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- Title
How much did the English country house cost to build, 1660-1880?
- Authors
Wilson, R. G.; Mackley, A. L.
- Abstract
This article assesses the cost of building English country house during 1660-1880. This question of costs was central to a survey of country houses in seven counties: Norfolk, Suffolk, East and West Yorkshire, Cheshire, Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire. The article has taken into consideration, the contemporary estimates of the cost of building country houses across the spectrum of houses and owners, the reconstruction of a best practice set of accounts to pinpoint the range of evidence and answers, the insurance data, and, lastly, the difficulties surrounding the construction of an index of costs across two centuries. The attempt to estimate country house building costs, founded on the study of building accounts themselves and local building chronologies, makes possible a firmer statistical basis for the important question of the personal consumption and industrial investment of the English landowning class. Stimulation to local economies, especially when building activity in a neighbourhood was extended by emulation and general prosperity, was considerable.
- Subjects
ENGLAND; COUNTRY homes; CONSTRUCTION cost estimates; HOUSE construction; PROPERTY insurance; LAND use
- Publication
Economic History Review, 1999, Vol 52, Issue 3, p436
- ISSN
0013-0117
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/1468-0289.00132