When I was young, and pondering my ultimate resting place, I was pretty sure that my gravestone would be sandstone or limestone as time would eventually remove all trace of the inscription, and eventually it would fail to serve as even a marker. The alternative option was slate, on the grounds that it was cheap and unpretentious. I did not want one of those jarring granite gravestones that seemed utterly impervious to age, providing a discordant element amongst their lichen covered colleagues.
There is a seasonality to things, and that is right.
The same applies for buildings. A stately home might be beautiful and imposing, but nowadays they are struggling to find any function that can pay the bills. This is not a criticism of our current lack of ingenuity. The stately homes were never functional. They were always intended as a temporary retreat, the ultimate boutique hotel for the super wealthy, where they might reside and invite their friends, before moving on. There was bustle and staff, but that was all to service the gentry. A stately home might sit at the centre of a massive estate, but the profits earned by the estate would be conspicuously consumed by the stately home, in effect it was a classy bonfire of available cash.
We should not be unduly encumbered by the past. There are some remarkable buildings out there, and the best of them should be conserved, but we should not feel duty bound to preserve every relic of a bygone age.
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