[TLG] Weekly Round Up of Relevant News - Houses, History and Such...

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Los Angeles: Writer Pen Densham sells Windsor Square-area home for $2.75 million

The Los Angeles Times reports that Densham's English Manor-style home, built in 1906, was moved to its current location from Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. This was done by the Bullock family — popular department store owners — earning it the name Bullock House. An oversized entry with beamed ceilings leads to the living room, library, formal dining room and carved-wood staircase. There are eight bedrooms, 71/2 bathrooms and a basement.


Pricing a Critical Element in Country House Sales

According to Country Life Online, buyers are becoming much more choosy in today’s country house market, and insisting on value for money. According to Ed Sugden of buying agents Property Vision, fewer purchasers are looking to buy a country property in February 2012 than there were at the same time last year-up to 40% fewer in some areas. So, it's become critical that sellers get their pricing right if they want their property to get a second look-or even a first look.

"With second-home buyers unlikely to figure much in 2012, in my view, only three types of property will attract buyers. These are houses of exceptional quality, family homes within driving distance of a popular prep school and previously unsold houses that have had their prices reduced sufficiently for buyers to feel they're getting a really good deal," Mr Sugden says. "In fact, purchasers now expect value for money whatever they're buying." [more]


New light shed on the history of Tenby and its 16th Century boom

Once one of Wales’ busiest ports, with bustling trade being done on nearby streets, Tenby is an attractive town that has seen new light shed on cues relating to Tenby’s boom time in the 16th century after it was discovered a previously unknown silversmith was operating in the town.

Research commissioned by the National Trust about the Tudor Merchant’s House on Quay Hill led to the amazing find that a silversmith was trading in Tenby in the early 1500s, something that had not previously been suspected. The research is being conducted to discover the name of the merchant who lived and traded at the Tudor Merchant’s House, but in the process, an number of other new and significant finds about the town’s history are being made. [more]


Exhibition: Photography and the Royal Family 1840-1880

Professor John Plunkett from the University of Exeter will explore Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's interest in photography as collectors. This lecture also shows them as subjects of the photography industry which was fast becoming a commercial and popular media for disseminating the images of distinguished people and ‘celebrities'. [at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter] [more]



Letter informing Henry VIII of his longed-for son's birth is found after 469 years in stately home

A letter from Jane Seymour telling her husband Henry VIII that his longed-for son had been born has been uncovered at a stately home. The message announcing the birth of future King Edward VI was found carefully preserved on a shelf in the picture store room at Dunham Massey estate in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. It had gone unnoticed since the house was handed to the National Trust in 1976 because it was written in Old English... [more]