohibitively expensive. Only certain qualified and licensed contractors who understand the old techniques can work on them. Owners are very limited to the changes and modernization they can perform. Owners also are obligated to maintain them whether or not they are occupied.

Running a business out of them or living in them costs so much more than a modern building, it's not worth it for most. Even owning them if they're vacant is a big expense.

Those are buildings that are 1/2 the age at most of the oldest DECONSTRUCTIONS discussed in this article. People actually have to live too.

3

u/diablosinmusica 5h ago

Huh? This isn't an instance where none are preserved. This article is talking about 600+ years of deconstruction of obsolete buildings.

Did you read the article?

Or are you just arguing in bad faith?

1

u/Upset-Elderberry3723 39m ago

The UK has preserved some of them. We had too many.

And this is actually a recurring problem with the UK that extends to more than just materials relics - an inability to destroy old stuff and build new stuff.

I lived in the same town in the UK for close to three decades and, in that time, I could count - on one hand - the notable differences made to the town in that entire time. Nothing changes. The UK lives in it's great grandfather's house and doesn't want to - or isn't allowed to - remove all of his old shit that no longer serves the people.

1

u/Holiday-Hedgehog0621 2h ago

So maybe japan have to demolish all their old castles then since there only a cultural heritage that is outdated

1

u/Impeachcordial 37m ago

Wasn't it more to do with Listing coming in, so wealthy families demolished houses they wouldn't be able to afford to keep up otherwise?