Working-Class Housing: Improvement and Technology, Rewley House Studies in the Historic Environment, 9

Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2019. Book. Fine. Hardback. First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. A fine new copy. This book contains 11 essays exploring ways in which design and technology brought about improvements in housing for the working classes between the advent of the industrial revolution and the end of the Second World War. It covers both back-to-back housing in industrial cities and rural housing on country estates and in farming communities. It examines both the rise of 'employer housing', introduced by philanthropic industrialists such as Arkwright and Sir Titus Salt who sought to follow the model schemes devised by architectural writers and promoted by Prince Albert, and the eventual provision of council houses, starting in the 1890s but undergoing a major expansion after 1919 under the impetus of Lloyd George's call for 'Homes fit for Heroes'. Successive government initiatives are recorded in the steady increase in legislation from both central and local authorities. The technological aspects include the advent of electricity, gas, and mains water for cooking, washing and the management of sewerage. There are also essays on kitchens and furniture design. The contributors are Marilyn Palmer, Peter Guillery, Geoff Timmins, Michael Nevell, John Broad, Alan G. Crosby, Ian West, Karen A. Sayer, David J. Eveleigh, Antony Buxton and P. S. Barnwell. Heavily illustrated with black and white photographs, technical diagrams, and maps, fully indexed..