The 1930s Home (Shire Library) - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Dr. Greg Stevenson is an architectural historian. He is the author of Art Deco Ceramics and Palaces for the People: Prefabs in Post-War Britain. Stevenson runs a small company saving historic buildings and restoring them as unique holiday lets.

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More dream homes were constructed in the 1930s than have been built in any decade since. Many people became home-owners for the first time during the inter-war period and the four million houses that were erected to home them largely adopted new architectural styles. These styles varied from sleek modernist villas to 'Tudorbethan' semi-detached houses, and also a host of homes that blended the traditional and modern. Not only were these new homes different in that they were designed to house the changing family, but they also provided a variety of fantasy interiors and revolutionary technologies for their new owners. Many young couples moving into their newly built home in the 1930s really were experiencing a new way of living, with all-electric kitchens, plumbed-in bathrooms and often a garden of their own.

The new houses of the 1930s reflected the improving living standards and increased income of the majority. Although remote rural areas remained virtually untouched by the new architecture, and many continued to live in poverty, real incomes were improving for most. Increased availability of affordable mortgages and a variety of hire purchase schemes for everything from furnishings to cars meant that many were able to own and furnish their own home for the first time. People who had previously rented in urban Victorian terraces moved out to semi-detached suburban homes which could be bought for between #400 and #1500 depending on their facilities and proximity to London. New architectural styles were often seen in these estates, as in municipal housing, apartments and the luxury villas of the rich.

With a 'wireless' in almost every home, and twenty million people visiting the cinema every week, people became aware of the latest domestic fashions through advertisements and films. The average householder became increasingly fashion conscious and the cult of home dicor developed alongside booming sales of magazines such as 'Good Housekeeping' and 'Modern Home'. The Daily Express proclaimed in its popular book, 'The Home of Today' that 'Men and women are equally enthusiastic - a new consciousness of home-making has been born!'.

The 1930's home was typically designed to suit the modern family which had changed significantly between the Victorian and inter-war periods. Previously rapid population growth appeared to be levelling out, families were on average considerably smaller, and many middle class families now had only two children. Domestic service had disappeared in all but the homes of the very rich. New houses therefore had to be manageable for those who maintained them.

The typical 1930s home was designed for these young families, consisting of a front lounge, dining room, a small kitchen (from which mother could an eye on the children in the back garden), three bedrooms (one being a box room for baby) and a small bathroom. Many semi-detached homes were built for newlywed couples, with several developers giving their starter-home names such as 'Honeymoon Cottage'. It is interesting to note that the formal reception room (the 'front' room) survived as a showpiece, yet in practice was perhaps only used one day in any week as keeping two coal fires alight would have been too expensive. The back reception room (sold as a dining room) often became the centre of family life. By contrast, in modern flats and expensive private villas there was a progression towards open plan interiors and retractable partitions in rooms heated by electric fires or under-floor heating.

Most newly built houses were of two storey construction and were built on green-belt land on the edge of towns. Greatly improved public transport, an increase in ownership of cars, and the relative affordability of land outside the urban core resulted in a massive suburban expansion of detached and semi-detached homes, each having a small garden. Private housing disassociated itself from local authority terraced accommodation by having each home within its own plot. Although most 1930s homes were smaller than their pre WWI counterparts, they were generally built on a larger piece of land. The suburban growth was particularly noticeable around London - between 1921 and 1937 the population of Inner London declined by half a million while the area of Greater London swelled by a million and a quarter.

Typical advertisements from the speculative builders who built these new suburban estates proclaimed the benefits of 'Living in the country where you will have room to breathe'. The theme of light, clean family homes was a common feature in advertisements for houses as diverse as cottage-style bungalows and modernist apartments. This escape from the polluted city to the 'healthy' suburban fringe was epitomised in the historical styling of semi-detached homes, which typically made obvious reference to the rural cottage idyll. New suburban estates were often supplemented with small shopping centres and public utilities, ranging from post-offices to church halls, libraries to cinemas, frequently built in matching architectural styles. For many the move to a new home in suburbia would have brought a new way of life.