Back to the Intro Page
The devastation in many large cities caused by German bombing meant there was a chance to rebuild and get rid of the old terraced houses. During WWII 2 million homes were destroyed but by the end of 1953 only 300,000 new houses had been built. Despite this many terraced houses remained and so cities became a mixture of the new and the old. With the difficulty of finding space for these new houses it meant that living spaces went upwards. The first tower blocks were built in Harlow in 1951. They were cheap to build and could house more people in the same ground space than terraced housing. The lack of gardens was offset with green spaces around the blocks. At first people also liked the views from their windows, high above all other homes in the area but the buildings were poorly made and deteriorated quickly. Leaks appeared in roofs, lifts stopped working so people had to climb many flights of stairs and the green spaces were not always well looked after. Since then there have also been some serious incidents with fires, explosions and even partial collapse of some of these high-rise buildings. The reason for this need for more housing was the increase in the population, all of whom needed somewhere to live. In this period there were over 4 million more people. Put four people in each house and you need a million new homes.
Back to Around WWII Hoots - HomesForward to the Birth of the Millennials Hoots - Homes
