Everytime I start to really disagree with things like heritage zoning I see something like this.
159This has been floating around the internet for some time.
The funny part is that heritage zoning is the reason the addition looks the way it does. The upper floor was inaccessible and stairs needed to be added. Local regulations state that any additions must be visually distinct from the original structure so this monstrosity was the result.
Look up Caldwell Tower in Scotland for more information.
204Why on earth white plastic windows and baby blue paint?
25Because though uPVC windows lack the myriad advantages of wood or stone frames, sometimes it is better for the ongoing fabric of a building to just get it weatherproof until someone comes along who can afford to put in more suitable replacements.
Then white uPVC frames are much cheaper than coloured versions.
Can't speak for the baby blue.
1
only plus I can see is that the renovation is visibly distinguishable – they’re not trying to pass it off as a “restoration” …
52Another comment ITT claims that that's exactly why they did it this way-- Regulations say it must have that property.
36I was just thinking you couldn't get an A/C installer anywhere near the property without the modern add-on.
4
I remember when this hit the news and do hope it's been redone since.
edit: no updates on the Scottish Castle Association since 2012 and TripAdvisor photos show it unchanged other than some weathering.
edit2: Here is the episode of The Restoration Man that focused on the tower and it explains the planning process that led to this monstrosity.
37Looks like something from Monty Python and Holy Grail
35Well it was filmed in the Scottish Lowlands not a million miles away (48 miles from Doune Castle).
5
It would have been nice if they pointed out which part was renovated so I didn't need to scour the picture to find it.
33I need a useless red circle to find it
13Sorry, I will write a detailed alt next time
10
Where the President of the HOA lives
22I was thinking: whichever 'lord' owns the tower - that's where his mother-in-law lives.
12
I don't hate it.
20Well maybe you should
54No worries, I hate it enough for both
24
I'm kinda with you. I hate that we've done this to what is basically a large historical artifact, but if this was all new construction... I could be into this.
5
This makes me want to sing the Tetris theme.
20Prime location, good bones.
18"what's next, renovation?"
"AND COVER UP THESE BONES?"
7
I believe that’s what they call “postmodern architecture”
17Looks weird, but if they added a 3rd aesthetic, like Japanese wooden housing, or Russian brutalism, then we'd be talking.
15People are such perfectionists when it comes to buildings. I love this image; the patchwork aesthetic needs less hate. Yeah it looks silly, but why should it look serious? I wouldn't be upset if a building built today were to have an awkward attachment added in 500 years that was built to the design standards of that time period.
Somebody showed me recently the rebuild of the Augusteum building of the University of Leipzig which had a hyper-modern redesign like 180 years after it was first built (look it up, it's pretty cool). And the building in this post is like a lower-effort, more earnest version of that idea. Is it bad real estate? Sure. But it's good architecture. "Authenticity" be damned.13Basically, do you want an abandoned ruin rotting away in a field, or do you want a building that people will continue to live in and take care of into the future?
7This comment made me partially re-evaluate my opinion of this building
3
Gentrification is getting out of hand.
9
9Is that a news crew huddling at the foot of it?
8It was featured in S1E4 of The Restoration Man, so I presume George Clarke is somewhere in that picture.
edit: and they return to it in S2E5 which is on YouTube.
7
Please tag NSFL, my poor eyes aaagh
8Average looking house in Ukraine. Khrushchovka that itself doesn't look too good is ruined by the fact that each flat was renovated with 0 attention to how the other ones look. There are usually some white walls, some gray, some are still orange form the bricks, some balconies have windows, some don't.
6Should have painted it to match
5A natural wood finish would have looked pretty good
2
Everyone laughing at the repairs to your tower until the Mongol hordes return - and theirs still aren’t done because they were waiting to source the right Welsh stone.
5UK server, OK. Fine. But OP has never been to Pennsylvania in the US. Most houses over a hundred years old look like this: you can see the generations that have lived in it. First it's stone and mortar; then there's a wood addition ca. the early 1900s; then there's a more modern addition ca. the 50's or later. There's one property that was briefly famous as it came up in Zillow that had 5 clearly distinctive styles and technologies worth of additions on it; it's like every generation added another room with whatever was in style at the time. I can't find a picture, but it was hideous.
I don't know if it's common all along the mid-Atlantic, but it is super common in Pennsylvania.
5Seems like someone used galvanized square steel, screws from aunt and eco friendly wood veneers
2Bit of goosewing grey and it’s good to go.
2I kinda like it
2
