Everytime I start to really disagree with things like heritage zoning I see something like this.
Why on earth white plastic windows and baby blue paint?
Budgeting? White PVC windows are cheapest, you pay extra for colors.
I know.
However, if you own a cultural heritage building, the c.h. office has a lot of saying about each and every modification done, especially on the outside, so I doubt it’s due to financial issues.
This mess is because the planning authorities rejected more subtle additions and insisted on something that is distinct from the original building, which is what they got.
Because 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.
only plus I can see is that the renovation is visibly distinguishable – they’re not trying to pass it off as a “restoration” …
Another comment ITT claims that that’s exactly why they did it this way-- Regulations say it must have that property.
I was just thinking you couldn’t get an A/C installer anywhere near the property without the modern add-on.
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.
Looks like something from Monty Python and Holy Grail
Well it was filmed in the Scottish Lowlands not a million miles away (48 miles from Doune Castle).
This makes me want to sing the Tetris theme.
I don’t hate it.
Well maybe you should
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.
I believe that’s what they call “postmodern architecture”
Is that a news crew huddling at the foot of it?
It 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.
Where the President of the HOA lives
People 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.Basically, 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?
This comment made me partially re-evaluate my opinion of this building
UK 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.
afaik castles have a recurring problem where rich people buy them saying “we’re going to restore this and keep it authentic” but then as soon as they find out the price of doing that they backtrack and usually end up not doing anything. But I would prefer doing nothing to doing this.
Average 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.
Bit of goosewing grey and it’s good to go.
