Extant
Extant refers to the status of a house today, e.g., is it
standing or demolished. You can search by five terms that appear in
the drop-down menu: Unknown (information about the house is
unavailable or unknown); Fully Extant (the house stands completely
intact, as it was built with no demolition of any of its parts); Partially
Extant (the house is still standing and is probably occupied, but has
had wings or other sections demolished); Ruin (remnants of the
house still exist, but the house is not livable, and is most likely a
shell or basement); Destroyed (the house has been completely
destroyed; no physical evidence of it exists today).
These categories refer only to the house; many estates where the house has
been destroyed still have beautiful gardens, follies, and outbuildings
that are intact that are open to the public; thus, the sometimes
confusing listing of a house that's listed as being destroyed and
open to the public!
Please note that we concentrate on only one house and refer to its
extant status, even it there were multiple houses by the same name on the
site. Thus, if there was a 15th century house, one built in the
18th century, and third built in the 20th century, only one house will be
the focus of our record. Accordingly, in the above example, if the
18th century house was the house of record, we would list the house as
being demolished, even though a house by the same name exists on the site,
having been built in the 20th century to replace the demolished 18th
century one, which in turn replaced the demolished 15th century house.
In the section "History / Gardens & Park / Movies" you would then find the
15th century house listed in the section entitled Earlier House(s) /
Building(s) and the 20th century house listed in the section entitled
House Replaced By, but the 18th century house would be the star and
the focus of our record.
Please remember that this database is a work-in-progress and that many,
many houses have yet to have their extant status entered.
If you know of a house that's extant, a ruin, or demolished, and we have
that house listed as "Unknown" in the "Extant" field, please email us
your information so we can update the record!
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