By Kevin Brown, Managing Director at aluminium window manufacturer The Heritage Window Company
Picture this. The exterior looks like your dream house, but when you walk into the beautiful Victorian terrace or handsome Edwardian semi, someone has torn the heart out of it. The cornicing has gone. The original fireplace has been boxed in. The timber sash windows have been swapped for flat white uPVC and the building’s actual personality has been replaced by something that you might find on a business park.
It happens surprisingly often, with buyers increasingly drawn to homes they can put their own stamp on. Nationwide Building Society found that 66% of first-time buyers chose a more affordable property precisely because it needed renovation or DIY work. The instinct to modernise is natural, but it’s sad to see – and painful for sellers – when characterful period properties are stripped of their charm.
What’s the damage?
A landmark study by Historic England found that homes in conservation areas – places in villages, towns and cities which are especially valued by people for their historic character and appearance – command a price premium of around 9% over comparable properties.
However, some conservation areas are now being judged as ‘at-risk,’ due to the erosion of period character and the loss of historic details, like sash windows, with that premium falling to 5%.
According to Zoopla’s figures, the current UK average house price is £271,900. Losing those four percentage points could equate to as much as £10,876. Not what you want to see when it comes to selling up. So, here are the features worth thinking twice about before you pick up a crowbar.
Original fireplaces
The fireplace is the natural focal point of a period room. Increasingly, however, homeowners are in favour of boxing in or tearing out an original cast-iron surround in favour of a blank wall. Has minimalism gone mad?
2025 research from Sold.co.uk suggested that an original fireplace could add 5% to a property’s value. Using average home values, that could be worth as much as £13,500.
A fireplace anchors a room. Even if it’s no longer used for an open fire, it gives a space proper proportions and a sense of history. Period-conscious buyers will be disappointed if your home has a traditional exterior without any of the interior charm – and that could affect offer values.
Original windows, especially curved bays
If there’s one change that makes heritage experts wince, it’s the loss of original windows. Timber sash windows and the sweeping art-deco curved bays are among the hardest features to replicate once they are gone – and they do a huge amount of the work in giving a period home its face.
New homeowners continue to remove sash windows and statement curved bays in favour of ugly uPVC. It might feel practical, but is it worth chipping away at the premium that buyers will pay for original features? Not at the cost of your curb appeal!
A curved bay window is a genuinely special thing – and worth a fortune to the right buyer. Even if your windows are in bad nick, it’s completely possible to upgrade without wrecking their character. The trick is sympathetic replacement, matching the original sightlines and proportions while prioritising the thermal performance of a modern unit. Swapping existing timber or cast iron for aluminium windows is your best bet – you keep the soul of the house and lose the draughts.
Original wood and parquet flooring
It’s not just the obvious upgrades that can cost your property its period charm. Look down and you’ll see that original floorboards and parquet flooring are increasingly prized – the instinct to rip them up and carpet over or lay laminate can cost a seller dearly.
The National Wood Flooring Association reckons that wood flooring can increase the value of your home by between 1% and 10%. Replacing them with lino might feel practical in the moment, but it could have a big impact on the saleable price of your house down the line.
Original boards have a depth to them that you cannot fake. If you’re lucky enough to have parquet or wide Victorian boards under that old carpet, my advice is to lift it, sand them back and show them off. Buyers love them and it is a feature that is genuinely irreplaceable.
The bigger picture: overall period character
These individual features all play a part in removing and reducing that sought-after period character from your home – but it’s not just about the sale price. Keeping your period property’s original features can lead to a quicker and simpler sale process, with 72% of estate agents finding that original features helped ensure a quicker sale.
Other, subtler features like decorative plasterwork, cornicing or coving might not have the same direct impact on your house price, but chipping away at them continues to detract from what many buyers are already looking for.
Every original feature you keep is part of a whole. Work with the house, not against it and you can have warmth, efficiency and modern comfort without throwing away a hundred years of character. The owners who understand this are the ones who are doing the best job of protecting their investment.
