1900 House
RTB got me thinking when he asked:
"What - if anything - happened to The 1900 House? I can't find any mention of it on the Greenwich Council website. Did it get sold to a private individual?"
Lord - I'd completely forgotten that 2000 series - where Channel 4 bought a house in Charlton (50, Elliscombe Road) ripped out all the electricity, kitchen and - well anything post-1900 - and took it back to what it would have been like at the turn of the last century. Then they shipped in a rather irritating family to live the life of a late-Victorian household for three months as one of the first (and therefore rather more valid) reality TV doccos.
I thought I'd better take another look at the series - it's available on Amazon - though if you're planning to do the same, make sure you get the Region 2 version - apparently the Region 1 edition has a syrupy American voiceover.
The first programme is easily the most interesting to anyone who lives in one of the hundreds of houses like 50 Elliscombe Road round here. It shows how the specialists ripped out a particularly horrible flat conversion - though they admit the very fact that it was so badly done meant that much of the original stuff was still there under layers of hardboard and cowboy extension (which the council, btw, had no record of...)
I was riveted by it. I've been in dozens of these houses - and here was one looking just like it would have done. I confess the finished article wasn't really to my taste - very dark and gloomy and full of clutter, reminding me of my Great Aunt's house when I was a nipper (yeah, yeah chez Phantom is full of clutter too, but it's not china doggies or uplifting framed Bible tracts. Well - not many, anyway.) I was particularly amused, on a second viewing, to see, on the wall a print entitled Return of the Sword. How do I know this? Because it turned up every week for about two years at Greenwich Auctions sometime around 2004...
The rest of the programme was mildly interesting, but I found the people annoying - especially wife. She was so bloomin' grumpy - almost from the start, despite it being her idea in the first place. But then I guess I can be one grumpy Phantom too at times, and perhaps Phantoms had a hard time in those days too, having to loom around M.R. James stories and in Wilkie Collins romances...
There's a book to go with the series, available from Amazon Marketplace for 1p (+ P&P) which is excellent - compulsory reading for anyone who lives in one of those terraced houses and wants to know what it would have looked like.
But back to RTB's question. What became of the house?
I've done a couple of searches, and the first sale I can find was back in 2000, presumably by Ch 4 after the programme. It went for £180,000. I have no idea what became of it, but I'll wager it didn't stay without electricity and central heating for long and I'm presuming that the outside loo has come in from the cold. The place was sold again in March 2002, for £300,000, adding three zeros to its initial Victorian price of £300.
"What - if anything - happened to The 1900 House? I can't find any mention of it on the Greenwich Council website. Did it get sold to a private individual?"
Lord - I'd completely forgotten that 2000 series - where Channel 4 bought a house in Charlton (50, Elliscombe Road) ripped out all the electricity, kitchen and - well anything post-1900 - and took it back to what it would have been like at the turn of the last century. Then they shipped in a rather irritating family to live the life of a late-Victorian household for three months as one of the first (and therefore rather more valid) reality TV doccos.
I thought I'd better take another look at the series - it's available on Amazon - though if you're planning to do the same, make sure you get the Region 2 version - apparently the Region 1 edition has a syrupy American voiceover.
The first programme is easily the most interesting to anyone who lives in one of the hundreds of houses like 50 Elliscombe Road round here. It shows how the specialists ripped out a particularly horrible flat conversion - though they admit the very fact that it was so badly done meant that much of the original stuff was still there under layers of hardboard and cowboy extension (which the council, btw, had no record of...)
I was riveted by it. I've been in dozens of these houses - and here was one looking just like it would have done. I confess the finished article wasn't really to my taste - very dark and gloomy and full of clutter, reminding me of my Great Aunt's house when I was a nipper (yeah, yeah chez Phantom is full of clutter too, but it's not china doggies or uplifting framed Bible tracts. Well - not many, anyway.) I was particularly amused, on a second viewing, to see, on the wall a print entitled Return of the Sword. How do I know this? Because it turned up every week for about two years at Greenwich Auctions sometime around 2004...
The rest of the programme was mildly interesting, but I found the people annoying - especially wife. She was so bloomin' grumpy - almost from the start, despite it being her idea in the first place. But then I guess I can be one grumpy Phantom too at times, and perhaps Phantoms had a hard time in those days too, having to loom around M.R. James stories and in Wilkie Collins romances...
There's a book to go with the series, available from Amazon Marketplace for 1p (+ P&P) which is excellent - compulsory reading for anyone who lives in one of those terraced houses and wants to know what it would have looked like.
But back to RTB's question. What became of the house?
I've done a couple of searches, and the first sale I can find was back in 2000, presumably by Ch 4 after the programme. It went for £180,000. I have no idea what became of it, but I'll wager it didn't stay without electricity and central heating for long and I'm presuming that the outside loo has come in from the cold. The place was sold again in March 2002, for £300,000, adding three zeros to its initial Victorian price of £300.
I took a little walk around, and, as you can see from the pic, externally at least, little has changed.
Does anyone know the people now at 50, Elliscombe Road - or do you live there yourself? Let a nosy Phantom know what it's like now. Did you keep any of the features? What about the outside loo?
I'd just love to know...
Does anyone know the people now at 50, Elliscombe Road - or do you live there yourself? Let a nosy Phantom know what it's like now. Did you keep any of the features? What about the outside loo?
I'd just love to know...
Labels: Art, Ask The Phantom
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:37
15 Comments:
I see they've fitted a rather swanky TV stand to the front fence.
and planted a bloody Tracycarpus fortuneii in the garden. Bloody weeds.
I made extensive enquiries with Greenwich Heritage Centre as to why the house, which could have been such a wonderful learning resource for Greenwich schools (and for adults with enquiring minds) was allowed to fall back into private hands.
Actually, when I say "extensive enquiries" I really mean "I sent several emails to Greenwich Heritage Centre which they completely ignored and it degenerated into a game of "why havent you answered my enquiry?", which so often happens with Greenwich Council. So I never found out why we'll never get a chance to see inside the Time Machine.
Actually, Phant, I think you're quite hard on Joyce Bowler. I imagine it would have been an incredible culture shock and very difficult to cope with.
rtb - you shouldn't put up with not getting answers from the council - you can - complain to the Cheif Executive by email - or email one of your local councillors and ask them to take it up and get an answer for you - and if they don't reply email the Leader's Office. Seriously. Do it!!
Having said that it may be that the Council didn't have much to do with the programme. Don't know, didn't watch it!
I can see the 1900 House from my bedroom window... as far as I know, it had all mod cons fitted after sale. I could be wrong, but that's what I remember hearing at the time.
Incidentally, the same people beind the 1900 House are behind a BBC4 series coming soon called Electric Dreams, where people learn to live with the "new" gadgets of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Actually, in the big scheme of things, its not really worth pursuing. I used to work in the Leaders office and know for a fact that all they do with enquiries/complaints is just pass it to the relevant department, get an answer from them and then cut and paste it onto Leaders Office notepaper, then take the credit for having answered it. And its usually a "response" rather than an "answer". Whatever they respond, its not likely to have any effect because the resource has gone for good and complaining won't change anything at this point.
I still think its a damned shame though.
I thought I was addressing the question of making a fuss about not getting an answer to queries to a variety of departments - not how the Leader's office go about putting letters together.
Having worked for another council at another time, I'm damn sure Greenwich will have a swanky corporate standard about how quickly they respond to enquiries of any sort. Probably 10 working days, with a get-out that they can send an acknowledgement within this time giving you a further timescale for a substantive response.
If they breach this, then yes, bounce it up level by level, probably first to the director of the relevant service, then to the Chief Exec, Leader, councillors, anyone you can think of.
It probably won't help in getting a meaningful response, but it should annoy the folk who've annoyed you by ignoring your queries ...
rtb, re: Tracycarpus fortuneii...I guess the Victorians probably did seek out, bring back and plant all manner of bonkers trees and plants.
Didn't the Giant Hogweed take over the whole of England in the late 1800s?
Oooh, get you Anotherfriend. My point was: that there is little point in complaining to the Chief Exec or the Leader's Office as any response you get from them is nothing but a response from the individual department concerned repackaged.
If it were a "big ticket complaint" - like what a mess the Council made of (not) gritting the slip road outside Plumstead Bus Garage on Sunday so that no buses could make it onto the main road on Monday morning, it might be worth pursuing. But frankly, in the case of the 1900 House, the horse has already bolted and I dont really think theres any further point in harrassing the Heritage Centre for a "non-answer", nor the CE or Leader over such a relatively trivial matter.
And "Scared of Chives" - yes, you're right, they did. And the dreaded Trachycarpus was one of them.
- and the local member? who might not be a member of the executive, and might be prepared to take up 'trivial issues' and run with them????? or is that another waste of time?
I think this thread has run its natural course.
I live in Elliscombe Rd. I was told that after they finished filming the series they offered the house to Greenwich Council as a museum but the council turned it down on the grounds that it was about to be 2000 and millions of people would be visiting the dome - parking was going to be enough of a problem without this extra attraction.
The house was sold to a builder who restored it to 21st century mod cons, and rented it out. An American family moved in and an interview with them was published in, I think, the Times, where they said how glad they were that there house had no original period features.
Apologies - "there house" should, of course, been "the house".
"An American family moved in and...they said how glad they were that there house had no original period features."
Um...
Perhaps they fitted the TV stand to the fence and installed a huge LED screen to watch MTV
I loved this show and was very interested to hear all about what has (or may have) become of the house. I agree, it would have been a great living history museum, but I also understand where the council (and probably local residents) were coming from in terms of logistics.
If you're hard on anyone, it's the Americans... but then again, you're British, made to complain.
Like the blog, don't like the across-the-board slams on your neighbors to the West.
Cheers.
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