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House image © Allan Crutchley[/caption]
I few months ago I noticed a medium sized, detached, late Victorian house for sale in my area, it particularly interested me as the billboard said For Sale by Auction with plans for demolition. Now, although this house was in need of repair, it did not appear to be in need of demolition and the other houses built very close to it were in good condition, so I presumed there must have been a structural defect. Nevertheless, months have gone by without any change then I drove past the other day to see the demolition work in progress. There was a large skip and an extremely serious looking vehicle ramming into the lovely Yorkshire Stone walls. The following day I had to drive past again and to my surprise the house had been completely razed to the ground apart from a small pile of rubble, making a very sorry sight.
Seeing the speedy demolition of this house made me very thoughtful about this building, it had looked sad and neglected and maybe it was beyond making good but it’s demolition was a poignant reminder of the saying ‘here today - gone tomorrow’. I wondered about the families who had lived there in the past, particularly the first Victorian family opening the door of this new build home with the highest specifications of the time. I always look upon a house as a building with greater significance than other buildings as it is a home where we raise our families, where there are births and deaths and all the other major experiences of life. A home is our haven and when we own it we are the custodians for the years we are in residence and we can change and decorate it to suit our finances and our tastes. Yet we will move from it someday and hopefully, leave it in a better state than we found it.
I’m writing this in a thoughtful mood but what heartens me is the amount of people who buy from Doorsan Ltd, I wondered about the families who had lived there in the past, particularly the first Victorian family opening the door of this lovely Yorkshire Stone house which will carry on into the future and hopefully built and cared for better than this sad house I recently saw knocked down. The good news is that it appears a builder has purchased this house for the land and will undoubtedly build a few houses on the site, so providing lovely homes for others to enjoy with their families, all good in the end.
