Restoring a heritage home in London at 6 Egerton Terrace, was it worth it?
The Survey of London reveals that the first resident of the property was JR Planché (1796-1880). He wrote some 170 pieces for the stage, but probably deserves a blue plaque more for his achievements as an antiquary.
Comparison of the 1976 plans with the current ‘as existing’ plans show that since 1976 extensive alterations have taken place at every level. In view of this, and considering what changes had already been approved, it was very hard to see what objections could be made to the proposed additional changes. But there were and these were listened to and acted upon by working with local authority experts not against them.
This project was a shining example of what Neil England, owner of Heritage Building Advisors, is good at. As with most large properties in and around London during the sixties, poor restorations were done and alterations that lost a lot of the interior were sadly allowed as simply, Heritage England did not exist. The clients gave a detailed brief and all consultants including one amateur architectural historian, contributed to this allowing it to become another HBA success story.
The detail of the interior, fibrous and decorative works were restored using Neils extensive arsenal of knowledge and along with the Architects produced a pefectively restored building. The big question is, is it worth it? Neil thinks it is, Heritage England who's charter Neil adheres also does. Neil has spent his career saving old heritage buildings. Sadly money and greed influence building developers more than historic buildings longevity do, above all else and if, destroying some old buildings to build a skyscraper, allows for more cash in their pockets they will happily knock them down.
Heritage Building Advisors want to leave a legacy in partnership with the owners of these wonderful old buildings. Luckily all listed buildings now need permissions to be worked on so at last our building heritage is in good hands.
Longevity is a word Neil likes to use and believes in a hundred years 6 Egerton Terrace will still be a building lived in.
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