Abstract
WEST WYCOMBE is a seventeenth century English village which has recently come into the possession of the Royal Society of Arts and been reconditioned in such a way that its ancient beauty has been preserved and at the same time the amenities of present-day life have been introduced (Weir, W. and Hill, J. B. “Account of the Reconditioning of West Wycombe Buckinghamshire.” J. Roy. Soc. Arts, 81, 893-910; 1933). In 1929, when the transfer was made, the local sanitary authority had already served notice of repair on some fifty cottages. The work of restoration has been carried out under the supervision of one of the authors, and the whole village is now let to tenants on agreement. Most of the property has been thoroughly reconditioned, inside and out, and the remaining twenty cottages have been partly reconditioned. Main water supply, main drainage, electric light in some cases, fenced gardens and wash-houses have been provided, and the interiors of many houses have been altered to give larger and better arranged rooms, with more conveniently placed doors and better lighting. The final result is a beautiful group of model cottages, showing what can be done for the preservation of old property as an alternative to its demolition. The series of photographs taken before and after reconditioning afford striking proof of the success of the experiment, and the brief accounts of the work carried out on different houses illustrate the diverse ways in which difficult problems were approached. The Royal Society of Arts is to be congratulated on the preservation of this old English village, together with the improvement in housing conditions that has been effected.
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Preservation of an Old English Village. Nature 132, 997 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132997a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132997a0