My completely scientific, rigorously sampled, double blind twitter poll gives some indication of what donors think they are doing with their money:

Urulókë wrote:

So the only danger of 20 Northmoor Road being delisted if it suddenly has no historic interest.

Could the act of commercial renovation for purposes of turning the house into a bnb/theme park itself possibly constitute deterioration of historical interest, past a certain point?

Khamûl wrote:

Is the funding raising time period just a gentleman's agreement between this project and the current owners? When does this time period expire? What happenes if they've got only, say, £2-3 million at this point? What is to stop the current owner putting this back on the market or just straight-up accepting an offer from someone else right now? Just curious how formal this "off the market" arrangement is...

It started with the Guardian article stating that

Golding has negotiated a three-month fundraising window with the current owner

and I can only assume someone from the project signed off on that article.

Then the more recent article quotes Julia Golding as saying

We understand most people are giving in the hopes of securing the first objective but this property was offered to us for sale by the current owner and we can’t guarantee that he won’t sell it to someone else,

and then today during this interview she says

we have agreed to mid February but we have to move quick to show we are serious because if he thinks oh they are not raising enough money then he'll... there's no reason why he should favour us over other people

so your guess is as good ours, or in fact hers.

Sounds like a verbal agreement with absolutely no legal standing. Not that it matters.

"Come on folks, give us your money super-fast (don't go stopping and thinking) or we may miss out!"

I really feel a private missive to Sir Ian pointing out the problems with this project, and the power/danger of celebrity endorsements is something worthwhile doing. Maybe we could draft out the salient points? I don't like open letters (they are Social Media bullying) and there is no guarantee he would read it, but I still think it is important enough to do.

One of the few things that I am grateful for in this whole ... thing ... is that I revisited some of Oxford City Council's materials on Tolkien's former homes and this makes me laugh uproariously every time I open up the "North Oxford Conservation Area Appraisal" pdf:

Fred Openshaw’s house of 1924, 20 Northmoor Road, was built for Basil Blackwell and became the home of JRR Tolkien in 1930, who wrote The Hobbit and the majority of The Lord of the Rings while living there. Its significance is more historical than aesthetic. [my emphasis.]

Olwe wrote:

One of the few things that I am grateful for in this whole ... thing ... is that I revisited some of Oxford City Council's materials on Tolkien's former homes and this makes me laugh uproariously every time I open up the "North Oxford Conservation Area Appraisal" pdf:

Fred Openshaw’s house of 1924, 20 Northmoor Road, was built for Basil Blackwell and became the home of JRR Tolkien in 1930, who wrote The Hobbit and the majority of The Lord of the Rings while living there. Its significance is more historical than aesthetic. [my emphasis.]

They weren't wrong. It really is not an attractive residence!

That's pretty funny. It's all about perspective because where I live (Arizona) that house would be considered a unique masterpiece.

Tapuvae wrote:

That's pretty funny. It's all about perspective because where I live (Arizona) that house would be considered a unique masterpiece.

I hate those pebbledash renders with an absolute passion. Sometimes there is a nice house underneath, mind. I had an 1890s convict built house in Australia that was rendered like that and it looked hideous -- but when I removed all the render (revealing huge limestone blocks and tuckpointed brickwork) and had it fully repointed back to original, it looked absolutely amazing (I wish I still had it!). Fashions change and often houses end up victim to those changing tastes. I'd guess Tolkien's house probably got uglified somewhere down the line. Other than to sell and buy something nice with the giant windfall (!), I wouldn't want to own it!