A collection of 9 black and white negatives showing the exterior and interior of a converted “Duplex” house, at the Ministry of Works demonstration estate, Northolt, Middlesex. The collection also contains images of plans of the Northolt estate and the Duplex house. In 1944 the Ministry of Works built a small estate of prefabricated houses and flats on Edward Road and West End Gardens to understand more about the costs and efficiencies associated with different construction methods. The project estimated the building costs for each of the advocated approaches to postwar housing construction, including steel framed, poured concrete and brick house. The houses were built in a “T” shape on the adjacent streets of Edward Road and West End Gardens. A booklet entitled “Demonstration Houses: A Short Account of the Demonstration Houses and Flats erected at Northolt by the Ministry of Works”, summarised the findings of the project.
Unit 11 of the demonstration estate was a sub-divided house for emergency use. The Duplex house was an attempt to respond to the emergency shortage of housing in the immediate postwar years. Unit 11 contained two houses, each of which was a standard, 3 bedroom, 900 sq. ft. brick dwelling, sub-divided for two families with the use temporary partitions. One of the houses in unit 11 was an emergency, temporary division and the other was permanent. Each example demonstrated the spacing and living areas allotted to each resident family.
The original Ministry of Works storage envelope lists the operator as “T”.
3 of the 9 images were catalogued and digitised as part of a 2020 project.
This is part of the Sub Series: PSA01/04/H Housing; within the Series: PSA01/04 Negatives; within the Collection: PSA01 Property Services Agency
Source: Historic England Archive
Brick, Mid 20th Century Prefabricated House, Domestic Interior
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