Quote Originally Posted by petromax View Post
Sorry; Yes, I am asking why stories rooted at a particular time are so attractive ie., what is so good about their particular stories and hence what's so good about old buildings.

There are modern buildings that have stories to tell too but there are not that many willing to listen.
Thanks for re-phrasing.

Interesting point. It's almost like there's a moment when an ordinary object ceases to be just a useful utensil; it's no longer just a fork, or a cart, or a foot-scraper, it transends it's original function, and somehow becomes art - and is raised to the level of artefact - an object worthy of special care, consideration and study. And yes, the value that we'd originally assigned to something like, a six-storey Victorian warehouse, has now changed. Although in recent history 'no value' [in the case of Liverpool City Council] was assigned to these things, and were casually erased from the city's memory.

The value that we assign to these places now, is very different. There's a statue of an eagle on the side of one of the buildings in Paradise Street. Why isn't it removed? What purpose does it now serve? Some objects in the city, [whether it's buildings or fragments] anchor the spirit of the times, the zeitgeist of the day, and express a different value to what they held in their useful life.

Whatever the answer is - identity, learning, memory, welbeing, understanding, community, society, continuity has something to do with it?