This Is How People Lived Inside a Georgian House in England in 1800 | AI Reconstruction

 

REMEMBERING : Dan Cruickshank's House ... Spitalfields ... More than Architectural History ... a Philosophy of Life

Being myself an architectural historian and very much concerned with restoration issues ... I recognize entirely the "obsessions" of Dan Cruickshank.
It is much more than a "specialisation" ... it is a Way of Life ... it is also the quest for your "secret garden" and the decision to reside or to live "there" ... all your life ... it is real and unreal at the same time ... placed 'somewhere' in the twighlight ...
The name of this Neverland is in my case ... "Tweedland"
Yours ... Jeeves



ALISTAIR DUNCAN
STYLING SIAN WILLIAMS
PHOTOGRAPHS MARK SCOTT
Featured in the January 2011 issue of Period Living


Historian Dan Cruickshank has employed a very sensitive approach to the renovation of his old home that respects and preserves its heritage.
Authenticity has been a constant watchword for Dan Cruickshank as he sets about restoring his Georgian townhouse. While Dan is well known as a TV presenter, the face of cerebral BBC documentaries such as Around the World in 80 Treasures and Adventures in Architecture, first and foremost he’s an academic: an architectural historian who is deeply passionate about the preservation of old houses that showcase the building styles of bygone eras. ‘Old Georgian houses like mine have a very strong, benign presence,’ says Dan. ‘Far too many have been changed too much – modern things have been inserted: heating, lighting, or a ghastly power shower. The atmosphere that is present in these buildings has been destroyed.’
Humble origins
Two local builders, Mr Bunce and Mr Brown, built Dan’s four-storey home in Spitalfields in 1727 for a wealthy silk merchant. Dan bought it more than 30 years ago, and has been painstaking in keeping it faithful to the original spirit of the house ever since. Swathed in 18th-century decorative detail and crammed with interesting – if occasionally rickety – antique furniture, the house is a gem of a time capsule.
‘I bought my house because I was intrigued by Georgian buildings,’ Dan explains. ‘The houses on this terrace weren’t built by great patrons of the arts as conscious works of art, just by humble builders trying to make some money; by chance, they have created buildings of great beauty.
‘However, the house had been empty for many decades when I found it in the late 1970s,’ he continues. ‘It had been completely abandoned, and was full of rotting furniture left by the previous owners.’
Sensitive restoration
In spite of the fact that the house had moved a fair bit on its foundations over the years, and the whole structure was visibly warped, a surveyor confirmed that the skeleton of the building was in good order. The only structural work Dan needed to organise was the rebuilding of the parapet and the relaying of some roof tiles. Inside, however, the ceilings had collapsed throughout – water had poured through the entire house for many years. After it had been allowed to dry out (the old pine floorboards, thankfully, turned out to be ‘just like hardwood – tough and durable; no rot to be found’), Dan took it upon himself to do as much of the work as he could himself, although his approach was always cautious. He went from room to room, renovating each one in as authentic a manner as possible. ‘I set about repairing it as gently as I could,’ he says. ‘I didn’t want to yank up all the floorboards just for the sake of checking; I trusted the house.’
Original pine panelling adorns most of the rooms in the house, along with dados, cornicing, doors and architraves. ‘I looked for the old, Georgian paints and kept them wherever possible – the paint was pretty good on the top floor,’ he says. ‘I just cleaned it with white spirit and linseed oil. But when I needed to repaint elsewhere, I’d look for remnants of original colours – behind shutters or in cupboards – then try to copy them.’ He discovered that the ground floor had been green, so bought some pigments and mixed his own eggshell paint – back then, finding an existing shade that matched was tricky, he says. ‘This was the 1980s; it’s a lot easier to buy heritage paints these days.’
Eventually, after agonising over the thought of modernising too much, he decided to have electricity installed. ‘I wanted the wiring to be non-destructive and reversible, rather than chased aggressively into the panelling,’ Dan explains. ‘The electrician I found managed to lodge it discreetly beneath the woodwork.’
Intriguing discoveries
As he opened up the boarded windows he found, to his great delight, original 18th-century Crown glass – an early type of hand-blown window glass with a distinctive blue-green hue and rippled effect. ‘I find it incredible to think that during the Christmas of 1940, when the family that were living here were huddled in the basement and the east end of London was engulfed in a sea of flames, even the glass survived,’ Dan says.
Averse as he was to tampering with the building, he decided upon one major change to the ground floor sitting room – and this was only to return to the original layout. ‘I realised that the room had been altered in the 19th century,’ he explains. ‘A partition had been moved. I put it back to where it was in the 1720s. Curiously, I found a roll of newspaper, crumpled up and put into the corner of the room to stop a draught. It was from 1848 – that dated the alteration.’
There were other discoveries along the way. Dan came upon old visiting cards, children’s playing cards from the first half of the 20th century, old bottles and then, while repairing one fireplace, he uncovered late 18th-century Delft tiles amid the rubble. ‘The English made their own imitations of Dutch Delft,’ says Dan. ‘These were made in either Bristol or Liverpool.’
A passion for history
In addition to the period detail of the house, which Dan has restored as accurately as he can, he has chosen to furnish his home almost exclusively with antiques. Indeed, it is an Aladdin’s Cave of eye-catching, often rather eccentric historical artefacts. Adorning the walls are prints of architectural wonders, porcelain vases and oil paintings; and every room boasts quirky pieces that Dan has acquired on his globetrotting travels. His furniture has been sourced from junk shops and second-hand markets. Oak writing desks and coffee tables bestride Persian rugs, and high-backed 17th-century chairs are dotted around many rooms.
Dan’s determination to maintain the beauty of the past applies to every aspect of his home, be it the building or its contents. ‘This house is full of mystery,’ he says. ‘It’s a living being, with its own identity and past enshrined within its own fabric. I don’t want it to change; I want it to be lived in gently, so it survives.’

Avant Les Hypermarchés : Comment Les Français Faisaient Leurs Courses en 1960

GILDED AGE FASHION with Elizabeth L. Block

 

Gilded Age Fashion: More than 50 Iconic Looks and the Stories Behind Them by Elizabeth Block

 

Gilded Age Fashion: More than 50 Iconic Looks and the Stories Behind Them

by Elizabeth Block (Author)  Format: Hardcover

 

Transport yourself to the glamour of elite American society in the 1870s–90s. 

 

Showcasing stunning gowns from the late 19th century designed by founders of couture, Gilded Age Fashion draws from the finest museum collections to tell the story of an era defined by opulence, when families like the Vanderbilts, Astors, and Rockefellers dressed exquisitely for the grandest events on both sides of the Atlantic. 

 

Author Elizabeth Block details the social customs that guided the sartorial choices of the fabulously wealthy. Each sumptuous gown featured tells a story about its creator and the woman who wore it, and the opulent balls, opera nights, charity benefits, and society weddings she might have attended. Gilded Age Fashion opens a dazzling window into America's most extravagant age.

 

Fifty exquisite gowns: The finest couture of the era drawn from renowned museum collections, led by the legendary House of Worth

 

Rich social history: Author Elizabeth Block brings the etiquette, customs, and personal narratives of Gilded Age society vividly to life

 

Beautifully organized: Three illustrated sections organized by the times of day when the clothing was worn

 

Perfect for history and fashion lovers: Essential reading for fans of the HBO series The Gilded Age, costume history and period drama enthusiasts, and anyone captivated by this glittering era

dame penelope keith dies

O'Connell's Clothing Store

https://oconnellsclothing.com/

O'Connell's Clothing is an iconic, family-owned traditional clothier established in 1959 and headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Widely revered in traditional menswear communities, the shop is famous for keeping the "Ivy Style" and classic American "trad" aesthetic alive with zero compromise on period-correct tailoring.

Specialty Categories & Inventory

O'Connell's maintains an exceptionally vast inventory of high-quality garments primarily sourced from the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Their hallmark offerings include:

• Shetland Sweaters: Famous for an extensive array of authentic, vibrant colors and high-quality wool imported directly from Scotland.
• Natural Shoulder Blazers & Suits: Rare, time-honored three-button sack suits and worsted wool blazers crafted without heavy shoulder padding.
• Unlined OCBDs: Classic Oxford Cloth Button-Down shirts prized for their unlined and unfused collars that create the perfect historic collar "roll".
• Premium Outerwear: Authoritative stockist of heritage brands like Barbour, Baracuta, and Chrysalis field coats.
• Fine Trousers: Known for precise in-house tailoring on exceptional fabrics, ranging from military-grade army drill to heavy wool flannel and corduroy.

Where to Buy

• Official Storefront: You can explore their full catalog online through the O'Connell's Clothing Official Website.
• Flagship Brick-and-Mortar: If you are near Western New York, you can shop their tightly packed, legendary racks in person on Main Street in Buffalo.