RECENT COMMENTS

Monday, March 17, 2008

inspection

Did an Open for Inspection on Saturday, inspecting memories, a place I used to live in 20 years ago.
Naturally the house has been given (to quote Meredith) the Gut-n-Smeg.
All Victorian character gone, now generic townhouse in innercityville with decking and succulents and OSP.
Now worth a cool mil in this overheated market.

I used to love the view from the upstairs window looking east- sky, terraces, treelines. It was a good writing place.
Now you can't see out.
Smoked glass means you can't see through the privacy.

Gone for good: the bad wiring, the 'Victerranean' aqua paint, the outside toilet.
(And the Rottie next door who'd leap against the fence barking whenever anyone went)
And gone for good is heritage, a sense of connection.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

the price of houses is unbelievable, - it is quite common nowdays in many suburbs to hear of sales over $1M. i don't know where all the people are coming from with the dollars.

....maybe the new owners of your old place will make their own heritage and connection in time.

boynton said...

House prices have jumped 400 per cent between 1986 and 2007 while income has risen just 120 per cent. the age



Some renos, even some 'gut-n-smegs' retain something of the building's character, or 'integrity' as architects might say. This one doesn't.

But I guess it's like any gentrification story really.
We only rented for 2 years, a fraction of the house's history, so I'm no expert on the lived experience either.

GS said...

Yup the generic yuppie stamp of this years bathroom (are the basins angular or round?), colours (or lack of) and garden remove all character. Updating wiring isn't such a bad thing though!

When I go back to houses that I've lived in, it's the trees I miss - they are removed to make way for the deck.

boynton said...

It was hip to be square with basins, though I think roundness is back.

And yep, it's timber! all across the suburbs, alas.