Thom, A; (2017) Miles of silly little dirty houses’: the lessons of Victorian Battersea. In: Guillery, P and Kroll, D, (eds.) Mobilising Housing Histories: Learning from London's Past. RIBA Publishing: London.

Text Thom_Mobilising House Histories Draft Chapter Revised March 2016.pdf Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (603kB)

Abstract

This paper looks at the building boom that accompanied Battersea’s spectacular population growth in the second half of the nineteenth century and considers the contrasting stories and trajectories of the houses provided in both the north and south of the area. It describes briefly the rapid provision of mass housing for families of generally low income, and investigates the adaptability of the Victorian terraced-house plan for multiple occupation and the eventual introduction of ‘cottage flats’ and maisonettes as the ideal form of housing for such an increasingly densely built-up district. The paper also takes into account questions of permanence, sustainability and the life-span of such housing, as well as its gentrification, and considers what lessons can be learnt for the future in terms of conservation and new housing provision.

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