You are here: What gives a home historical value?

Converted castles, buildings bearing blue plaques and one-time churches re-purposed as family houses: some historical homes are easy to spot. But these are just the most obvious ones. If you want to live somewhere more significant than a new-build home, maybe you should rethink what ‘historical’ means. There are many things that can give a home historical value and some places don’t need to be that old to get the historical label.

Homes with historical value
Homes with historical value

Famous places, famous faces

Highclere Castle and Blenheim Palace have historical value in their own right, but the fact they starred in notable British series’ and films – Downton Abbey and Spectre – gives them an edge. Less well known, but no less significant, are the terraced houses on Elswick Street in Dingle, the setting for Bread, the BBC comedy that chronicled a certain type of life in 1980s Britain, or Cringley House in Askrigg, latterly renamed Skeldale House, to make it more obvious that it was the veterinary practice in TV’s All Creatures Great and Small. Today, the latter is a B&B.

Sometimes, it can be less a case of what happened somewhere, but who did it. Let’s bypass the obvious – Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon and Rottingdean, East Sussex home of Rudyard Kipling – in favour of 22b Ebury Street, Belgravia, home to Bond creator Ian Fleming. Or 83 Shortlands Road, Bromley, the one-time home of children’s author Enid Blyton, and a house on London’s Gunnersbury Avenue occupied for seven years by Carry On star Sid James.

Each of these is either a bona fide tourist attraction, in the case of Shakespeare’s birthplace, or bear a distinctive blue plaque – but not all of these are as official as you might expect. English Heritage runs the best-known plaque programme, but the Dead Comics Society runs a similar scheme to remember long-gone comedians. And property site Zoopla instigated its own purple plaque scheme to show where current celebrities once resided. Alternative Heritage has erected 25 plaques in Hull, highlighting notable locations within the city.

There is no denying that plaques are an interesting talking point, but not everyone would want to live in a house bearing one. Blue plaque properties don’t necessarily attract higher selling prices, but they may attract tourists. Before buying one, consider whether you want to have fans of long-gone celebrities taking selfies outside your home when you are trying to live a quiet life.

Homes with architectural merit

Flats in London’s Barbican development, which are still less than 50 years old, score high for historical value. The estate is a city landmark, which brought life back to a bomb site that had sat empty for almost 20 years after the Second World War. The Greater London Plan of 1944, which looked ahead to a time of peace – by then imminent – envisaged a new way of living centred on garden villages, well outside the city, from which workers would commute. As a result, there was some reluctance to sign off on a project like the Barbican, so its appearance, almost two decades after the plan was drawn up, is significant for what it represents: a comprehensive rethink. The result, which some would consider Brutalist, is a versatile environment that provides everything residents require to work, rest and play, without ever stepping beyond its concrete perimeter. It even has concert halls, schools and water gardens dotted among the offices, shops and flats.

Beyond the site’s significance, the flats’ fittings have historical value, too. The small toilet spaces necessitated a bespoke ‘Barbican’ sink designed by architect L Michael Hohmann, who worked on the Barbican development for eight years, and which was produced by Twyfords until 1966. In the kitchen, the innovative ‘garchey’ disposal system allowed residents to poke everything from potato peelings to cans and bottles down their kitchen sinks, from where they traversed 600 pipes and two miles of tunnels into pits below the towers from which they were collected every three weeks. While such innovations might incite a shrug today, they were novel in the early- to mid-1960s, and flats that retain these original features exhibit significant historical value.

The downsides of historical value

You might want to play down your home’s historical credentials when it is time to sell. Older homes can look cosier, but the truth is often the opposite. Thin walls, single glazing and gaps around doors and windows can make winters unbearably chilly, unless you are happy to run the heating 24/7.

Worse, if your home is listed, you might not be allowed to put these problems right, while the inability to do something as simple as erecting a satellite dish or running a downpipe from your gutter where it is most convenient, could put off potential purchasers. Remember those Barbican sinks we mentioned? If they are not to your taste, you may be forced to put up or shut up, as any changes you want to make to a Barbican kitchen or bathroom require consent from the Barbican Estate Office.

There is no denying that historical value appeals to many, but the practicalities and any work-arounds required should be investigated before committing to buy a home with a plaque, too many ‘original’ features, or listed status.

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