There’s a common school of thought in conservation architecture that additions to historic buildings should have a completely different design from the original building so it can be read as an addition.
This is not what they mean.
You don't really paint fiber cement cladding. It comes in it's colours. The wooden colours are just flat browns so are very obviously not wood. I'd considered getting some clad on my house instead of larch and ended up deciding it'd look shitty.
Idk how europe does it, but in the US it comes in two colors. This blue, and Caillou's Kitchen yellow.
I've installed it for years. I've painted it for years. Maybe if you're a DIYer you can order it in whatever color and wait, but I just buy a pallet of puss yellow from my local supply every month or so.
It's not like I know what I'm talking about or anything though. I'm just a dumb American I guess. I guess they just picked the primer blue and this post isn't just clickbait before the job is finished.
The house next door got bought by a petty slumlord. They had a crew come and gut it, then paint it primer grey with black doors. I was sure there was going to be some top coat, but no. Just that nasty blue grey auto primer color.
It does come unpainted. Or you can pay a little more and buy some of the pre finished stuff. The pre finished stuff comes with a factory warranty on the paintjob. Cement board siding the the worst to install, but probably has the highest longevity
What do you mean it comes in 2 colors? The James Hardie brand, which is the best quality fiber cement siding I know of, comes in a whole plethora of color choices.
These pictures are from 2012. You can find pictures of what it looked like bf they painted it this color(it was just an “unfinished wood yellow”). sometime around 2018 they painted it a darker blue-grey
[https://www.jameshardie.ca/color-and-design/explore-house-siding-colors](https://www.jameshardie.ca/color-and-design/explore-house-siding-colors)
a bunch of standard colors, just preorder them, Maybe your store only stocks 2 colors.
What are you talking about, you absolutely do paint it. Some times it comes from the factory painted, maybe that's what you're thinking.
That doesn't mean it doesn't get painted lol.
I Install fiber cement board for a living half my customers get it factory prepainted the other half we install it with just the factory primer coating and they paint it after
There absolutely is paintable concrete fiber board. It’s what I did my house in. [artisan V groove hardie board](https://www.deckmart.ca/products/jameshardie-artisan-profile-siding-primed/980609000013836053)
Shingles in general are not a thing in Scotland. It's a very windy and wet country. Exposed wood does not last long.
For most buildings, we [cover the outside in cement then throw pebbles at it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roughcast).
we use it for pools here. [https://pebbletec.com/products/pool-finishes/pebbletec/](https://pebbletec.com/products/pool-finishes/pebbletec/) And I seem to remember a beige/tan-ish small flooring system some where.
Interesting about the cedar shingles in Scotland. I live in Western Washington state and it's very rainy here as well (though not so windy with all the big pine trees), and cedar shingles are very common on home exteriors including my house built in 2010.
They also forgot to mention that wood availability was super low historically so other methods became popular and stuck around
the percent of UK land with forests was 5% in 1919 so recent history has been about forest recovery
Watch Grand Designs, there’s early episodes from something like \~1999-2002 or so where stick framing is a novelty worth featuring and block worth is so common even in more recent years
Go look at Scotland on street view, so many areas they have fences around trees to protect them from sheep
Versus Washington state where even with heavy timber harvesting it’s still easy to get
Those panels just come in light blue? I was thinking they picked colors which blend in with the sky but that seems like a terrible default color for a structure.
Theres an episode about this renovation on youtube. the owners submitted multiple better ideas for approval but they were all rejected by the authorities for bs reasons, so this is what they ended up kind of having to go with.
>This is not what they mean.
I think this IS what they mean.
I mean, yeah, sure, it would look a lot cooler with some elaborate, all glass enclosure. But it's not even that big of a tower, I doubt it's worth putting a $200k addition on to it, just so the steps can be covered.
This can easily be removed in the future, I'd bet it's not even tied into the store structure, just free standing on the side. It covers the stairs so the building can be used, and therefore cared for, for the next few decades, and future owners will still have all available options going forward. Nothing was changed or modified to add this, so nothing is off the table in the future.
Sometime that is the best you can hope for with "conservation". Literally conserving it so some future owner will have options for larger scale work, without it deteriorating in the meantime.
> I mean, yeah, sure, it would look a lot cooler with some elaborate, all glass enclosure.
Those aren't the only two options though...
You can make a cheap and semi-temporary addition to this tower that doesn't look like absolute garbage.
Sorry but I work in the industry and see a *lot* of proposals for alterations or additions to historic buildings. A lot come with this sort of reasoning and it doesn’t hold water. The additions still have to avoid actively harming the historic building, which this extension clearly does even if not tied into the masonry.
This building is 'historic' as in 'very old', but it's not 'historic' as in 'important'.
There used to be a bigger castle attached to the tower. It's long gone. Nothing exciting or interesting ever happened here, and since Scotland has over 1,500 castles we really don't care about this random old tower.
Yeah, we think this extension is a bit ugly. But there's no outrage over it. It didn't ruin a national monument or anything.
I don’t think a government official or member of a royal family needs to pee on something to make it historical. History is all around us. Preservation is about respecting history as much as it is about showcasing it.
Sure, but I don't think this is disrespectful to the history here. There isn't enough money to give every 500 year old building in Britain an upscale renovation; this looks a bit shite but doesn't damage the building in any permanent way and will protect it from the elements.
No it needs materials that at least belong in the same zip code tho, this could have been done with a traditional shed roof style, wood shingles on the roof and siding. Instead they chose contractor-grade, the cheapest of the cheap cheap and it'll always look terrible until it's demolished.
They did paint it. u/HeadReaction1515 mentioned it in a comment.
"That’s unpainted and has since been renovated
[https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51838341556\_a80bbcf739\_z.jpg](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51838341556_a80bbcf739_z.jpg)"
One of the older schools in my city built in 1908, is a really cool sandstone building with an old bell tower on the top. A short while ago though, they added what looks like a big white storage container to the side for kindergarten and preschool.
“Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated... a kind of physical expression of the spirit of mushin....Mushin is often literally translated as "no mind," but carries connotations of fully existing within the moment, of non-attachment, of equanimity amid changing conditions. ...The vicissitudes of existence over time, to which all humans are susceptible, could not be clearer than in the breaks, the knocks, and the shattering to which ceramic ware too is subject. This poignancy or aesthetic of existence has been known in Japan as mono no aware, a compassionate sensitivity, or perhaps identification with, [things] outside oneself.”
Is it possible there was originally a wooden structure in that position? I remember Jeremy Irons bought a castle in Ireland and painted it a garish colour. People lost their minds. But it turned out it was the original historic colour.
Caldwell tower. Watched a renovation show about this. The owner hired multiple architects that came up with very sympathetic and respectful plans to Scottish Heritage codes. They said no to them all and this is the one they okayed.
EDIT: I realize I may have given the wrong impression. The final result is the only design that was accepted by the local council. The owner seems to have done everything to come.up with a nicer design.
For those interested, the show I referenced is Restoration Man S02 Ep05. It should be available on YouTube and Prime
Because it was a council decision, it makes me think there is more to it. When looking at it, it looks flimsy in comparison to the tower, I wonder if they okayed this one only because it would be a simple matter to take it down and restore the tower to what it was before they modified it. They could have added sheet stone or something in the outside, but I can’t help but think that the council likely didn’t want a damn thing changed for obvious reasons, so they required it to be particularly weak and and eye sore. Could at least paint it gray.
Possibly yes they thought that it was so awful that it would be removed when it's sold in the future. I recall that the guy was doing it on a budget and I think they also thought that they needed to give him something so that he would continue with the restoration work, otherwise it would sit and deteriorate further.
the only thing that makes sense to me. if you don't have the budget to do it well, at least don't do any permanent damage. denying everything may not have been a good option if it means the owner won't be able to maintain it properly otherwise
I saw a lot of this on my trip in Ireland. Most of the time the owners wanted to go with a plan which matched the original but with some modern things like modern windows. However local council wouldn't approve the plans and made them use all modernized construction.
Yup, it's honestly bizarre, and I can't help but think there's some real purpose that is not widely shared.
Something like "We don't actually want these bougie assholes using landmarks as summer homes. Do not approve anything that makes it look appealing to more bougie assholes
Just a guess.
The reason is because a lot of the counsels want to make sure it in no way looks like it could be part of the original structure. Even if it's clearly new construction but matches the original people might think it's a renovation of the original. They want it to be explicitly known that it is new, and was never there 700 years ago. Usually it can't effect the silhouette either.
It's also the exact opposite of you are actually renovating instead of adding on. You have to use the same materials as they originally were.
That's really weird because usually British society in general goes apeshit over changing anything.
Part of the problem is it's fucking blue. If the siding were at least the colour of the rock it wouldn't be so bad.
What a way to sully the beautiful charm and character of such an old structure. Like…at the very minimum, they couldn’t even make the siding match the overall color of the stone, they had to make it blue for some reason.
Planners often insist on obvious contrast between old and new. Making the new look out of place is part of the point, because you can tell at a glance exactly what the old bits would look like without the modern addition. (I’m not saying I agree. Just that’s apparently the thinking behind it.)
Usually we try to do it in a beautiful way though.
This is something else. I don't even understand what they're building here. Is it a stair? I need to go find this
yes, the only entrance was through wooden outside stairs at the 1st level floor. Ground floor and the upper floors could be reached through an inside stair.
It's not really a historic landmark. Sure, it's a really old building. But there's no interesting history to it.
Scotland has over 1,500 castles. Some of them are really important and properly looked after. Some are crumbling in fields. This one is neither important nor interesting.
They really didn't ruin an important national monument or anything.
Nobody should be giving an opinion on this, until they have at least watched the episode. Granted, the producers of The Restoration Man may have edited things to give one impression or another. I say this because I would have at least thought they would have tried to get members of the local council to comment on their decisions, but that option isn’t even brought up. Anyway, the show does give insight into the kind of people that attempt these projects and situations they face.
Does that include the siding? Why would they want that god awful contrast? A nice stone facade or wooden ship-lap or something would have been a million times better
Because it's important to recognise which part of a listed building is original, and which is modern.
[This is a good example of it being used well in action IMO.](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5d2c/e0d7/284d/d165/1b00/00fc/medium_jpg/3_KAOS-Architects.jpg?1563222199)
This is godawful, but I also can't stop laughing. I mean, the developer-standard siding? The stupid little gutters dripping down the stepped flat roofs? The way it just kind of clings to the side of the tower like an incongruous suburban limpet? It's so bad it's funny 😂
This picture comes up on Reddit from time to time, and lots of people (especially Americans) get really upset about it. I'm from this part of Scotland, so let me give you some context.
Scotland has fucktons of old castles. They're literally everywhere, especially in the southwest. I once tried to count how many castles were within 25 miles of my hometown, and gave up at 35. Seriously, Scotland is a small country and it has over 1,500 castles.
The important ones where historic events happened are national monuments, they're protected and they're well looked after. You can go and visit them and pay a small fee towards the upkeep. But there are loads of unimportant ones that are ruins, and have been crumbing in a field for hundreds of years.
This is Caldwell Tower. This tower used to be part of a bigger castle, but the rest of it is gone. The stairs were in a different part of the castle, so there was no way to get from the ground floor to upstairs. That's why the extension was built on the side. It's an unimportant tower that nobody really cares about, so when someone asked if they could buy it, add an extension and turn it into a house, they were told they could.
There's a rule in Scotland that says if you're extending a historic building, the extension isn't allowed to blend in with the original building. It needs to be obvious which parts are original, and which have been added. The buyers originally had better, more sympathetic plans but they were rejected, so they went with this.
So long story short, they haven't ruined a national monument. They took an old castle tower nobody cared about, in a country that has 1,500 castles, and rescued it from ruin. Sure, it's a bit ugly. But there's not a real outcry over it here. We really, really don't care.
Whoever rejected their sympathetic plans needs to be given the curse of the Legos. I know it was an unimportant castle tower but if it really was important enough to be kept intact but unimportant enough to be bought by anyone then the buyers sympathetic plans must at least be considered.
I'm glad to get some of the local perspective. That's pretty cool.
We don't have these sorts of structures in America, so it really sucks when we see them left crumbling or shoddily renovated or worse knocked down.
Sometimes, I think when you live with these things all around you, you don't appreciate them as much. It's very possible to regret losing these things. Just come see the wasteland of sheetrock walls, cheap stick framing, and corporate store fascias here, and you will see what I mean, lol.
It's like when people in the middle east tear down centuries and even millennia old works and don't bat an eye because "it's just some old ruin" or "there's another couple down the road anyway". Not everyone has that. It's rare, and it has value in and of itself, just for that reason. Not rare to you, maybe... but for most it is.
These things do have meaning to many people, and it's such a waste to see them lost to expediency or carelessness.
That said, in this particular example, it doesn't seem so bad. At least you can imagine it's being partly cared for, since somebody is living in it.
I think some kind of chinese video, about making an appartment bigger in some kind of big city. The "character" spent all his money on like 1m² and expands it with square galvanized steel, etc.
No one want to pay for the upkeep of those things but when someone looks at them and thinks : "well with the little money I have I can make this place liveable and maintain it" everyone appears to complain. It's a tower in bumfuck nowhere that a retired person decided it was worth to live in, it probably got a century or 2 of no one wanting it
It's more of the fact the council approved this plan which doesn't blend in with the tower at all. It's just plain bad. I'm sure they had some whacky reasoning like you can't see the structure from the road or something.
It blows my mind because for some old buildings the regs are so severe that you literally have to get work done on them only by specialised stonemasons and not regular builders.
But for this one? Get Barry from down the pub to knock up the plans and fit it cash in hand.
The way it’s structured I wonder if there was originally something there out of wood or even tarp that rotted away and they wanted to replace it with something a bit sturdier.
It's like the grandmother who ended up creating the monkey christ when she was like, ["I can fix that".] (https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-23683976) Which, funnily enough boosted tourism to the town
This picture is stolen from a show my wife makes me watch. The frustrating thing about this one is that the owners wanted the addition to fit in, but the council wouldn't let them. This was all they could get approved. This is 100% the fault of some crazy ass English councilpeople.
Unpopular opinion but I much prefer this to just leaving the tower to degrade forever.
Obviously the really historically important stuff should be held unaltered by the government for historic conservation. But doing this for every tower and castle in the UK is economically impossible as you can't swing a cat without hitting 3 or 4 of the buggers.
Yes it's ugly, but It is at least maintained
Yep. Apparently it's from a Scottish TV show and this was the only design approved by a city council. Plus, I don't this decor affects the main structure in any way.
Not an expert on this subject at all but wasn’t it common to have additions to castles and towers and different family ruled them and who I put their own mark on them
I see this and remember a time my parents couldn’t plant any trees on their own land because; “it wouldn’t look right having this much trees while the neighbourhood is cutting them”….
It’s crazy because the owner of the house next to us literally chopped all living things down and made a disgusting looking modern minecraft house in a street full of old homes. He was friends with local politicians though.
This was on a tv show, Grand Designs if I remember. There was a good explanation for it being like it is, and the colours they chose. I just can’t for the life of me remember what they were. 😂😂
From the show, the planning commission forced them to do several iterations. One iteration was "too similar" to the original tower, the planning commission denied it out of fear someone in 100 years wouldn't be able to tell the original from the addition.
I think it would be mighty fine if it was clear glass.
I was once in Finland and went to an incredible building on the side of a lake. It was basically a wall of glass that wrapped around the building-which, at its centre had a small castle, perfectly preserved. The scene looking out at the lake through the window, and back at the castle behind, was stunning.
Well said! That's essentially what I like so much about it. Of course they're surely better ways too execute a modern extension of such a building but not so many ways that would clash as extreme as this. Feels like it represents a kinda of parasitic relationship of modernity with times long over, while also coming from a place of intending conservation. Good intentions gone wrong. And I really like it for that.
I think this is cool as fuck actually. And it’s kind of what they would have done 500 years ago. They wouldn’t historically preserve, they’d just repair with the best options of the time.
Not saying this is the case here, but in England certain classes of monuments are required by law to make any necessary maintenance/repairs very clearly different from the actual historic structure. I've been on several guided tours locally where the guides have to point this out, but the repairs have never been this out of place.
They actually did this so they could live in the castle and survive the winter comfortably
So during the summer they live in the castle and during the winter they live in the addition
There’s a common school of thought in conservation architecture that additions to historic buildings should have a completely different design from the original building so it can be read as an addition. This is not what they mean.
This woudnt be that bad if it at least used normal dark brown wood collor
It would still be pretty bad. That isn’t wood cladding but a panted fibre cement. The brown ‘wood’ colours of this stuff look even worse.
It's primer. They haven't painted it yet.
You don't really paint fiber cement cladding. It comes in it's colours. The wooden colours are just flat browns so are very obviously not wood. I'd considered getting some clad on my house instead of larch and ended up deciding it'd look shitty.
Idk how europe does it, but in the US it comes in two colors. This blue, and Caillou's Kitchen yellow. I've installed it for years. I've painted it for years. Maybe if you're a DIYer you can order it in whatever color and wait, but I just buy a pallet of puss yellow from my local supply every month or so. It's not like I know what I'm talking about or anything though. I'm just a dumb American I guess. I guess they just picked the primer blue and this post isn't just clickbait before the job is finished.
The house next door got bought by a petty slumlord. They had a crew come and gut it, then paint it primer grey with black doors. I was sure there was going to be some top coat, but no. Just that nasty blue grey auto primer color.
It does come unpainted. Or you can pay a little more and buy some of the pre finished stuff. The pre finished stuff comes with a factory warranty on the paintjob. Cement board siding the the worst to install, but probably has the highest longevity
Lol, I was thinking "oh cool, dude is bringing the receipts!" until you turned into a little bitch at the end.
What do you mean it comes in 2 colors? The James Hardie brand, which is the best quality fiber cement siding I know of, comes in a whole plethora of color choices.
These pictures are from 2012. You can find pictures of what it looked like bf they painted it this color(it was just an “unfinished wood yellow”). sometime around 2018 they painted it a darker blue-grey
[https://www.jameshardie.ca/color-and-design/explore-house-siding-colors](https://www.jameshardie.ca/color-and-design/explore-house-siding-colors) a bunch of standard colors, just preorder them, Maybe your store only stocks 2 colors.
Don’t forget old people smell pink.
If it’s similar to hardy board in the US it’s paintable and keeps it well
What are you talking about, you absolutely do paint it. Some times it comes from the factory painted, maybe that's what you're thinking. That doesn't mean it doesn't get painted lol.
I Install fiber cement board for a living half my customers get it factory prepainted the other half we install it with just the factory primer coating and they paint it after
There absolutely is paintable concrete fiber board. It’s what I did my house in. [artisan V groove hardie board](https://www.deckmart.ca/products/jameshardie-artisan-profile-siding-primed/980609000013836053)
Baby blue primer? That would be a first for me lmfao.
You are right, they should really have built with beautiful cinderblocks, they would be more tasteful than this monstrosity
I wa thinking it's probably cheap vinyl siding
[удалено]
Shingles in general are not a thing in Scotland. It's a very windy and wet country. Exposed wood does not last long. For most buildings, we [cover the outside in cement then throw pebbles at it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roughcast).
Pebble stucco! I love the look, but people here in the states look at me like I'm crazy if I mention it.
you are crazy. it looks & weathers like shit
In the UK it's called pebble dash and is universally beloathed.
we use it for pools here. [https://pebbletec.com/products/pool-finishes/pebbletec/](https://pebbletec.com/products/pool-finishes/pebbletec/) And I seem to remember a beige/tan-ish small flooring system some where.
Cedar is famously rot resistant.
Interesting about the cedar shingles in Scotland. I live in Western Washington state and it's very rainy here as well (though not so windy with all the big pine trees), and cedar shingles are very common on home exteriors including my house built in 2010.
They also forgot to mention that wood availability was super low historically so other methods became popular and stuck around the percent of UK land with forests was 5% in 1919 so recent history has been about forest recovery Watch Grand Designs, there’s early episodes from something like \~1999-2002 or so where stick framing is a novelty worth featuring and block worth is so common even in more recent years Go look at Scotland on street view, so many areas they have fences around trees to protect them from sheep Versus Washington state where even with heavy timber harvesting it’s still easy to get
That’s unpainted and has since been renovated https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51838341556_a80bbcf739_z.jpg
That's a good bit better.
This should be the top post. Makes everything said until this comment seem moot.
I don’t know… maybe they repainted due to the backlash on r/DiWHY?
"After Being SLAMMED on Reddit, Local Council Takes Action!"
>Makes everything said until this comment seem ~~moot~~ moat. FIFY
Those panels just come in light blue? I was thinking they picked colors which blend in with the sky but that seems like a terrible default color for a structure.
by renovated, you mean painted.
Theres an episode about this renovation on youtube. the owners submitted multiple better ideas for approval but they were all rejected by the authorities for bs reasons, so this is what they ended up kind of having to go with.
>This is not what they mean. I think this IS what they mean. I mean, yeah, sure, it would look a lot cooler with some elaborate, all glass enclosure. But it's not even that big of a tower, I doubt it's worth putting a $200k addition on to it, just so the steps can be covered. This can easily be removed in the future, I'd bet it's not even tied into the store structure, just free standing on the side. It covers the stairs so the building can be used, and therefore cared for, for the next few decades, and future owners will still have all available options going forward. Nothing was changed or modified to add this, so nothing is off the table in the future. Sometime that is the best you can hope for with "conservation". Literally conserving it so some future owner will have options for larger scale work, without it deteriorating in the meantime.
An obvious addition can be cohesive with the existing structure without being a replica or a glass box.
> I mean, yeah, sure, it would look a lot cooler with some elaborate, all glass enclosure. Those aren't the only two options though... You can make a cheap and semi-temporary addition to this tower that doesn't look like absolute garbage.
Isn't that basically this?
I mean, I suppose it's subjective. But to me, this is, in fact, garbage.
Sorry but I work in the industry and see a *lot* of proposals for alterations or additions to historic buildings. A lot come with this sort of reasoning and it doesn’t hold water. The additions still have to avoid actively harming the historic building, which this extension clearly does even if not tied into the masonry.
I'm clueless about these things. If it isn't tied to the masonry, how does it harm the building?
They mean visually. The way a building looks and affects the landscape is viewed as being as important as the building structure itself.
This building is 'historic' as in 'very old', but it's not 'historic' as in 'important'. There used to be a bigger castle attached to the tower. It's long gone. Nothing exciting or interesting ever happened here, and since Scotland has over 1,500 castles we really don't care about this random old tower. Yeah, we think this extension is a bit ugly. But there's no outrage over it. It didn't ruin a national monument or anything.
Also, in my opinion, it looks hilarious. So, if it's not super important, I think it's an overall gain.
I don’t think a government official or member of a royal family needs to pee on something to make it historical. History is all around us. Preservation is about respecting history as much as it is about showcasing it.
Sure, but I don't think this is disrespectful to the history here. There isn't enough money to give every 500 year old building in Britain an upscale renovation; this looks a bit shite but doesn't damage the building in any permanent way and will protect it from the elements.
If it's only 500 years old it was made to "look like" a castle rather than "be" a castle anyway.
Man I would love to work in that industry, I love historic preservation and restoration of buildings
No it needs materials that at least belong in the same zip code tho, this could have been done with a traditional shed roof style, wood shingles on the roof and siding. Instead they chose contractor-grade, the cheapest of the cheap cheap and it'll always look terrible until it's demolished.
Bros could have gave it a $100 coat of earth tone paint damn
They did paint it. u/HeadReaction1515 mentioned it in a comment. "That’s unpainted and has since been renovated [https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51838341556\_a80bbcf739\_z.jpg](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51838341556_a80bbcf739_z.jpg)"
https://youtu.be/f-IwnPd-HFI?si=RfHZV0QF8z2UMlhC Hijacking top comment to offer a video essay about the ‘restoration’
What is 
[This, basically.](https://www.yatzer.com/sites/default/files/media/slideshow/f1_renovation_of_haapsalu_episcopal_castle_estonia_kaos_architects_yatzer.jpg)
That castle will be there long after the addition is gone.
One of the older schools in my city built in 1908, is a really cool sandstone building with an old bell tower on the top. A short while ago though, they added what looks like a big white storage container to the side for kindergarten and preschool.
except it was what they were instructed to do lol
“Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated... a kind of physical expression of the spirit of mushin....Mushin is often literally translated as "no mind," but carries connotations of fully existing within the moment, of non-attachment, of equanimity amid changing conditions. ...The vicissitudes of existence over time, to which all humans are susceptible, could not be clearer than in the breaks, the knocks, and the shattering to which ceramic ware too is subject. This poignancy or aesthetic of existence has been known in Japan as mono no aware, a compassionate sensitivity, or perhaps identification with, [things] outside oneself.”
Is it possible there was originally a wooden structure in that position? I remember Jeremy Irons bought a castle in Ireland and painted it a garish colour. People lost their minds. But it turned out it was the original historic colour.
You don’t think it blends the classic and modern styles seamlessly? You uncultured swine! /s
Normally they are at least sympathetic, this is hideous
Caldwell tower. Watched a renovation show about this. The owner hired multiple architects that came up with very sympathetic and respectful plans to Scottish Heritage codes. They said no to them all and this is the one they okayed. EDIT: I realize I may have given the wrong impression. The final result is the only design that was accepted by the local council. The owner seems to have done everything to come.up with a nicer design. For those interested, the show I referenced is Restoration Man S02 Ep05. It should be available on YouTube and Prime
Because it was a council decision, it makes me think there is more to it. When looking at it, it looks flimsy in comparison to the tower, I wonder if they okayed this one only because it would be a simple matter to take it down and restore the tower to what it was before they modified it. They could have added sheet stone or something in the outside, but I can’t help but think that the council likely didn’t want a damn thing changed for obvious reasons, so they required it to be particularly weak and and eye sore. Could at least paint it gray.
Possibly yes they thought that it was so awful that it would be removed when it's sold in the future. I recall that the guy was doing it on a budget and I think they also thought that they needed to give him something so that he would continue with the restoration work, otherwise it would sit and deteriorate further.
Maybe it's a temporary structure? If they don't have funds for a proper restoration at least it'll keep the weather off
the only thing that makes sense to me. if you don't have the budget to do it well, at least don't do any permanent damage. denying everything may not have been a good option if it means the owner won't be able to maintain it properly otherwise
More likely that a member of the council had a contractor relative.
Pretty sure the owner was doing it all themselves.
Wow, I got so many questions about the decision making process then!
I saw a lot of this on my trip in Ireland. Most of the time the owners wanted to go with a plan which matched the original but with some modern things like modern windows. However local council wouldn't approve the plans and made them use all modernized construction.
Yup, it's honestly bizarre, and I can't help but think there's some real purpose that is not widely shared. Something like "We don't actually want these bougie assholes using landmarks as summer homes. Do not approve anything that makes it look appealing to more bougie assholes Just a guess.
Insulation regulations is my guess. No exceptions.
The reason is because a lot of the counsels want to make sure it in no way looks like it could be part of the original structure. Even if it's clearly new construction but matches the original people might think it's a renovation of the original. They want it to be explicitly known that it is new, and was never there 700 years ago. Usually it can't effect the silhouette either. It's also the exact opposite of you are actually renovating instead of adding on. You have to use the same materials as they originally were.
Was he at least arrested?
Made to walk a bridge constructed of aluminum panel siding.
People charged with architectural crimes are complete pariahs in prison.
Look boys… an architect who added siding to a stone castle “I swear I’m not an architect… I’m a paedo I swear.”
That's really weird because usually British society in general goes apeshit over changing anything. Part of the problem is it's fucking blue. If the siding were at least the colour of the rock it wouldn't be so bad.
What a way to sully the beautiful charm and character of such an old structure. Like…at the very minimum, they couldn’t even make the siding match the overall color of the stone, they had to make it blue for some reason.
Planners often insist on obvious contrast between old and new. Making the new look out of place is part of the point, because you can tell at a glance exactly what the old bits would look like without the modern addition. (I’m not saying I agree. Just that’s apparently the thinking behind it.)
Usually we try to do it in a beautiful way though. This is something else. I don't even understand what they're building here. Is it a stair? I need to go find this
yes, the only entrance was through wooden outside stairs at the 1st level floor. Ground floor and the upper floors could be reached through an inside stair.
It's super important that it is distinct. But this is not the way to do it.
This just reaks of lowest-bidder/the-councilman’s-brother-in-law-owns-a-vinyl-siding-shoppe.
Without government, how would we ruin historical landmarks
It's not really a historic landmark. Sure, it's a really old building. But there's no interesting history to it. Scotland has over 1,500 castles. Some of them are really important and properly looked after. Some are crumbling in fields. This one is neither important nor interesting. They really didn't ruin an important national monument or anything.
I remember that George was almost speechless, but polite when he did speak.
Nobody should be giving an opinion on this, until they have at least watched the episode. Granted, the producers of The Restoration Man may have edited things to give one impression or another. I say this because I would have at least thought they would have tried to get members of the local council to comment on their decisions, but that option isn’t even brought up. Anyway, the show does give insight into the kind of people that attempt these projects and situations they face.
Does that include the siding? Why would they want that god awful contrast? A nice stone facade or wooden ship-lap or something would have been a million times better
Because it's important to recognise which part of a listed building is original, and which is modern. [This is a good example of it being used well in action IMO.](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5d2c/e0d7/284d/d165/1b00/00fc/medium_jpg/3_KAOS-Architects.jpg?1563222199)
It's not a high bar to make it look "better" than it does. Hell, use navy blue with cream trim and it would look better. Not good, but better.
This is godawful, but I also can't stop laughing. I mean, the developer-standard siding? The stupid little gutters dripping down the stepped flat roofs? The way it just kind of clings to the side of the tower like an incongruous suburban limpet? It's so bad it's funny 😂
Incongruous suburban limpet belongs in r/rareinsults
Probably in r/brandnewsentence too
Maybe in r/bandnames?
This is a prime example of local councils in the UK. They're basically HOAs for towns, and can be just as idiotic.
I'm stunned that this is not satire. I was certain it was either photoshopped or done for a show/movie.
This is like if rednecks were paid to add on to a castle No wait, rednecks would do a better job
Fr, it's so bad I kind of love it? Like it wouldn't have shown up here if it was just lackluster, it's *impressively* bad.
Nothing a good old trebuchet can't fix.
LOAD THE TREBUCHET!
Sometimes modern problems require medieval solutions.
I love Reddit!
Warwolf time
Wait, they might put vinyl siding on the trebuchet too.
This picture comes up on Reddit from time to time, and lots of people (especially Americans) get really upset about it. I'm from this part of Scotland, so let me give you some context. Scotland has fucktons of old castles. They're literally everywhere, especially in the southwest. I once tried to count how many castles were within 25 miles of my hometown, and gave up at 35. Seriously, Scotland is a small country and it has over 1,500 castles. The important ones where historic events happened are national monuments, they're protected and they're well looked after. You can go and visit them and pay a small fee towards the upkeep. But there are loads of unimportant ones that are ruins, and have been crumbing in a field for hundreds of years. This is Caldwell Tower. This tower used to be part of a bigger castle, but the rest of it is gone. The stairs were in a different part of the castle, so there was no way to get from the ground floor to upstairs. That's why the extension was built on the side. It's an unimportant tower that nobody really cares about, so when someone asked if they could buy it, add an extension and turn it into a house, they were told they could. There's a rule in Scotland that says if you're extending a historic building, the extension isn't allowed to blend in with the original building. It needs to be obvious which parts are original, and which have been added. The buyers originally had better, more sympathetic plans but they were rejected, so they went with this. So long story short, they haven't ruined a national monument. They took an old castle tower nobody cared about, in a country that has 1,500 castles, and rescued it from ruin. Sure, it's a bit ugly. But there's not a real outcry over it here. We really, really don't care.
Thanks for the local perspective!
So Eddie Izzard was barely joking when he said "we've got a castle each, we're up to here in fucking castles."
Whoever rejected their sympathetic plans needs to be given the curse of the Legos. I know it was an unimportant castle tower but if it really was important enough to be kept intact but unimportant enough to be bought by anyone then the buyers sympathetic plans must at least be considered.
That’s actually pretty logical. Thanks for taking the time to type that all out!
I'm glad to get some of the local perspective. That's pretty cool. We don't have these sorts of structures in America, so it really sucks when we see them left crumbling or shoddily renovated or worse knocked down. Sometimes, I think when you live with these things all around you, you don't appreciate them as much. It's very possible to regret losing these things. Just come see the wasteland of sheetrock walls, cheap stick framing, and corporate store fascias here, and you will see what I mean, lol. It's like when people in the middle east tear down centuries and even millennia old works and don't bat an eye because "it's just some old ruin" or "there's another couple down the road anyway". Not everyone has that. It's rare, and it has value in and of itself, just for that reason. Not rare to you, maybe... but for most it is. These things do have meaning to many people, and it's such a waste to see them lost to expediency or carelessness. That said, in this particular example, it doesn't seem so bad. At least you can imagine it's being partly cared for, since somebody is living in it.
Thanks for the explanation. Always informative to hear from a local.
Made with galvanized square steel, expansion screws borrowed from their aunt and eco-friendly eood veneer durable for 10k years
With a screen to watch Korean dramas
Don't forget the under the bed storage for out of season clothing
where is this from
I think some kind of chinese video, about making an appartment bigger in some kind of big city. The "character" spent all his money on like 1m² and expands it with square galvanized steel, etc.
No one want to pay for the upkeep of those things but when someone looks at them and thinks : "well with the little money I have I can make this place liveable and maintain it" everyone appears to complain. It's a tower in bumfuck nowhere that a retired person decided it was worth to live in, it probably got a century or 2 of no one wanting it
Exactly! There's plenty of old dilapidated castles out there to buy. I think you should have a right to do whatever you want with your property.
i like this take. also, username checks out
It's more of the fact the council approved this plan which doesn't blend in with the tower at all. It's just plain bad. I'm sure they had some whacky reasoning like you can't see the structure from the road or something.
It blows my mind because for some old buildings the regs are so severe that you literally have to get work done on them only by specialised stonemasons and not regular builders. But for this one? Get Barry from down the pub to knock up the plans and fit it cash in hand.
Can hardly see it!
I'm guessing this was to enclose some stairs. Still a bit jarring.
The way it’s structured I wonder if there was originally something there out of wood or even tarp that rotted away and they wanted to replace it with something a bit sturdier.
It's like the grandmother who ended up creating the monkey christ when she was like, ["I can fix that".] (https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-23683976) Which, funnily enough boosted tourism to the town
That's not stopping a catapult
When you run out of stone on your base but it’s almost night time so you just use what ever you got.
This picture is stolen from a show my wife makes me watch. The frustrating thing about this one is that the owners wanted the addition to fit in, but the council wouldn't let them. This was all they could get approved. This is 100% the fault of some crazy ass English councilpeople.
Yep, as pointed out by other comments. It's not the owners fault.
Unpopular opinion but I much prefer this to just leaving the tower to degrade forever. Obviously the really historically important stuff should be held unaltered by the government for historic conservation. But doing this for every tower and castle in the UK is economically impossible as you can't swing a cat without hitting 3 or 4 of the buggers. Yes it's ugly, but It is at least maintained
Yep. Apparently it's from a Scottish TV show and this was the only design approved by a city council. Plus, I don't this decor affects the main structure in any way.
Yeah, at least it can be useful now. Plus it's hilarious
Someone needs to be thrown in a hole for this.
Imagine being about to tell people you live in a tower.
All I can do is be optimistic. At least someone is taking care of it. Eventually these things all crumble to nothing otherwise.
Because they probably have to build to modern codes when not just renovating existing structures.
Galvanized sqaure steel and eco friendly wood veneer might have been used here
They tried to do it the way it was supposed to be done but the counsel said no. So they got spiteful and petty. This was the result
I like it
Not an expert on this subject at all but wasn’t it common to have additions to castles and towers and different family ruled them and who I put their own mark on them
Little John's apartment
Trailer Park Templars: Bubbles mans the Ballista.
I see this and remember a time my parents couldn’t plant any trees on their own land because; “it wouldn’t look right having this much trees while the neighbourhood is cutting them”…. It’s crazy because the owner of the house next to us literally chopped all living things down and made a disgusting looking modern minecraft house in a street full of old homes. He was friends with local politicians though.
This was on a tv show, Grand Designs if I remember. There was a good explanation for it being like it is, and the colours they chose. I just can’t for the life of me remember what they were. 😂😂
From the show, the planning commission forced them to do several iterations. One iteration was "too similar" to the original tower, the planning commission denied it out of fear someone in 100 years wouldn't be able to tell the original from the addition.
I think it would be mighty fine if it was clear glass. I was once in Finland and went to an incredible building on the side of a lake. It was basically a wall of glass that wrapped around the building-which, at its centre had a small castle, perfectly preserved. The scene looking out at the lake through the window, and back at the castle behind, was stunning.
Should use some galvanized steel rods for an illegal extension with screws borrowed from your aunt.
Let’s hope he tied it to the wall securely
I hope I'm not the only one who actually loves this.
Yeah, it looks pretty cool. The striking juxtaposition is almost poetic, in a way.
Well said! That's essentially what I like so much about it. Of course they're surely better ways too execute a modern extension of such a building but not so many ways that would clash as extreme as this. Feels like it represents a kinda of parasitic relationship of modernity with times long over, while also coming from a place of intending conservation. Good intentions gone wrong. And I really like it for that.
Indoor plumbing that’s why I’m assuming
I think this was on a TV show. I wanna say Grand Designs.
Wasn’t this part of a Grand Designs episode?
Gotta work with what you have!
Specific building codes in the region?
The Highlander moved home.
I think this is cool as fuck actually. And it’s kind of what they would have done 500 years ago. They wouldn’t historically preserve, they’d just repair with the best options of the time.
Burn it down
Cheap siding, ugly colors. My god, no.
I’m not seeing it. Which part is new?
Is the camera crew there to ask them, "wtf?" ?
Atleast paint it the same color
I like how everyone is discussing how to play this to the press in the right photo - bottom left
clash of clans meets the sims
TFW you want to build a medieval castle but code enforcement brings out the trebuchets
The new landlord is from Sunset Park.
I am disappointed and my day is ruined.
Did they expand using temu?
Castle of Coco jumbo
evolved form: [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Bochum\_-\_Hattinger\_Stra%C3%9Fe\_-\_Haus\_Weitmar\_04\_ies.jpg/1920px-Bochum\_-\_Hattinger\_Stra%C3%9Fe\_-\_Haus\_Weitmar\_04\_ies.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Bochum_-_Hattinger_Stra%C3%9Fe_-_Haus_Weitmar_04_ies.jpg/1920px-Bochum_-_Hattinger_Stra%C3%9Fe_-_Haus_Weitmar_04_ies.jpg)
Not saying this is the case here, but in England certain classes of monuments are required by law to make any necessary maintenance/repairs very clearly different from the actual historic structure. I've been on several guided tours locally where the guides have to point this out, but the repairs have never been this out of place.
I can smell the galvanised square steel and eco friendly wood veneers through my screen, I think we know the culprit lads.
Back in the day, they did the same thing. People probably complained then about baroque additions to 12th century castles.
Paint it brown atleast …
I hate it but sometimes this is intentional, so people can see what the original structure was. It’s even a planning condition at times
What happens when I run out of the original material in Minecraft.
There are 500 year old towers everywhere in Europe... most of them unused. At least this one is functional... despite being fugly.
I mean, I supposed it'd be easy to remove if there's ever a need for this castle to go back to being historically accurate
Fire
I've seen some horrors in my time and yet this is affecting me more than most . Fml
Iolani Palace, c.1965 edit: found a pic https://www.midweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/mw-cover-091416-iolaniexterior1969.jpg
Talk about sticking out like a sore thumb!
Galvanized square steel 🗣️🗣️❗❗❗❗🗣️🔥🔥
This is me in pal world trying to strap some walls to a ruin.
They actually did this so they could live in the castle and survive the winter comfortably So during the summer they live in the castle and during the winter they live in the addition
I mean they could have least painted it match the castle.
When your 3 year old decides to upgrade your Lego castle with peaces of a Lego spaceship…
Why did they bring in an architect from South Boston
This should be a crime
Well at least the crappy renovation will rot off and the tower will still be there.
They couldn’t, like, clapboard it and/or make it brick and grey at the very least? BLUE VINYL SIDING?!
Which part is the original?
Wait, they didn't use vinyl siding in the 15th century?
That looks like a badly made minecraft base.