A Warning on Victorian Renovations
By Max Birkin for House of Henley
A great majority of us live, have lived or will live in a property from the Victorian period, and these properties need more care and attention when it comes to decorating and renovating than you might think. They are often not quite conducive to modern living – few of us still employ a scullery maid, instead preferring to cook and eat in the same room. With sensitivity, planning and a healthy budget, however, these homes can be made ready for another 183 years of occupation. Indeed, owning a Victorian property offers more freedoms than it does limitations, so do not feel constrained by the weight of history or what you may feel is ‘proper’. As Charles Darwin said, “it is not the strongest of the species that survives [but] it is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
Good bones
Picture from YARD Architects
It is a little bit of a misconception that Victorian homes were well-built. Yes, infrastructure from the period was advanced and impressive and is still in use today, but Isambard Kingdom Brunel was not responsible for your average three-bed terraced house with side-return. In fact, many of the more ‘normal’ Victorian properties that line the streets of cities and towns across our country are rather shoddily built. Often, their foundations are worryingly shallow (or totally non-existent) and behind smart facades are unstable party walls propped up with rotting timbers and building waste. It's neither glamorous nor exciting, but the most important thing you can do before buying or renovating a house from this era is to have it professionally surveyed. Ideally, engage a specialist in period buildings who knows what to look for and what needs to be done about it. Following this, you will possibly need to take a deep breath and either walk away from the sale or have a serious discussion with your bank manager. Leaking roofs, rotting sash windows and ancient plumbing and wiring will need to be fixed before you even think about William Morris wallpapers for the hallway, and this will cost you. Even once you have worked out a feasible budget and raided your parents’ pension fund, you really must factor in an extra 20% contingency on top of that for when you discover a sewage mains beneath your sitting-room floor. That cast-iron roll-top bath may be perfect for your master bedroom en-suite, but dodgy timbers put in by a 19th century Cowboy builder will not stop it from crashing through into the kitchen.
Stay in touch
Picture from Kitchen Architecture
We buy Victorian homes for their beautiful features. Original fireplaces, sash windows and wainscoting are all catnip to buyers from all rungs of the property ladder. The IKEA marketing department of yore has much to answer for here – its ‘Chuck out the Chintz’ campaign heralded the removal of ornate plasterwork and filling of skips across the country, and many an estate agent will shake a fist at the Swedish furniture giant when encountering yet another Victorian flat with wood-panelled ceilings and electric fireplaces. The lesson here is to preserve, or reinstate, any original features in your Victorian property – strip off the flock wallpaper, keep the encaustic tiles in the hall. If your home has been the victim of a zealous acolyte of Swedish minimalism, then knock on a neighbour’s door with a bottle of wine in hand and ask to take some photos of their surviving plaster mouldings and fireplaces. There are numerous plaster-works and independent craftsmen who will be able to recreate and restore cornicing to a room, and many architectural salvage yards will be able to sell you a range of period chimneypieces to reintroduce character to your home. Talk to your builder, or ring up Historic England for a list of recommended tradesmen.
Don’t be limited
Picture from Abigail Ahern
Buying a Victorian house does not condemn you to decorating only with heavy mahogany furnishings, vermillion drapes and various stuffed animals. This is the 21st century, and nobody is asking you to set up another John Soames museum (although this is absolutely worth a visit). The great joy of properties from this era is their versatility. Go maximalist and put up a crazily-coloured wallpaper from Little Greene and paint your woodwork in a complimentary primary colour, channelling the loos at Annabel’s. Follow Abigail Ahern’s lead and go dark and moody, embracing Victorian Gothic with glossy blacks and decadent crystal chandeliers (the odd taxidermy owl wouldn’t go amiss here). Or, in what is probably the most practical and long-lasting solution, decorate in interesting but neutral tones and allow a shiny Bulthaup kitchen to happily co-exist with the original parquet. Pretty much any interior style will work in a Victorian property – The Modern House estate agency specialises in more minimalist homes, but regularly markets beautiful houses from the period with whitewashed walls, sanded wooden floors, original interior shutters and a Mies van der Rohe Barcelona chair all alongside one another. The effect is stunning, and acts as a brilliant homage to the durability and timelessness of good design and excellent craftsmanship.
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