Architecture of Domesticity: Housing of the London County Council, 1919–1939

Abstract

This thesis analyses the housing programme of the London County Council (LCC) in the inter-war period. After the end of the first world war, the ‘homes fit for heroes’ programme introduced a new era of large municipal housing estates in Britain. The aim was not only to provide more and better houses for the working class, but also to eradicate the urban slums that were perceived as a hot-bed of crime, immorality and infectious diseases. Immediately after the war, however, the policy of slum-clearance was regarded as less urgent in the effort to overcome the housing shortage. New garden cities and suburbs should create a countermovement from urban districts back to the country. Moreover, the typology of the high tenement building was increasingly rejected. The newly founded Ministry of Health and vocal garden city proponents tried to prohibit the erection of tenement buildings of more than three storeys. Contrary to the official government policy, the LCC, the principal local authority for the London area from 1889 to 1965, still believed in the idea of multi-storey living. The council therefore adopted a balanced approach of ‘cottage’ estates in the suburbs and multi-storey tenement buildings in the centre. During the twenty years from 1919 to 1939, more than 82,000 working-class cottages and flats were provided throughout London, all of which were designed by the council’s in-house architects. Within this period, the permanent staff of the LCC’s architectural department grew to nearly 900 technical and administrative assistants. Based on the war-time experience with large engineering works, housing operations were rationalised and streamlined. On the other hand, the council adhered to traditional methods of brick construction and the open fireplace as the principal method of heating. In order to increase the acceptability of multi-storey living, the LCC architects developed innovative floor plan typologies, such as maisonettes and ‘cottage-flats’. Furthermore, the middle-class ideal of domesticity in the design of dwellings, elevations and open spaces was crucial in the LCC’s effort to control the inner disposition and outward appearance of housing estates and their inhabitants.