Historian Dan Cruikshank on renovating sensitively

ABOVE (click on gallery image to view larger picture): 'In a Georgian house... maintain having a kitchen in the basement – you’ll find it works pretty well like that.' The kitchen in Dan's renovated Georgian town house. Read more about the house...

Historian and television presenter Dan Cruickshank took painstaking care to preserve as many of the original features as possible in his renovated Georgian town house in London. Here, he offers his advice on how to renovate a historic property and ensure that it maintains its heritage.

Dan Cruickshank Historian

‘The first thing is to learn from the house, don’t impose upon it: it tells you what it wants to be. Live in it the way it was intended to be; in a Georgian house like mine, for instance, maintain having a kitchen in the basement – you’ll find it works pretty well like that.

‘If you have to make alterations, do it so that the work is reversible and non-destructive. Don’t rip up the floorboards in the bathroom and lay marble there, just install a bath on the boards.

‘There aren’t that many surviving historic buildings – they are a dwindling resource. If you want more out of a building than it is prepared to give (a swimming pool in the basement or a massive extension, for instance) then just buy another, bigger house.’

Read more about Dan's Georgian town house...

Dan explains the history and development of Spitalfields

Spitalfields is situated on top of a Roman cemetery. ‘The Romans used to bury their dead next to the main roads going into cities,’ explains Dan. ‘Bishopsgate was originally a Roman thoroughfare and bodies are constantly being found here.’ In medieval times, Spitalfields became the site of a priory and hospital, St Mary’s Hospital, which gave birth to the area’s name: ‘St Mary’s Hospital, hence Hospital Fields, hence Spitalfields.’ A charnel house – a store for human bones found while digging graves – dating back to this time was unearthed in 1999. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Spitalfields found itself doubling as a landfill site. In the late 17th century, French Huguenots arrived in the area, escaping religious persecution. They brought with them silk-making skills and came just as a fruit and vegetable market was established. ‘Spitalfields silk is famous for being naturalistic – especially in its portrayal of fruit and flowers. The Huguenot silk-makers would see pineapples and pomegranates at the market, and then incorporate them into their designs.’ By the Victorian era, Spitalfields had fallen into decline. Jack the Ripper prowled the streets (the police station set up to solve the Ripper cases was at the end of Dan’s street) and the area remained down-atheel until the late 20th century, before which many of the Georgian buildings were demolished. ‘The great urban jewels, like Spital Square, have been destroyed,’ says Dan. ‘It was a tremendous square and now only one house is left.’

The Secret History of Georgian London by Dan Cruickshank (Windmill Books, £9.99) is available now.

FEATURE ALISTAIR DUNCAN STYLING SIAN WILLIAMS PHOTOGRAPHS MARK SCOTT
Featured in the January 2011 issue of Period Living