Yes, houses should be beautiful, but let’s just get on with building some more of them It’s not often that I support the right-wing philosopher Sir Roger Scruton. In his new role as chairman of the […]

It’s not often that I support the right-wing philosopher Sir Roger Scruton. In his new role as chairman of the Government’s “Building Better, Building Beautiful” commission, the “Alf Garnett of architecture” must explore ways that the planning system can better emphasise and incentivise design and community consent in building. Sir Roger is an outspoken critic of everything modern, coming from the Prince Charles “if it ain’t Georgian, it’s a carbuncle” camp.

Does this matter? Look around you. Perhaps you live in an Edwardian terrace of pleasing proportions and symmetry, or perhaps a concrete 1960s tower with sublime views and less sublime lift-shafts. You may live in a glass dockside redevelopment, or a cramped room in a shared house. Maybe, you’re a “Boomerang”, at home with parents post-education.

‘Industrial vision’

Having spent most of this past year renovating a wreck of a terraced Edwardian house, I know the conflict between aesthetics and budget, but mine is a self-made problem: I chose to try to create a house that is aesthetically pleasing. However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Certain family members have voiced brutal disapproval of my “industrial vision”.

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Whether you are a Grand Designs addict or not, you cannot fail to realise how much better housing has the potential to be today

I was born into a two-up, two-down, terraced council house with an outdoor loo. It was proportioned, though, and each room functioned with clarity. In 1976, we were moved into a new-build housing estate, which critics like Scruton would decry. To us it was a palace, with huge windows – which iced on the inside – an integrated garage for the car we never had, and two bathrooms.

It was a 1970s aesthetic. With double-glazing and a little ironmongery, it is probably now a decent home. It in no way resembled the “Georgian”, beloved of Prince Charles and Sir Roger, nor should it have had to. Whether you are a Grand Designs addict or not, you cannot fail to realise how much better housing has the potential to be today – aesthetically, functionally and environmentally – than in the past.

Places like Barcelona seem much better able to embrace the old alongside the new. What is our kneejerk reactionarism to the “modern” about? Yes, make new homes beautiful, but most of all: just make some new homes.

@stefanohat