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VALUATION
OF
rUOl'KIlTY.
Bo.-k IV.
BO
K I V.
VALUATION
OK
PUOPLRTT.
CHAP.
I.
Thi' valnations in wliicli tlie arcliitt-ct is consulted are properly onlv those wherein
Vmild-
ings have heen or may be erected
;
from which if he wander, the probability is that lie wdl
create difficultv
for himself, tending to exhibit him as a pretender to knowledge not within
the regular course of his occupation. The general |)rinciples, therefore, on which we ))ro-
pose to touch, are confined to the sj>ecies of property above named, as distinguished froir
that in which the resident valuator near the spot in the different provinces is the best
adviser, from the local knowledge he ))ossesses. Tiie auctioneers who with unblushing
effrontery pretend to a knowledge of the value of property in the metroi)olis, are utterly
incompetent to the duties they undertake, from an ignorance of the durability and cost of
buildings, which can be attained by the practice and experience of the architect only.
Buildings may be so disadvantageously j)laced on tiieir sites as to realise nothing
like a proper interest on the money expended in their erection ; and, indeed, so as alto-
gether to destroy even the great value of the ground on whicii they are built. Thus, to
place before the reader extreme cases, which generally best illustrate a sul)ject, let him
suppose a row of hovels built in Piccadilly, and a bouse like Apsley House placed in
Wapping High Street. In both cases the productive value of the ground is destroyed,
there being no inhabitants for such dwellings in the res])ectlve (juarters of the town.
From this it must be evident that the value of town or city property, which consists
principally of buildings, is divisible into two parts; namely,