Downtown Abbey,what are the houses like now?

Phylan78 · 21/09/12 - 14:36

Ok it's now in the 1920's,a time of social and technological change. The state Old Age Pension had just been introduced,enabling employees to retire. Electricity was starting to change lives,which would have affected cooking,heating and communication technologies were on the way. Incomes of such families were falling due to taxes and falling value of land,yields from land etc.

So what would a 'Downtown' manor look like today?

kjhskj75 · 21/09/12 - 14:57

It's be owned by some spiv from the city, have a Porsche outside and the servants would be Phillipinos and Ukrainians.

And they wouldn't dress for dinner.

[Deleted User] · 21/09/12 - 15:38

Russian owned and tacky as a Tsar's knicker drawer.

gurney-slade · 21/09/12 - 15:42

Highcllere Castle (Downton), Castle Howard (Brideshead), Blenheim, Kenwood, Arundel, Hampton Court and many more stately homes are owned by the National Trust, who preserve them and their contents.. Some of the others, like Kensington Palace, are divided into apartments. I doubt if many spivs and oligarchs would want the responsibility and expense of preserving literally hundreds of rooms in a Grade 1 listed house in the original condition required by planning laws.

lundavra · 21/09/12 - 16:47

Some are still owned by the same family, many became schools, colleges, offices and other uses. Some are ruins or roofless shells and some have disappeared completely.

Many were taken over by the armed forces or government during WWII, some were kept by them and others badly damaged - the owner of Inverailort House died soon after her house was requisitioned by the War Office and it is usually believed that she died of a "broken heart". Several had parts damaged by the military during WWII.

[Deleted User] · 22/09/12 - 03:01

gurney-slade wrote: »

Highcllere Castle (Downton), Castle Howard (Brideshead), Blenheim, Kenwood, Arundel, Hampton Court and many more stately homes are owned by the National Trust,

Highclere Castle most certainly isn't owned by the National Trust. It's owned by the Countess of Caernarvon, descended from the family of Lord Caernarvon who, with Howard Carter, uncovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Andrew Lloyd Webber made an offer to buy the house from them (he lives a few miles away) to house his art collection a few years ago, but it was declined.

lgwcm · 22/09/12 - 05:44

the duke of norfolk own arundel

Gill P · 22/09/12 - 06:22

I have been to Highclere and it is magnificent. I walked down those stairs that Lady Mary came down in her wedding dress! Mind you this was back in 1996. My friend and I went there went we were 60 and also went on the Orient Express. The combined trip was £99 including an evening meal on the train.

Normandie · 22/09/12 - 08:46

Castle Howard (Brideshead) is still a private resident - or semi-private... it is open to the public.

Chatsworth, which I think was the supposed "seat" of Mr Darcy (though most of us looked at his chest rather than his seat in the Ehle / Firth (definitive) adaptation) is open to the public. But in trusts of various kinds to protect it from future predations by the taxman. I don't think the family still live in it.

I think (but am not sure) many of the major stately homes survived the horrendous death duties of the mid 1900s but lots of the smaller ones didn't and, as has been said, were bequeathed to the National Trust or similar, turned into schools, luxury apartments with grounds, offices for institutions, health spas, etc.

Elanor · 22/09/12 - 09:40

Normandie wrote: »

Chatsworth, which I think was the supposed "seat" of Mr Darcy (though most of us looked at his chest rather than his seat in the Ehle / Firth (definitive) adaptation) is open to the public. But in trusts of various kinds to protect it from future predations by the taxman. I don't think the family still live in it.
.

Oh, they most definitely do live in it, at least for some of the year.

McBrien76 · 22/09/12 - 10:03

Hundreds of country houses have also been demolished over the years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_country_houses_in_20th-century_Britain, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2101933/Englands-lost-Downtons-Or-endless-homes-ended-bypasses-office-blocks-golf-courses.html

Normandie · 22/09/12 - 10:12

Elanor wrote: »

Oh, they most definitely do live in it, at least for some of the year.

I thought they lived off-site, as it were, in one of the smaller houses on the estate though they're still very hands on with the big house. But it is years since I went there - for the horse trials.

slappers r us · 22/09/12 - 10:17

turned into country house hotels

Hey there!

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Downtown Abbey,what are the houses like now?

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