About Chimni

Most architectural history is written for historians and academics. The Chimni Wiki offers architectural history for the homeowner, combining it with building and maintenance information, book recommendations and legal / regulatory advice in a living compendium of housing information.

Whatever type of home you live in, from 'Georgian terrace' to'1930s Semi', we want you to understand how your home came to be designed the way it is, what the influences were, who lived there in the past, while celebrating it as your family home and helping you maintain and improve it. A Chimni wiki page should answer your immediate questions, while tempting you to dig a little further. Sometimes this may be onto another Chimni page, but other times this may be onto one of the wonderful other sources we have found on the web or books and authors that have entranced us.

Our key goal is writing for homeowners like ourselves and we try never to sound academic. It is unashamedly populist and accessible and is intended to entertain as much as inform. While we have tried never to compromise on accuracy, Chimni doesn’t not attempt to be exhaustive or definitive. We attempt to tease the homeowner into further exploration and to point them at the wonderful books and online sources where exhaustive, academic, definitive work can be found.

Let's take the humble Acanthus Leaf as an example. A historian will tell you that the humble Acanthus leaf is the primary decorative motif on the Corinthian capitals atop the columns of a Roman temple. It was also used as a decorative motif in Victorian and Edwardian housebuilding. It appears as a stone carving on pilaster columns next to people's front doors all over the UK. They are linked, and both tremendously interesting. However, an architectural historian will write about the first and barely give a nod to the second.

At Chimni its the other way round - we start with the house and work back. We want to talk about why it's on the house in Clapham (see picture below),and where else it appears (eg on William Morris wallpaper). We also care about the very human story of the stone carvers who made it, and also how the owner can restore and maintain it as part of a living 21C home.

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  Acanthus Leaves On A Victorian Terrace House

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  Acanthus Leaves On William Morris Wallpaper

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  Acanthus Leaf Illustrations

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  Acanthus Leaf Motifs Within A Roman Corinthian Capital

There will be lots of other sources that go into any particular subject in a lot more detail, and where possible, we have given links to them and recommended the ones that the Chimni team believe to be good. We have tried to write about building history in a way that is accessible to the average householder, while giving pointers to those those who want to delve further. The Chimni Wiki is an affectionate guide to the houses and homes of the UK.