Grecian urns in unlikely places

I've never understood the Victorians' passion for putting Greek urns everywhere.  I appreciate they developed a love for classical antiquity; but they couldn't stop themselves reproducing urns as garden features, vases and even architectural features - as here at the Old Waterworks at Hatton.

Seen with a 21st Century eye (ie mine), it looks kinda obsessive.

Hatton's posh flats... and dilapidated gates

Another curious structure with an equally unexpected present is the late Victorian pumping station at Hatton.  This quite beautiful Italianate building, which once housed giant machinery, has been converted in recent years into ... luxury flats!  It makes an odd sort of sense...

But quite why the posh folk who live here allow the dilapidated old back-gates (still marked as the property of the Staffordshire Potteries Water Board) to the grounds to remain unrepaired and in situ is puzzling.
Is it a heritage thing?  Maybe.