Terrace housing

[DarloRich]

I wouldn't have known the last point. I'd have said 'most would be rented'.

I would say it depends. When first built most were for sale. These days many terraced houses are owned by private landlords. Where I live when a house comes up it is bought for rent.

 

[WesternLancer]

I would say it depends. When first built most were for sale. These days many terraced houses are owned by private landlords. Where I live when a house comes up it is bought for rent.

Indeed - cheap housing in those parts of the market is very popular with buy to let landlord investors for a variety of reasons. Terraced housing often meets that landlord market so in some areas substantial numbers (but perhaps not a majority) will be in the private rented sector.

I suspect it is possible if one has the skills to construct a census data query to work out how much terraced housing was in each tenure at the date of the last census.

When first built most were for sale

But when 1st built they would not have been built for sale for owner occupation as pre mid 20th century housing of this sort aimed at working class people (which majority of terraced homes would have been) would have been owned by private landlords, who would have bought from the developers - often the builder of the original terrace.

This declined after world war one due to the rent controls introduced to stop profiteering during WW1 - which largely existed until the 1988 Housing Act, which set the ground rules for the expansion of Buy to Let from the late 1990s onwards, and has been much questioned in the last few years, including some calling for a return to rent control of some sort.

 

[stuving]

Public Health Act, 1875, perhaps? (If so, that's now almost a century and a half ago).

I found this bit of Cambridge local history interesting and relevant to this topic. One short quote (it's a presentation by Allan Brigham, but this bit from slide 28 has its own credit):

Building Plans: ‘Hurrah for Regulations’!

• Exist in Cambridge from 1887
• Building plans were only required after the 1875 Public Health Act specified new minimum standards. Earlier houses often built to very low standards.
• The Act required urban authorities to make byelaws for new streets and buildings with respect to: structural stability, prevention of fires, ventilation, drainage of buildings, provision of water closets, and closing buildings deemed unfit for human habitation.
• To support Local Authorities model byelaws were designed by the Local Government Board, a copy of these byelaws as adapted by the Cambridge Improvement Commissioners, 17 Sep 1875.
• They outline materials to be used, detail specifications for ventilation of pipework and water-closets, and construction of cesspools.
• They also require detailed scaled drawings of intended works to be deposited with the office of the Surveyor, provide notification before works begin and an inspection to be conducted by the Surveyor before a property is inhabited. Melissa McGreechan, Cambridge City Archivist

The following slides show three houses in a terrace and their plans, with the original layout from the 1880s. You can see the WC and coal store accessed from the back yard. The alleyway through the house was of course for coal to be delivered without going through the house.

My sister's house in Lower Caversham was built a few years later and its extension had a bedroom upstairs. But it still had the WC and coal store behind the kitchen with outdoor access. I have not looked for its plans; if they survive they should be in the local record office (Royal Berkshire Archives in this case).

 

[Belperpete]

At one time in slightly more upmarket houses it was not uncommon for the toilet to be in its own room, separate to the bathroom, again for sanitary reasons.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

no one has a shared toilet - surely! it is 2024 not 1824!

Probably not - but when I got married in 1980, I could not swear to that in Preston. My terrace house was built in 1886 istr .

 

[DiscoSteve]

Terraced housing (and flats too) have an additional challenge in the 21st century - the new need to provide car charging points to their owners for their electric vehicles (as the Govt directs us to now) is now an issue - not only the simple problem of laying a cable across the pavement (or in the air from a flat) but actually the simple geometry that exists where a house is narrower than the length of the owners vehicle (not enough room to even park/charge outside their own house).

 

[WesternLancer]

Probably not - but when I got married in 1980, I could not swear to that in Preston. My terrace house was built in 1886 istr .

Census used to have a question as to whether the household had exclusive use of bathroom/toilet - I think in recent census - not sure which one) that question was dropped as presumably the number concerned had become extremely small

quick web search indicates it was still a question in 2001 - see bottom of page 2

https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/census/2001censusandearlier/aboutcensus2001/censusfactsheets/english/factsheet9_tcm77-208551.pdf

and this 2013 BBC report provided this ONS data on the topic - comparing with 1971:

1. Toilets have had an upgrade."Do you have a flush toilet?" was asked in the first survey. Most had a toilet but a significant minority had to take their business outside - 10.3% had an outdoor toilet and 1.2% had none at all. Luckily, times have changed. In 2011, toilets were still a talking point, but the question presupposed the use of an indoor toilet. "Do you have an inside flushing toilet for sole use of the household?" was the question. Nearly 100% of households said yes - 99.7% - while 0.2% said they had shared use. Only 0.1% don't have an indoor flushing toilet.
from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21698533

 

[Western Lord]

At one time in slightly more upmarket houses it was not uncommon for the toilet to be in its own room, separate to the bathroom, again for sanitary reasons.

Nothing even slightly upmarket about that. the 1950's semi I was brought up in had a separate toilet and bathroom. It was nothing to do with sanitary considerations, it was simply that with only one toilet you had to have somewhere to go when someone was having a bath (although I suppose you could call that "sanitary reasons", it was years before the downstairs "cloakroom" became the norm). I believe it was actually required by building regulations that if there was only one toilet it had to be separate, though probably linked to the number of bedrooms.

 

[Trackman]

no one has a shared toilet - surely! it is 2024 not 1824!

What about HMO's? Or estate agents like to call them 'House shares'.
Think the law states 1 toilet per 4 rooms, I can see the landlord sticking to that rule to skimp on costs.
In fact, just looked one up, 8 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms .. doesn't state if it's 3 toilets, one could be a bath/shower room.
Must be chaotic in the mornings, bet they have a rota or something.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Of course Number 10 Downing Street is a terraced house!!

 

[gg1]

What about HMO's? Or estate agents like to call them 'House shares'.
Think the law states 1 toilet per 4 rooms, I can see the landlord sticking to that rule to skimp on costs.
In fact, just looked one up, 8 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms .. doesn't state if it's 3 toilets, one could be a bath/shower room.
Must be chaotic in the mornings, bet they have a rota or something.

When I was a student in the 90s I lived for a year in a shared house with 7 people sharing 1 bathroom, and yes, it was very chaotic.

As an aside, I think 'HMO' is the more recent of the two terms, it's certainly not a phrase I ever encountered until after my 'house share' days were over in the early 00s.

 

[TheSel]

Of course Number 10 Downing Street is a terraced house!!

Indeed it is. And according to this document - the response to an FoI request - it's owned by "The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government."

Wonder how much notice the incumbent has to give prior to leaving?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Indeed it is. And according to this document - the response to an FoI request - it's owned by "The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government."

Wonder how much notice the incumbent has to give prior to leaving?

Official residence for The First Lord of the Treasury

 

[DarloRich]

What about HMO's? Or estate agents like to call them 'House shares'.
Think the law states 1 toilet per 4 rooms, I can see the landlord sticking to that rule to skimp on costs.
In fact, just looked one up, 8 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms .. doesn't state if it's 3 toilets, one could be a bath/shower room.
Must be chaotic in the mornings, bet they have a rota or something.

that isn't the same thing being discussed.

 

[Belperpete]

Nothing even slightly upmarket about that. the 1950's semi I was brought up in had a separate toilet and bathroom. It was nothing to do with sanitary considerations, it was simply that with only one toilet you had to have somewhere to go when someone was having a bath (although I suppose you could call that "sanitary reasons", it was years before the downstairs "cloakroom" became the norm). I believe it was actually required by building regulations that if there was only one toilet it had to be separate, though probably linked to the number of bedrooms.

I think most semis were inherently upmarket compared to terraces.

What I always found odd was that these separate toilets didn't have wash basins. So you would have to let yourself out the toilet with dirty hands and then traipse around the house to find somewhere to wash your hands, if the bathroom was unavailable. It didn't seem a particularly hygienic idea.

 

[WesternLancer]

I think most semis were inherently upmarket compared to terraces.

What I always found odd was that these separate toilets didn't have wash basins. So you would have to let yourself out the toilet with dirty hands and then traipse around the house to find somewhere to wash your hands, if the bathroom was unavailable. It didn't seem a particularly hygienic idea.

I thought exactly that too. Friend of mine lives in a thirties detached house of modest size and still has a lav like that with no hand basin.

 

[Andrew1395]

It was 1919 when all new homes had to have their own WC. Most By then would have been inside. I bought a terrace house built in 1908 and lived in by the builder of the terrace. He had built inside bathrooms and separate toilets for the other house in the row, but an outside toilet for the house he lived in. I suppose he thought it unhygienic having a toilet inside the area you lived in. By the time we moved in the third bedroom had become a bathroom. Far larger than the other houses had from new.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

A key challenge for these sorts of homes now is around improving insulation. Their age means that they are solid wall construction so no cavity available to inject insulation into. That means they need external or internal solid wall insulation fitting. This is more expensive than cavity wall insulation.

Indeed in my first marital home in Preston, the shared with the neighbours walls were single brick - you could hear almost everything. However, the front and back walls did have a cavity. When I was renovating mine, I cleaned out the cavities to stop rising damp and put a physical damp proof course in as well as replacing the air bricks. I used clay common for the outside bricks and concrete common for the inside. Much later these were injected with insulation. The loft insulation was a massive job as I had to back point all the slates first!

 

[Ediswan]

Indeed in my first marital home in Preston, the shared with the neighbours walls were single brick - you could hear almost everything.

It all depends on which way the terrace is built.

Some have 'mirror image' pairs of houses, which does give a single wall between the most used rooms of adjacent houses.

My terrace has all the houses the same way around, with the most used rooms all to one side of a through hallway. The less used rooms are on the other side of the hall. Result, I rarely hear either of the neighbours.

 

[birchesgreen]

I thought exactly that too. Friend of mine lives in a thirties detached house of modest size and still has a lav like that with no hand basin.

My mum's house (1929 semi detached) has a separate bog without basin, it is next to bathroom though so you don't have to go very far!

 

[Gloster]

My partner’s flat in East London was at the top of a large ‘Gothic’ style terrace house that probably dated from the Victorian era. Her flat had been converted out of a couple of servant’s rooms, with a small bathroom/toilet wedged in opposite the top of the stairs. I doubt that there had been a bathroom up there before, although there may have been one in the main house, and the servants (probably a maid and a housekeeper or nanny) would have to use a chamber pot.

The place was a bit bigger than the traditional terrace in that it was three storeys, an attic and a kitchen/scullery area underneath at the back: it had been converted into five grotty flats, probably in the 1960s or 1970s. It was probably originally intended for a chief clerk or the like who was trying to move up a bit in society.

 

[davews]

My terraced house also has a separate bathroom and toilet, adjacent, as did all the houses built by the Bracknell Development people in the 1960s. It is not really an issue, no different to public loos with the basins outside the traps. Some though have had the wall between knocked out.

 

[DarloRich]

The place was a bit bigger than the traditional terrace in that it was three storeys, an attic and a kitchen/scullery area underneath at the back

they were built a bit later to accommodate lower middle class clerk types and thier couple of servants.

 

[maniacmartin]

Here in South London its very common for terrace houses to be converted to three floors too, with a dormer extension out of the back of the attic. The previous owners of my house solved the thermal and sound insulation by adding a plasterboard (stud) wall directly on the inside of the external and party walls.

 

[AY1975]

I don't know about shared bogs, outside ones were common though.

I believe that Dawes Almshouses in Putney, south-west London, built in 1648, had shared toilets (one for every two houses) until they were modernised in the early 1980s.

The National Trust also have a set of back to backs in Birmingham.

There's also a Grade II listed estate of prefabs in Birmingham, I believe. I saw them mentioned on a panel opposite the toilets at Moor Street station that tells you about various local attractions. That's getting off topic, though, and I've started a separate thread on prefabs: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/prefabs.269633/

 

[DarloRich]

Indeed in my first marital home in Preston, the shared with the neighbours walls were single brick

mine has double brick walls throughout. They are almost impossible to drill into! You could shoot a cannon shell at them and it would bounce off. I can still hear the neighbours from time to time but usually when it is an out of course noise like an argument or a baby crying. I only hear TV or music sounds when they are really pumping.

EDIT - actually the stairs cause the most sound. I can hear people going up and down them all the time.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

They are almost impossible to drill into! You could shoot a cannon shell at them and it would bounce off.

Mine were not as bad as that but my great aunts house built 1920s ish was a nightmare. Engineering bricks possibly?

 

[DarloRich]

Engineering bricks possibly?

possibly - good old fashioned and I assume local bricks certainly!

 

[Kaliwax]

I think where I used to live in Altofts had the longest row of terraced houses in Europe at one time. Of course the houses had been knocked down for years now

https://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10465501 Here's a picture of them in 1975. The housing was built in the 1865 and knocked down in 1978. Used mainly for miners, but the mine near there was shut in 1966.

 

[WesternLancer]

I think where I used to live in Altofts had the longest row of terraced houses in Europe at one time. Of course the houses had been knocked down for years now

https://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10465501 Here's a picture of them in 1975. The housing was built in the 1865 and knocked down in 1978. Used mainly for miners, but the mine near there was shut in 1966.

Wow - that does look remarkably lengthy in that picture!