Looking for documentary about London townhouses

August 3, 2018 8:13 AM

There are umpty bajillion documentaries out there about aristocratic country houses of Britain. But ye old stereotypical aristo would have had a fancy country estate and a house in Town. Are there any documentaries about how London townhouses were built or run during the 18th-20th centuries? I'm less interested in the Upstairs/Downstairs drama and more in the logistics of the place, and the architecture/design.
posted by Wretch729 to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

You might like BBC’s A House Through Time. Takes you through a home in Liverpool from when it was built to present day, previous tenants and changes in the house and neighborhood. Four episodes and it’s great.
posted by vivzan at 8:29 AM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

See also the BBC's Secret History of our Streets, which is especially good about how London houses have evolved in the modern era.
posted by jonathanbell at 8:36 AM on August 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'd come to reccomend Secret History of our Streets, but since I have been beaten to it I will second that rec, and add that if you're in London you totally have to visit Dennis Severs' House. Their shop has a DVD about the place and the area - as I haven't watched it I can't directly reccomend, but the house itself is amazing.
posted by Vortisaur at 9:31 AM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'll agree with the Dennis Severs' House rec, and add to that a recommendation for the Geffrye Museum. In fact, you might want to reach out to the museum -- if there has been a documentary made about London townhouses, they would certainly know of it.
posted by mylittlepoppet at 11:07 AM on August 3, 2018

Spitalfields Life discusses architecture sometimes, and how people lived in the buildings a whole lot. Especially check out the related townhouse for rent, which was built in the 1720s and boarded up in the 1820s and restored recently.
posted by clew at 12:01 PM on August 3, 2018

Not sure this is a precisely on topic recommendation, since the focus was more on the middle class than the aristocratic class, but I really enjoyed The 1900 House when it aired nearly 20 years ago. The premise was a modern family attempting to live in a house with circa 1900 technology only -- no indoor plumbing, electricity, shampoo, etc.
posted by HiddenInput at 1:07 PM on August 3, 2018

Lucy Worsley does great stuff. Look for If Walls Could Talk on YouTube
posted by Enid Lareg at 2:28 PM on August 3, 2018