Historical Homeownership

Pat here:

My newly acquired "vintage" kitchen.

Since I seem to have spent the better part of my adult life hunting for houses and I’m wrapped around the process again, Jo’s recent blog at Minepast made me smile. (Not easy to do while wading through book-size stacks of real estate documents and arguing with insurance agents!)  She’s found a page that gives us a history of one of Mayfair’s more famous squares—Grosvenor. 

The famous characters we read about in our history books become human when we see them talking about their homes, the area where they live, the thieves who preyed on the wealthy—especially since Grosvenor was one of the last squares to add gas lights.

Reading through the little tidbits, we can watch Georgian urban development much as our suburbs develop today. In 1706, it’s little more than a cow pasture. By 1795, it’s surrounded by city and acclaimed as one of the most fashionable areas in London. By the 20th century, almost all the grand all houses had been destroyed, replaced by embassies and hotels—but still a very important urban center.

The Cato Conspiracy was designed to murder the leading statesmen of the time at a dinner in one of the homes on Grosvenor Square—rather like terrorists planning to attack the UN today had it not been for spies infiltrating the group. Some things never change—only the technology becomes more sophisticated.


The wealthy development even suffered an economic housing crash just as we’ve seen today—the builders built too quickly apparently, before the wealthy in St. James (on the left) were ready to pack up and move. Housing prices plummeted and several builders went bankrupt. Contractors are historically notorious risk takers!

They even developed a Homeowner’s Association of sorts when the park around which the square was built started to deteriorate. Of course, it took an Act of Parliament to accomplish it. I wonder if that wasn’t the start of HOAs everywhere?

My fascination with houses spills over into my books, as I’ve pointed out before. My characters tend to remodel, renovate, and redecorate frequently. I guess that’s called writing what I know! Anyway, Merely Magic, the first of my Magic series is being reissued this month in trade paper from Sourcebooks. You should see what I do to damp, dark Northumberland castles!

Oh, and if you haven’t heard about the romance trading card craze, check out http://romancetradingcards.com/ . I’ve added my Evil Genius e-book but haven’t had time to do more yet. Jeannie Lin, one of our previous guests, and some of her friends started this devilishly clever little promo device. And yes, EG contains another house as a character—a magnificent Washington DC mansion with a spook in the attic—the spy kind, not the ghost.

What other books can you remember using houses as characters?

Comments

[Andrea Penrose]

Fun post, Pat. I love the history in a nutshell on Grosvenor Square. You're so right—the people and buildings come much more alive when you know the background stories. I constantly embarrass whoever I'm with in London by stopping suddenly at odd places and emitting squealing little sounds on seeing a notable Regency place. My first look at St. George's in Hanover Square had me near swooning.

Good luck on the house-closing, and the new releases!

And as for the trading cards, I've downloaded the template but have not yet had any made up. What do people think? Will this take off?

[Jo Beverley]

Good luck on the house, Pat. We've recently closed on ours, but now we're into the renovations, which seem to involve constant to and fro discussions.

Homes and houses are huge in my books, which is probably to do with having moved so much. Of course inheriting a title usually meant inheriting one or more homes, with any emotions attached to that.

[Sherrie Holmes]

Pat, in the rubber stamping world we have ATCs--Artists' Trading Cards. Stampers trade with other stampers and apparently ATCs are very popular. How neat to see that concept appearing in other venues! We've been doing ATCs in the stamping world for years.

I love anything to do with old houses. They have style and character. Pat, I see your constant remodeling and redecorating as your putting your stamp on whatever home you're living in. Kind of a "Kilroy was here," if you will.

I'm very much into fixing up my house to suit my needs and whims. I've done some odd things with my house--removed interior doors and widened doorways, turned a bedroom into a custom craft and hobby room, painted a laundry room 4 shades of raspberry, turned one huge wall in the bathroom into an art gallery ("Care to come to my bathroom to see my etchings?"). *g* A real estate agent once walked through my house exclaiming in delight over all the little individual touches I'd done. She then proceeded to point out that all these little things would need to be "fixed" if I ever intended to sell, because people want a clean palette to start with.

I wonder how people sold their houses and farms in older times? Did they have real estate agents in the Regency?

[Susan King]

Interesting post! How fun to think of Grosvenor Square as the newest urban townhouse development of its day, complete with Homeowner's Association. Kind of puts things in perspective - the more things change, the more they stay the same. ;)

I adore old castles and houses and have often featured them in my books as well, so I understand the fascination (though I haven't moved nearly as much as some others!). I love putting the characters in a situation where they are either renovating, or dealing with an old property with lots of nooks and crannies and niches and cool things to offer. And those "old" properties are in my medievals, not just my 18th and 19th c. novels.

Truly, houses and homes are an endlessly intriguing subject to write about in fiction. They can add so much to plot and character.

Susan

[Linda Banche]

I'm not much of a house freak. I'd rather read about them than work on the. *g* I like descriptions, period, and I wish there were more of them. I love descriptions that paint pictures with words so I can really "see" the place. Don't find that too much any more, I'm sorry to say.

I loved MERELY MAGIC. If you want to read my review, its at http://lindabanche.blogspot.com/2011/03/review-merely-magic-by-patricia-rice.html

[Patricia Rice]

Thank you, Linda! Great review. I'm convinced that some people are simply born under a Cancer sun or moon and their houses are their shells. The rest of the world is normal. "G"

Sherrie, I hear ya about the individual quirks. When we get ready to sell our current home, we'll probably have to paint all the sunny yellows and remove my bee-you-teeful wallpapers.

And I've wondered about realtors in the Regency, but I suspect solicitors handled the business. I simply want to leave all my furniture behind as they often did!

[Nicola Cornick]

I loved all the history of Grosvenor Square, Pat. Thank you! I really enjoy reading about the way that London grew from a relatively small city to the great sprawling metropolis it is today. I love the idea of all those layers of history beneath one's feet.

Not surprisingly, given that I work in an historic house, I'm a total house nut. A house, Lyndhurst Chase, featured heavily in an anthology I wrote with Elizabeth Rolls and Joanna Maitland. It was modelled on Ashdown, of course!

[Susan/DC]

For books with houses as characters, two classics immediately come to mind: Manderley, from Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca" and Poynton from Henry James' "The Spoils of Poynton". In fact, the first line of Rebecca mentions Manderly.

Thank you for the information on what was the Levittown of its day (although far more upscale than the post-WWII housing developments built by the Levitt brothers). I often need reminding that London did not spring full-blown as a giant metropolis but was built over centuries.

P.S. Very much looking forward to your next rebellious son book. I loved watching Fitz try so hard to be responsible and do the right thing.

[LouisaCornell]

Wonderful links! Thank you! I am something of a stately home fanatic and can spend hours pouring over books and websites about them.

Actually my current WIP (not the one I'm revising, but the one I plan to get back to as SOON as I finish these revisions) features a house that is definitely a character in its own right.

[Isobel Carr]

I'm a complete old house freak! I grew up in a 1906 Arts and Crafts Foursquare and I bought my own 1916 California Bungalow (with all it's original woodwork!) last year. I have great plans for the kitchen and bathroom, which were “remuddled” in the 1990s (ugly and cheaply done). I totally get off mentally designing my character’s homes, usually based on real ones that I’ve toured or seen in books.

And I’m all over the Trading Cards. One of my best friends has an illustration degree, and she’s doing period miniature-type portraits of my heroes for them. Still trying to decide if the hero or the book cover gets a the full backside of the card though (leaning towards the hero, with the cover smaller on the other side; this is probably not the best marketing move though).

[Patricia Rice]

I knew there had to be more old house freaks out there! Nicola, I'm so green with envy over the historic homes you have available in the UK. I don't know where Isobel found a 1916 bungalow in CA but that's a rare treasure. Historic homes do not grow on trees here, unless one counts 1960s bungalows. "G"

Thank you, Susan. DEVILISH MONTAGUE will be out in July. I sure hope Blake lives up to his reputation!

Someone to design the trading cards will create real collector's items. I just don't have time or talent enough to do more than a cover design. And yeah, coming up with the back is tough. Have fun!

[Artemisia]

Your vintage kitchen looks better than the kitchen i am working in built circa 1971.