Sas' Magical Mystery Tour

June 26, 2009

friday five: abandoned

From the wonderfully poignant 100 Abandoned Homes Project. It is my fevert hope that artists and musicians will adopt these buildings and bring some life back into them. Oh how I wish someone would do this in London.

Nomenclature: art,friday five | 5 Bantering Wittily

Share |

Comments

9:20pm September 28, 2009
Girl Interrupted said:

I find derelict old houses so sad. There was one not far from where I live, I think it was either late Georgian or early Victorian, absolutely beautiful, even though it clearly hadn’t been lived in for years and had been condemned. It must have once been a stunning home and you could see the splendour still peeping out in places. Every time I passed it I’d look at it and imagine how lovely it could be. A bit like the Bailey’s house in It’s a Wonderful Life.

Drove by there a few weeks back and they’ve knocked it down :( They’re going to build yet another block of soulless flats with no artistic merit whatsoever. It made me want to cry, and I wished I’d taken a picture of it.
9:23pm September 28, 2009
B said:

This is really sad, that these beautiful houses are abandoned… I too wish someone would rescue them, but if they try, someone would kick them out, because they won’t “own” them. That’s even sadder.
9:24pm September 28, 2009
the girl with the pink teacup said:

Such a beautiful idea. And it never hurts to be idealistic, especially when fellow human beings are concerned. Have I ever mentioned how much I love your Friday Fives? There’s always something new, ridiculously wonderful and thought-provoking to find.
9:34pm September 28, 2009
sas said:

B – in the UK we have ‘squatters rights’ which basically means that if you live somewhere without contest for long enough (I think it may be something like 10 – 15 years) you can be declared the owner.
The saddest thing is that there are so many people who are homeless, or living in horribly derelict buildings. This poverty leads to crime, drug and alcohol abuse, and children are brought up in a cycle of deprivation.
It seems to me that if we ploughed money into building communities, creating community centres and utilising the churches and schools etc as hopeful places where you could get advocacy and support (rather than the fill in this form mentality). If we gave people ‘outside of the system’ the opportunity to learn a trade and create the community that they live in – if we funded pulic art and play spaces. Its about creating some pride in individuals and their homes and communities. These things would change the world.
Maybe I am idealistic, but I do think this comes down to basic human contact.
9:38pm September 28, 2009
liZZie said:

I would like to know more about this.

post comment

Watts once said: any attempt to define oneself is like 'trying to bite ones own teeth'. Anyway. I am an ENTP, a Four, a Libran and a Water Ox; scatterbrained, organised, coulrophobic, messy, hopeful, sarcastic, optimistic, romantic.

I ♡ freshly ground black coffee, travelling on trains, white roses, hugs, finishing crosswords, steak medium-rare, a well-turned phrase, big-brained scientists, the departure lounge, my homemade marmalade on toasted crumpets, hand-written letters, the possibility of aliens, the possibility of god, remote New Zealand beaches, jazz trumpets, the colour red, rom-coms, the information superhighway, organic shapes, the poetry of ee cummings, the Bach cello suites of Yo-Yo Ma, ad-free content, picnics, pay day, and a good night's sleep.

I live London with the techie beekeeping paramour (ash) and the furs (rex & badger).