This is the view from the apartment we’re staying in in Bath towards the main street.
And here’s a view of the garden.
The Apartment
September 7, 2014
This is the view from the apartment we’re staying in in Bath towards the main street.
And here’s a view of the garden.
We?
What’s with those apparently blocked windows across the way? They ruin the view.
And the stray greenery on the right side, by the curb, next to the black fence.
“The OCD is strong in this one,” said the Master.
It’s a two bedroom apartment I’m sharing with one of my colleagues. Each of the bedrooms has a private bath. I think he’s out seeing the sights this morning. Said something about a bus tour to Stonehenge
My guess with the windows is changing fire codes. Same thing happened in Chicago about a century ago
Can you explain to me how blocking ingress and egress improves fire safety, Mr. Dave? Or is it drafts?
Never mind. I’ve imagined the physics. The column of superheated air rising through the center of the building, ie. the stairwell or elevator shaft, imploding windows, oxygen to feed the flames, roof afire.
OK, then. Thanks, Mr. Dave. What do those numbers look like?
The blocked windows are probably because of the Window Tax that used to be assessed in England. Property owners would either brick up windows to reduce their tax burden, or construct buildings with “fake” bricked windows.
Fo’ real, Andy? But this would have been what looks like late 19th C. What do you think, Mr. Dave?
The bricked-up windows certainly could be a remnant of the window tax, but those were repealed in England in 1851. I think it’s perhaps more likely that the building has been reconfigured inside. Big houses and large apartments have been broken into multiple apartments, bed-sits, etc. This could make the presence of windows in a particular area not useful.
You don’t want windows at the back of a closet or pantry or behind a stove, for example. Nor do you necessarily want big windows in an urban bathroom.
Ahhh! The inestimable Mr. Burgess ventures an opinion. That makes sense, Sir.
This is from a Telegraph article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3305112/On-the-level-building-tax.html
“Window taxes, for example, have always been popular with Chancellors, and one was used to raise revenue to fight the American War of Independence (1775-83). This had the immediate effect of causing landlords to brick up as many windows as they could get away with.
In 1823 the tax was abolished for houses with seven or fewer windows, and some houses surviving from this time (until the abolition of the tax in 1851) still have exactly seven windows. The tax was conveniently abolished just in time for the 1851 Great Exhibition and the construction of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, although its companion duty on glass remained in place until 1857.
Oddly enough, houses continued to be built with mock bricked-up window openings for some years after this, but these were usually a design trick to preserve the symmetry of a fa̤ade Рwhere, for example, the external proportions demanded a window, but the position coincided with an internal chimney breast or staircase.
Other false windows from this period were the result of houses being knocked down to accommodate the route of the London Underground; timber façades were rebuilt over the tracks, and several examples remain, dutifully maintained and painted to preserve the illusion of uninterrupted terraces.”
Bricked-up Windows are a pretty common sight in many parts of the UK, particularly areas with lots of 17th & 18th century buildings that weren’t destroyed during WWII.
That should be 18th and 19th Century buildings…Need more coffee.
Thanks, Andy. What an interesting discussion.