Groggster

By Groggster

A House Of No Occupancy

Today's image was taken on Square Hill Road in Maidstone - apparently this is the only street in Great Britain with this name. 
It's sad to see such a fine looking building in this dire state. It must have been quite a grand house at one time but as far as I am aware it was last used as flats or an HMO (house of multiple occupation - residential properties which are shared by more then one household and have common areas like kitchens and bathrooms). It doesn't look like anyone has been living there for some considerable time - hence the title.
Ironically the average price of houses on this street is approximately £475,000!
Further up this street there used to be a pub called The British Queen, which dated from at least the 1850's but sadly it was demolished in April 2016 when it was sold for housing and replaced by, according to a local website, "an ugly block of flats" (which you can just a see a part of in the background of this image). Unfortunately, I fear a similar fate awaits this building.
My favourite fact about the pub was that it had a licencee called Job Moon, who was the landlord from 1891 until 1903. 
Today's image also reminded me of the Rachel Whitread sculpture called "House".

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