All things Architecture...

[Kirstie]

Hi all,

As I wander around London, I often find myself marvelling at the wide variety of architectual styles on show - there are Brutalist 60s appartment blocks alongside Victorian mansions, Art Nouveau theatres next to Gothic churches. And London is not alone - I'm sure it's quite hard to find a town or city which has just one uniform style!

We spend quite a lot of time discussing the inside of our homes and their interior design, but what about the buildings themselves? When buying your property, what about its architecture attracted you? Which styles do you particularly like - are you more Art Nouveau than Modern or more Gothic than Renaissance?

I have to say, it's pretty hard to choose one particular style I prefer... My current flat is in a red brick Victorian building which I love but I find Art Nouveau buildings really interesting!

I'm looking forward to hearing your views!

Kirstie

[Kirstie]

You might be interested in this topic @Roz, @Lawrene, @Claudia, @Helga, @Kitty & Creek, @Casadell, @Rick And Geena, @Gary,

@Andrea, @Tiffany,@Harry, @David & Fiona, @Patricia, @Gerry And Rashid, @An-Nhien0, @LivandBertie0 - it would be great to hear your opinions! 

[Lawrene0]

Hey, @Kirstie, for some reason, even though you sometimes tag me in these, I don't get the usual notification. I stumble upon them and am surprised to find my name. I wonder if it is happening with the others, and if it appears we are standoffish when all we are is in the dark. You might talk to the developers. 

As to the question, I offer a treehouse that is basically a shed in a tree, a joke when you look at @David-and-Fiona0's and @Dieneke0's places. Wow. But I decided to answer, since the farmhouse in which we live, and in which I greet guests and serve them breakfast, is fieldstone, and unusual in this part of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, where wood is plentiful, so the also-plentiful-but-labour-intensive fieldstone goes mostly unused. 

We decided on it because we liked the look, and were willing and able to do the masonry ourselves. There are pockets of surrounding Ontario, Quebec, Michigan, that feature fieldstone buildings, and that was our inspiration when it came time to do something here. 

I don't put a photo of the house on the listing page, since it is not offered as a place to sleep, and it is not the draw. But it is pretty and unusual, and so gives a good impression when people arrive. It is okay to make that a surprise, I think. 

[Kirstie]

Hi @Lawrene0,

Thanks for letting me know. That's strange you're not receiving a notification when you're tagged - I just checked your settings and it says that you should be notified. Have you checked your spam? I will pass this on and keep my eye out if anyone else is experiencing the same issue.

Your treehouse is great! It's really charming and I'm sure your guests love the exciting experience of sleeping among the trees!

Your fieldstone farmhouse sounds lovely! So you did all of the masonry yourselves? That sounds like a big project! How long did it take? Did you already have experience in doing that kind of work?

Kirstie

[Lawrene0]

Nope, @Kirstie, not in spam, and not even in my Recent Activity list right in the forum. THIS mention appeared in email and RA, as do others, but the group mentions from administrators never do. You can mention that if you are passing it on. 

Don't make it a priority. Those trying to verify their ID, list their properties, and block calendar dates (my blocking has just started to act up as well) will want IT focusing on those things. 

Masonry question answers: Yes, we did it ourselves, but were also holding down jobs and it had to be good-weather weekends since mortar freezes, so it took four years. No masonry experience, but loads of professional carpentry experience. And we read a book on it. This was pre-Youtube 🙂

[Kirstie]

Hi @Lawrene0,

Thanks for giving me more information about this issue - I've done some investigation and I think I've worked out what the issue is, the way we tag community members in group tags is slightly different to how we tag when we reply directly to someone and it seems to not be working properly. I'm glad you let us know! I have tagged everyone again in this thread in a different way, could you please let me know if you get a notification about that one? Hopefully it will work.

Wow that's impressive that you managed to do it yourselves alongside your jobs - I can understand why it took 4 years! If you were able to do that with just a book and no Youtube videos, imagine what you could do now with the wealth of DIY videos available...!

Kirstie

[Kirstie]

@Roz4,  @Lawrene0, @Claudia2, @Helga0, @Kitty-and-Creek0, @Dev4, @Rick-And-Geena0, @Gary109, @Tiffany11, @Andrea9, @Harry22, @LivandBertie0, @David-and-Fiona0, @Patricia86, @Gerry-And-Rashid0

I'm trying these tags again as I don't think you were all notified the first time!

[Lawrene0]

@Kirstie, it worked for me this time! Wish everything was solved this quickly! 🙂

[Kirstie]

Sorry I wrote the reply above asking you to let me know before I saw your response! Thanks for letting me know, glad we worked it out 🙂

[Andrea9]

@Kirstie, hi!

I think I got it the first time or at least saw it, but - can you imagine!? - I had nothing to say really!

As a designer I of course also love, love, love architecture! Finding a home in a popular city that is affordable, larger than an expensive cupboard, not too far from major points is quite a challenge. So it wasn't hugely important to me what its outside aesthetics looked like as long as my other criteria were being fulfilled, and the most important of those were having a space that allowed me to be able to live comfortably as well as have a studio. A space that had enough potential to turn into a clean-cut, simply but well-designed space with a lot of daylight. What got me was the fact that it overlooked a square with a tram route passing through (our trams don't squeak on the rails, and it gives me the feeling of living at a navel point in the city which I  much prefer to a quieter side street.  

I always tend to think that the modest outside architecture (simple 1920s) keeps out burglars looking to find great riches.

[Kirstie]

Hi @Andrea9,

I must say I'm surprised you had nothing to say - you always have interesting points to make 😉 !

I understand why you would prioritise other criteria when looking for somewhere rather than focus on how it looks from the outside. It's like that dilemma - would you rather live in a beautiful house that looks out at an ugly building or live in an ugly building that looks out at a beautiful one?! I guess you're not often going to be looking up at your own house from the outside but you probably look out of your window more often!

That's a good point that burglars tend to go for houses that look expensive - so maybe more modest styles are safer!

Do you prefer more modern buildings or older styles of architecture in terms of how they look?

Kirstie

[Andrea9]

@Kirstie

My penchant is for modern, yet there are old buildings so well re-constructed that I have no compulsion falling in love with them either!

There's a great website DEZEEN [link removed] that covers mostly design ideas, and even though their twice daily update emails are a bit overkill I revel in most of the beautiful architecture there fills me with dreams of living grand!

[Kirstie]

@Andrea9 

I agree that renovated old buildings can be stunning! 

I just had a look at that website - it has some interesting articles and pictures, thanks for sharing!

Kirstie

[Dev4]

@Kirstie

Thanks for tagging to the post. Very interesting topic. 

Toronto is a vey diverse city and lately, a construction paradise with new condo building erupting in every nook and corner. If I were to buy a property for Airbnb rentals, I would go with a Victorian style home or something different than the regular condo high-rises. The older style homes are bigger, classier and have an uniqueness to them. They were build for comfortable living vs. most of the modern day contruction, which is for profit booking. 

Most important factor in buying a property is location. If the building is centrally located then guests would love to stay in it. Also, the property retains its value for resales.  

[Kirstie]

Hi @Dev4,

That's interesting that you would chose a Victorian style house rather than a more modern build for an Airbnb - I can understand how in a city with more and more modern buildings, the older ones have even more of a charm. It's true that modern builds can focus too much on the profits rather than the style and comfort.

Location definitely is a key quality of any property! Would you be willing to sacrifice size and possibly style though for a great location? Tricky one...

Kirstie