sashinka | observation orientated, with a twist of lime | a blog

From The Editor's Postbag

Dear Sasha,

As a home owner in Cheadle I am writing to register my disgust at the allegation that the fixing of UPVC double glazing to a 1930's house is an architectural travesty.

We, who read your blog, are well aware, that the 1930's and the art deco era, form a substantial part of your architectural appreciation. It will therefore not be news to you, that the essence of such design was modernism; a use of modern materials and effects. In short, if they had mass produced UPVC in the 1930's then they would have used it.

Life, is about change, or to use a window metaphor, windows are like wood and UPVC.

Would you suggest that the industrial revolution should have been halted, due to an emotional attachment to steam? Are you suggesting, that a house in a relatively modest 1930's housing estate, should retain the fake windows which were installed in the 1980's?

Probably yes, and I make no criticism, you suffer from the effects, of too much post modernism before breakfast. We want to deconstruct, and reconstruct in the image of our forefathers/mothers. We buy a Victorian property and retain the original features, refurbish all the fires (although we wouldn't dream of burning coal). The Victorians would have loved to have had central heating.

Let's get a grip. I like my UPVC windows, it goes with my BMW X5 roads, and my DFS furniture. It compliments my fellow overtanned gym members and their obscenely face-stretched mothers. It fulfills my materialistic desire to have building work done without needing planning permission. It is part of the suburban utopia.

Like every American has a right to carry a gun, every suburban Enlishman/woman, has a right to architecturally deface their home. It is a sign of their success.

So don't be too quick to offend the rights of the suburban masses, a radical bunch when roused. It would be unfortunate if you wake up one morning to find that someone has given you a UPVC front door (and forgotten to give you a key, imprisoning you in a UPVC hell, from which there is no escape).

Yours

The Fenestration Guild of the Great Suburban Northwest (FGGSN)