Prefab Homes
4/5
()
About this ebook
Elisabeth Blanchet
At the end of the Second World War Winston Churchill promised to manufacture half a million prefabricated bungalows to ease the housing shortage; in the end more than 156,000 temporary ‘prefabs’ were delivered. Nicknamed ‘Palaces for the People’, and with convenient kitchens, bathrooms and heating systems, they proved popular and instead of being demolished as intended they were defended by residents who campaigned to keep their family homes and communities. Nearly seventy years later, as the last of these two bedroom homes are being demolished, Elisabeth Blanchet tells the story of these popular dwellings and their gardens and shows the various designs that were produced. Through the stories and memories of residents, she also reveals the communities who were pleased to live in the prefabs.
Related to Prefab Homes
Titles in the series (100)
The Victorians and Edwardians at Play Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 1960s Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Peat and Peat Cutting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5British Campaign Medals 1815-1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerambulators Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsButtons Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The English Seaside in Victorian and Edwardian Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChocolate: The British Chocolate Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritain's Working Coast in Victorian and Edwardian Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritish Gallantry Awards 1855-2000 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scalextric Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRailway Posters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tractors: 1880s to 1980s Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Flying Scotsman: The Train, The Locomotive, The Legend Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLondon’s Statues and Monuments Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5VW Camper and Microbus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5British Campaign Medals 1914-2005 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5London Plaques Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Church Misericords and Bench Ends Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Building Toys: Bayko and other systems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5British Postcards of the First World War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lorries: 1890s to 1970s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Victorians and Edwardians at Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Buckles Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Poole Pottery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClarice Cliff Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Golden Age of Air Travel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5British Campaign Medals of the First World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmusement Park Rides Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Airfix Kits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related ebooks
Let Me Tell You Something About Shipping Container Homes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Build Shipping Container Homes With Plans Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Small Home Tiny House Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Planning: Buildings for Habitation, Commerce and Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTiny Houses: The ultimate guide to tiny houses, shipping container homes, and building your own tiny house! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Build a Tiny Portable House: With Plans and Instructions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Build It, The Home Renovation Survival Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTiny Houses: How To NEVER Pay A Tiny House Utility Bill Again And Have More Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Accessible Bathroom Design: Tearing Down the Barriers - Second Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTiny Houses: Advantages And Disadvantages Of Living Tiny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Build a Simple Three Bedroom Shipping Container House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shipping Container Homes: A Complete Guide to Building a Container Home and Tiny House Living Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings150 Best New Cottage and Cabin Ideas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shipping Container Homes: The complete guide to shipping container homes, tiny houses, and container home plans! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAccommodating the Lively Arts: An Architect’s View Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreen Interior Design Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFit: An Architect's Manifesto Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShipping Container Homes: The best guide to building a shipping container home, including plans, FAQs, and much more! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdvanced Stair Stringer Layout Methods Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsModel Illustrating Sustainable Architectural Design. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShipping Container Homes: A complete guide to designing and building a container home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Building a Sustainable Home: Practical Green Design Choices for Your Health, Wealth, and Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Contractor House Plans Construction Blueprints: Spec Homes, Cabins, Condos, 4 Plexs and Custom Homes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Big Book of Small Home Plans: Over 360 Home Plans Under 1200 Square Feet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsObsolescence: An Architectural History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWright Sites: A Guide to Frank Lloyd Wright Public Places Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fundamentals of Sustainable Dwellings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Architecture For You
How to Fix Absolutely Anything: A Homeowner's Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The New Bohemians Handbook: Come Home to Good Vibes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Architecture 101: From Frank Gehry to Ziggurats, an Essential Guide to Building Styles and Materials Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Architectural Digest at 100: A Century of Style Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Become An Exceptional Designer: Effective Colour Selection For You And Your Client Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Flatland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Martha Stewart's Organizing: The Manual for Bringing Order to Your Life, Home & Routines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down to Earth: Laid-back Interiors for Modern Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making Midcentury Modern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Live Beautiful Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Atomic Ranch: Design Ideas for Stylish Ranch Homes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Living Small Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life: How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect and Happiness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feng Shui Modern Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Giza Power Plant: Technologies of Ancient Egypt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frommer's Athens and the Greek Islands Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrowing Weeders Into Leaders: Leadership Lessons from the Ground Level Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHome Sweet Maison: The French Art of Making a Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Welcome Home: A Cozy Minimalist Guide to Decorating and Hosting All Year Round Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe 1950s American Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Solar Power Demystified: The Beginners Guide To Solar Power, Energy Independence And Lower Bills Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Chinese Greenhouse: Design and Build a Low-Cost, Passive Solar Greenhouse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shinto the Kami Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Prefab Homes
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Prefab Homes - Elisabeth Blanchet
READING
INTRODUCTION
THE F IRST W ORLD War provided a new impetus to improve social housing in Britain, when the poor health of many new army recruits was noted with alarm. This led to a campaign known as Homes Fit for Heroes. In 1919 the government requested councils to provide housing, helping them to do so through subsidies. Under the Housing Act 1919, half a million new houses were planned. As the economy weakened in the early 1920s, however, funding had to be cut, and only 213,000 homes were completed under the Act’s provisions.
The 1919 Act – often known as the ‘Addison Act’ after its author, Dr Christopher Addison, the Minister of Health – was a significant step forward in housing provision. Housing became a national responsibility, and local authorities were given the task of developing new accommodation for working people.
Many houses were built for artisans, clerks, and the semi-skilled working classes, who could now afford to leave the inner cities. The world’s largest planned suburb was built at Becontree in Essex, while good quality suburban housing was planned around Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield.
By the 1920s, not much had been done to resolve the problem of inner-city slums. However, this changed with the new Housing Act of 1930, which obliged local councils to clear all slums and provided subsidies to rehouse their inhabitants. This single act led to the building of 700,000 new homes. Under the provisions of the inter-war housing acts, local councils built a total of 1.1 million homes.
Still, the Homes Fit for Heroes promise failed to materialise entirely, as Grandad, from the BBC’s Only Fools and Horses, points out in his description of the wartime government policy: ‘They promised us homes fit for heroes; we got heroes fit for homes!’ By the end of the Second World War, Winston Churchill and his government had new heroes to welcome back and house, this time in prefabs.
WINSTON CHURCHILL’S PROMISE OF 500,000 EMERGENCY HOMES
Sunday 26 March 1944. The end of the Second World War is finally approaching, as Prime Minister Winston Churchill points out in his BBC broadcast speech, ‘Our Greatest Effort is Coming’. In a part of his speech, he anticipates the huge post-war housing shortage and the reconstruction effort: ‘But now about a million homes have been destroyed or grievously damaged by the fire of the enemy. This offers a magnificent opportunity for rebuilding and replanning, and while we are at it we had better make a clean sweep of all those areas of which our civilization should be ashamed.’
Churchill declared a new war, but this time, on poor housing. Using military words, he unveiled his strategy:
The first attack must evidently be made upon houses which are damaged, but which can be reconditioned into proper dwellings … The second attack on the housing problem will be made by what are called the prefabricated, or emergency, houses. On this the Minister of Works, Lord Portal, is working wonders. I hope we may make up to half a million of these, and for this purpose not only plans but actual preparations are being made during the war on a nationwide scale. Factories have been assigned, the necessary set-up is being made ready, materials are being ear-marked as far as possible, the most convenient sites will be chosen, the whole business is to be treated as a military evolution handled by the government with private industry harnessed to its service.
Winston Churchill delivering a speech at the BBC during the Second World War.
In