Some Architecture from the Hometown

[beachofdreams]

Comments

Older buildings

[venuspluto]

One big reason that you don't see many residential buildings from before the 1890's, I've been told, is that such structures do not accomodate modern heating, plumbing, and electrical systems very well. Many schools, however, have buildings that date back to the later middle decades of the 19th Century (1850's and 1860's).

Re: Older buildings

[beachofdreams]

On schools, I know what you mean. My graduate school (Univ. of Toronto) has many such buildings -- it's like a Canadian Oxford, and I love it. I can see, though, how the buildings'd be hard to maintain -- like you said, you're dealing with 100 year old building-systems technology. The only good part about them seems to be their walling and general structural strength, although even after a century these are starting to turn to ruin.

Re: Older buildings

[venuspluto]

And it often ends up being a disaster when a modern building-system is forced into a very old building that didn't have any such thing when it was built. More than a few picturesque 19th-Century-Era farm-houses have burnt to the ground due to jury-rigged electrical wiring.