Recently moved house and fancy a copy of the original house plans, framed and hung from one of the walls. But, I've no idea where to start looking or who to ask.
House is a 3 bed semi Victorian built 1870 - 1907 (can't seem to narrow it down more than that on some old maps)
One of our neighbours seems to have loads of info on her house, all of which is quite interesting as hers, which was a workshop, was linked to the mill and dye works just down the road.
Any pointers appreciated
I got mine ( from 1896) from the local heritage centre. They've collected loads of archive info on the local area for genealogists and historians.
Maybe there's something similar near you?
House is a 3 bed semi Victorian built 1870 – 1907 (can’t seem to narrow it down more than that on some old maps)
You are assuming there were drawings which for a building of that age is a big assumption. Plans only became important once there was a planning system, although they sometimes survive with the deeds. The local Records Office or Local History Library might be able to help but you need to be lucky (it sometimes helps to have the name of the original owner which you can track down through the census records).
A lot of houses from that period were built from plans in pattern books which there were plenty of you may be able to track down the generic plan that way, although most builders added their own twists to the plans and used the materials most readily available locally.
Found mine rolled up & stashed in the attic! Complete with 1:1250 OS map from the 50s showing how the surrounding area looked before it was built.
Percy - Good shout about the Heritage Centre, there is one in macclesfield, but I think its more a museum. Defo not in the Attic
Richie - Our has a cant towards the rear from about 2/3rds down the right, so as it adjoins another property I was thinking it'd not be a pattern build. I'll try the local history and records office if they are open
Zilog - Defo not stashed in the Attic or anywhere else
You are assuming there were drawings which for a building of that age is a big assumption.
I live in an 1890s house. The only 'plans' I have are the title deeds. This is an A4 sheet or two detailing changes and some vaguery about the leasehold, and an overhead map of the block showing the property boundary at about the same zoom level as Google Maps' satellite view. If there is other documentation, I've not seen it.
In my case the original documents are held by the solicitor who was dealing with affairs when the house was put into my name. This is pretty standard practice I'm told. So your first port of call might be whomever did your legal wranglings when you bought it (assuming you have bought it)?
Failing that, the letterhead on my copy of the deeds is of the Land Registry. A quick google vomited up this:
https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/copies-of-deeds
Good luck.
When we were viewing a similar age house the owner had the original plan, it was drawn on the back of some wall paper. Official stamp signing it off too iirc. So probably not documented anywhere else!
We are in a ~1890ish house, I'd be interested to know what its layout was like before it was rejigged and extended, probably never know though.
We had the original deeds for our 1902 house - all they showed was the boundaries of the plot. It was a very nice document, fancy calligraphy with a big wax seal but no plans of the actual house.
Mine were in the county archives, 1901 build.
I've not got any plans for our 1930s house but I have found the country estate that was knocked down to build the houses.
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=8&lat=51.87446&lon=-1.44060&layers=1&b=1
Might be an alternative...
We've got the original deeds for our house, similar age 1890 ish. They only show the plot of land and the outline of the house. No idea if people had architectural drawings back then for a fairly standard house.
Thanks all.
We've got the deeds, A4 boundary document etc.. that the solicitor sorts as part of the purchase. I've also looked on the nls.uk map site (that's how I've worked out rough build date) which is very interesting in itself.
Maybe plans isn't the correct word, but blueprint seems a bit.. err.. new for a late 1800's house.
The document I saw was framed, roughly A1, had front, rear and side elevations along with a floor plan for each floor inc cellar, even the drain runs were shown. It was all done in a sepia pallet with neat calligraphy text
Something like this - https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/437623288771506064/
Well I contacted the Cheshire Archives and local studies. After my initial enquiry, they did the research for me and have dug up some plans, drawings and other documents on our property from 1896, which I guess is the year it was built as it fits in with what I found on the web and old maps.
I've ordered the documents via email attachments and I'm looking forward to seeing what my £4 delivers. If there is anything of interest I'll buy proper paper copies.
Fingers crossed
Maybe plans isn’t the correct word, but blueprint seems a bit.. err.. new for a late 1800’s house.
Blueprints were invented in the 1840s and pretty well stopped being used after WW2 I think.
Well thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I've now had the electronic copies of the documents, and whilst not exactly what I thought I'd get based on other documents I've seen, they are close enough.
Main document shows original drawings, approval stamps etc.. from 1896 of our house and next doors in front, side, rear elevations and birds eye plan. Then plan layout of each floor (except the cellar, which is only a strip anyway) It even includes the drain runs
Think I'll be getting a bigger print and hang it up somewhere. Maybe on the landing at the front to take up a little wall space, of which there is plenty