On Fri, 09 Jan 2004 00:17:04 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman
wrote:

In article ,
Capitol wrote:
For once IMM is correct. In the Islington area of London, speculators
only erected the front walls of the terrace. When a buyer appeared, the
rest of the house was built. The building standards with locally made
soft ricks( City Road), lime mortar, casual labour and no inspection,
were very, very much worse than today. Frequently the house fell down
either during or shortly after construction. Failing to tie the dividing
walls into the front was a common failing ( and still creates havoc
today, a friend bought one for £1M and then found out that to stop it
falling down was going to cost him another £500K!) and adjacent houses
were commonly completed by different builders.

Of course there was a vast variation in building standards - but *in
general* the fact that they're still standing after 100 years means
something. As you say, the real jerry built ones didn't last that long.

snip

The road I live in is mostly composed of victorian semis, it should
be renamed skip road for all the skips which appear outside these
houses. I have seen entire front walls/roofs being replaced, perhaps
that is why they are still standing after 100 years.


Paul