Chapter 10: 1991: The Crucial Year

Coming towards the actual date of completion, 1 May, preparation for this had long had been in progress, since on 25 March I submitted a planning application for the house (with my address still as 59 Oakley Square) setting out the main changes that we wanted to make. This comprised ‘reinstatement of chimneys; alteration of windows/doors to rear elevation; [and] internal refurbishment’. It was followed by subsequent applications dated respectively 24 April, 13 May and 20 June for permission to demolish the fire escape at the back of the house, to reinstate the chimneys (giving more detail than in the original application), and to replace the ground floor front windows with windows with proper sash bars. These do indeed give a summary of what was planned for the house in ‘positive’ terms, so it is worth running through them in detail.

The roof before repair, 1991

As far as the chimneys were concerned, the work on these had to be executed in conjunction with the repair of the roof, since the chimney stacks by the sitting room and between the dining room and the kitchen had been roofed over when they were removed. (In addition, a smaller chimney stack in the laundry room, which had been capped off at gable level, needed to be rebuilt to serve the boiler. The letter accompanying the application also mentioned the pair of chimneys on the south-west side of the house but deferred a decision on them since those stacks stood proud of the roof and did not affect the roofing work; in fact, these were not reinstated till 2011, though in the interim a metal contraption was made to allow smoke up the chimney from the front study, I think by Stan Mammen of P & H Services.)

As for the rear elevation, the submitted plan (done in longhand by me) shows the windows as actually executed: on the ground floor, a sash window beside the back door to the kitchen where no window had previously existed; then, two casement windows to the other rooms in the rear extension; and a pair of French windows to the rear study, replacing the sash window then existing. At the first floor level, the small, louvred window to the upstairs toilet was to be altered to a panel that opened,57 while French windows and a balcony were to be installed in place of the door at the top of the former fire escape: it seemed a shame to replace that door simply by a window, bricking up the wall underneath it. What this entailed was a fairly plain pair of French windows, made by Carey & Edwards, opening onto a balconette made from a set of Victorian cast iron uprights (which look as if they came from the balcony of a Victorian house on the seafront) set in a concrete slab and welded onto an upper bar by Simes & Sons, a metal-welding company on The Ridge. View image. I note that in my covering letter to the planners when sending in the amended application on 13 May I requested permission to replace the skylight in the roof with a velux window, but this was unfortunately refused, so the roof light had to be restored as it was.

In terms of this forward planning, it is worth noting that it appears from my file of papers on the house that David Sulkin had ordered a reconditioned Aga from Country Cookers of Bromyard, Herefordshire, on 28 March 1991, while at some point, though perhaps not until early May, I seem to have established contact with a local carpenter, Stuart Petrie, and with the contractors, Carey & Edwards, about the provision of the necessary joinery.

57 This was done rather amateurishly by Kevin, and had to be replaced by a proper window made by Woodbase in 2018.