![Harold Grove LS6 8 July 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Harold_Grove_LS6_8_July_2017.jpg)
Back-to-backs are a form of
terraced houses in the United Kingdom
Terraced houses have been popular in the United Kingdom, particularly England and Wales, since the 17th century. They were originally built as desirable properties, such as the townhouses for the nobility around Regent's Park in central London, ...
, built from the late 18th century through to the early 20th century in various guises. Many thousands of these dwellings were built during the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
for the
rapidly increasing population of expanding
factory town
A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe
Italy
* '' Crespi d'Adda'', UNESCO World H ...
s. Back-to-backs share
party walls on three of their four sides, with the front wall having the only door and windows.
As back-to-backs were built as the cheapest possible housing for the impoverished working class, their construction was usually sub-standard. Their configuration did not allow for sufficient ventilation or sanitation. Toilets and water supplies were shared with multiple households in enclosed courtyards. Back-to-backs gained an unfavourable reputation for poor levels of health and hygiene.
Around the mid-19th century,
this form of housing was deemed unsatisfactory and a hazard to health. The passage of the
Public Health Act 1875 permitted
municipal corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ...
s to ban new back-to-backs, replaced in the next phase of building by
byelaw terraced house
A byelaw terraced house is a type of dwelling built to comply with the Public Health Act 1875. It is a type of British terraced house at the opposite end of the social scale from the aristocratic townhouse, but a marked improvement on the pre ...
s.
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...
opted not to enforce the ban, however; the popularity of back-to-back houses with builders and residents led to their continued construction in Leeds until the 1930s.
Most back-to-backs were demolished in waves of
slum clearance
Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
s, although many remain in Leeds and Bradford. The cities of Birmingham and Liverpool, where thousands of back-to-backs were built, both chose to retain a single example as a tourist attraction. The
Birmingham Back to Backs are now operated as a
historic house museum
A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...
by the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
; other museum examples of back-to-back houses are managed by the
Museum of Liverpool
The Museum of Liverpool in Liverpool, England, tells the story of Liverpool and its people, and reflects the city's global significance. It opened 2011 as newest addition to the National Museums Liverpool group replacing the former Museum of ...
and
Bradford Industrial Museum.
Description
![Back-to-back court- Birmingham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Back-to-back_court-_Birmingham.svg)
Low quality houses were constructed for
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...
people at a high density, with scant regard for space, comfort or quality of life. Most back-to-backs were small: early examples had just a single room on each floor, while later houses were
two-up two-down
Two-up two-down is a type of small house with two rooms on the ground floor and two bedrooms upstairs.
There are many types of terraced houses in the United Kingdom, and these are among the most modest. Those built before 1875, the pre-regulat ...
. Every house shared a rear wall, whether with a house directly behind or with an industrial building. Given that the house usually shared three of its four walls with neighbouring buildings, back-to-back houses were notoriously ill-lit and poorly ventilated.
Such was the initial lack of consideration for hygiene, that some houses were found to have been built over open drains covered only by boards.
The term "back-to-back" should not be confused with "through"
terraced houses
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
, the backs of which face each other across an alleyway, and are thus not contiguous like a true back-to-back. Back-to-back houses can also be known as blind-backs,
particularly when built up against factory walls, or occasionally as a terrace of houses standing on its own.
History
Early houses
![Backtoback1893](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Backtoback1893.jpg)
Population in the city of Leeds was around 30,000 by 1800, which later doubled and then tripled, creating a problem of insufficient housing. The first back-to-back houses were built by 1790 in
Briggate, Leeds, by opportunists who realised the structural setup allowed for a cost saving by not requiring roads or drainage, with
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...
housing up to 300 people in 60–75 properties per acre. There was no universally accepted blueprint for how the houses should be constructed; the worst (and often earliest) had a single room on each floor and no
damp proofing
Damp proofing in construction is a type of moisture control applied to building walls and floors to prevent moisture from passing into the interior spaces. Dampness problems are among the most frequent problems encountered in residences.
''Damp p ...
. Sanitation comprised
earth toilets in whatever available space existed, which may have been underneath bedrooms, and a public water supply from intermittent
standpipes. Initially, houses were built around a communal courtyard, but later they were built onto streets.
Houses of this type had become common in
inner city
The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...
areas of
Victorian England, especially in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
,
Bradford,
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
and in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
, where about 7,500 of their 11,000 houses (roughly 68 per cent) were built back-to-back. Town authorities were well aware that back-to-backs were undesirable, but seemed unable to prevent their construction. The Building and Improvement Committee reported to Bradford Council that more than three-quarters of new dwellings were "laid out upon that objectionable principle".
The passage of the
Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875
The Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict c 36) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom designed by Richard Cross, Home Secretary during Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's second Conservative Governmen ...
gave councils permission to
compulsory purchase
Compulsion may refer to:
* Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so.
* Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by ...
slum housing, but few took advantage of the opportunity.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, owners of mills and mines built significant numbers of back-to-backs to maximize the number of workers that could live in the least amount of space, while keeping costs low. Advocates of the design suggested that they were easier to keep warm owing to their single outside wall, but the absence of rear yards meant there was no space for exterior toilets, only communal ones that spread diseases rapidly.
In the oldest parts of Birmingham, early back-to-back houses were associated with filth, poor ventilation and pools of stagnant water, despite being home to the greatest number of working-class people within the city.
19th century
![Plans an pictures of back-to-back houses in Nottingham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Plans_an_pictures_of_back-to-back_houses_in_Nottingham._Wellcome_L0011651.jpg)
Rapid
urbanisation
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the ...
led to fields and
allotments disappearing in favour of cheaply built houses, often tightly packed together into the smallest space available. Houses were built on top of inadequate foundations and with substandard materials to reduce costs. Each house was separated by a single brick depth with a small room on each floor; ground-floor rooms served multiple purposes, as the remaining available space was used for bedrooms.
By the 1830s, back-to-back houses had gained a reputation nationwide for spreading disease, and major cities including Manchester and Liverpool prohibited their construction in the 1840s and 1860s respectively. The Leeds Improvement Act of 1866 imposed regulations on the building of new houses, which included gated yards, wider streets and improved interior design. The
Medical Officer for Health
A medical officer of health, also known as a medical health officer, chief health officer, chief public health officer or district medical officer, is the title commonly used for the senior government official of a health department, usually at a ...
unsuccessfully sought to abolish their construction in about 1880, by which time population density had improved to 200 people living in 50–60 houses per acre.
Significant change came with the introduction of the
byelaw terraced house
A byelaw terraced house is a type of dwelling built to comply with the Public Health Act 1875. It is a type of British terraced house at the opposite end of the social scale from the aristocratic townhouse, but a marked improvement on the pre ...
to comply with the
Public Health Act 1875. Further improvements were introduced in 1890, such as the inclusion of a basement or ground-floor kitchen, a small garden and a private toilet for each household. Subsequent acts including the
Housing of the Working Classes Act 1885
The Housing of the Working Classes Act 1885 ( 48 & 49 Vict. c. 72) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Sections 7 to 10 of this Act are amongst the enactments which may be cited as the Public Health Acts.
Background
In the Nove ...
and the
Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890
The Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890 ( 53 & 54 Vict. c. 70) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Background
The Housing of the Working Classes Act 1885 was a public health act, not a housing act. It empowered local authoriti ...
imposed additional construction requirements.
Leeds appears to have been a special case. Figures from 1899 suggest that 72 per cent of all houses constructed annually in that city were back-to-back, identical to 15 years prior, a percentage that did not decrease until 1914. Small families with children in the city had little choice but to live in back-to-back houses, as they dominated the affordable market. It was anticipated that the byelaw terraced house regulation would prevent the construction of back-to-back houses, yet Leeds Council initially opted not to enforce it, particularly where building contractors unmotivated by social or aesthetic considerations could influence decisions to ensure their own contracts and interests were put ahead of build quality. Consequently, the density of housing in some areas, as well as its manner of construction, had adverse effects on sale and rental prices, particularly as other towns offered houses with greater space and improved sanitation; a new property built in
Sunderland would have been provided with its own
water closet
A flush toilet (also known as a flushing toilet, water closet (WC) – see also Toilet#Names, toilet names) is a toilet that disposes of human waste (principally urine and feces) by using the force of water to ''flush'' it through a drainpipe to ...
, while a new property in Leeds may have had one shared, up until 1912.
20th century
Before the First World War
By the turn of the 20th century, back-to-back houses had become unpopular with residents and the government, who sought to ban their construction and eradicate existing properties nationwide. Among the primary concerns cited were health and ventilation, as statistics were revealing that residents of back-to-back houses suffered from relatively poor health. In Manchester, Dr
James Niven
James Niven (12 August 1851 – 30 September 1925) was a Scottish people, Scottish physician, perhaps best known for his work during the 1918 flu pandemic, Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918 as City of Manchester, Manchester's Medical Officer of Healt ...
noted that mortality rates among those living in back-to-back houses exceeded those from through-houses by 40 per cent, along with an increased incidence of infectious diseases and diarrhoea. A change in the law in 1909 forbade the erection of this style of house.
Between the wars
The advent of
council housing after the First World War resulted in councils organising programmes of statutory
slum clearance
Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
s as part of post-war housing redevelopment programmes. Such initiatives gathered pace in the 1920s, with the beginning of mass demolition of back-to-back houses and the construction of
"homes fit for heroes".
In Leeds during the early 20th century, the local council had spent about £1 million (equivalent to £ in ) in acquiring older, inadequate back-to-back houses for demolition,
while continuing to build improved ones of a similar style until 1937, despite being outlawed in 1909
when it was decided that houses should be of an overall higher quality. By 1926, Leeds had 72,000 of these houses, of which 32,000 were described by
Dr Christoper Addison as being "abominations", having been condemned as unfit for many years by that time, despite still being lived in;
only 12,000 (less than 17 per cent) were given a moderate health pass by
Neville Chamberlain's Unhealthy Areas Committee. Other cities had smaller numbers, such as Bradford (33,000) and Nottingham (5,000) respectively.
MP Sir John Birchall described Leeds in 1930 as having "an unenviable notoriety for its back-to-back houses", although popularity among residents had increased. He unsuccessfully proposed in 1930 to permit the construction of back-to-back houses in blocks of four, given that back-to-backs were generally cheaper to build than standard through houses and that having two external walls per property would alleviate the ventilation concerns that plagued earlier residences.
After the Second World War
Following the Second World War and
the Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
The Germa ...
aerial bombing of industrial cities, Britain was ready for a new wave of slum demolition and construction of more suitable housing. For example, Birmingham had about 40,000 back-to-backs in 1931
but only 29,182 by September 1946.
In Leeds around 1953, there were 30,000 people waiting for council housing, of which 16,000 comprised back-to-back housing built before 1844 that were pending clearance as slum housing.
Prior to 1844, the quality was sub-standard and 16,000 of these were inhabited during 1951, compared to a further 28,000 slightly better houses, which had been constructed between 1844 and 1874. The pre-1844 houses were by that time in a state of disrepair and overcrowding was a concern, particularly when families were occupying what was originally intended for single or dual occupancy.
By 1959, Leeds and Birmingham each had 60,000 back-to-back houses, and Members of Parliament were calling for the demolition to be accelerated.
William Wheeldon
William Edwin Wheeldon (20 February 1898 – 7 October 1960) was a British co-operator and municipal politician from Small Heath Borough Constituency in Birmingham who later became a Member of Parliament.
Wheeldon was born in Crewe. After attendi ...
, a
Labour and Co-operative
Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party.
Candida ...
MP, pointed out that "the most distressing thing" was that little had changed in generations:
Nationwide demolition continued through the 1960s and 1970s. Towards the end of the 1970s, Leeds was the second largest city outside London that still had around 30,000 back-to-back houses.
By the 1980s, most towns had few or no back-to-backs remaining.
Contemporary use
![Back to Back Houses - Bellshaw Street - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Back_to_Back_Houses_-_Bellshaw_Street_-_geograph.org.uk_-_405974.jpg)
Leeds and its surrounding region is the only area where back-to-back houses still exist in large numbers, having been refurbished to include
"mod cons" such as indoor bathrooms and central heating. These modernised back-to-backs are popular with residents because they are easier to maintain than typical houses. The houses have proved to be popular with
buy to let
Buy-to-let is a British phrase referring to the purchase of a property specifically to let out, that is to rent it out. A ''buy-to-let'' mortgage is a mortgage loan specifically designed for this purpose. Buy-to-let properties are usually residen ...
investors, who helped to increase prices significantly during the early-mid 2000s. The house style is also popular among student populations, as little exterior maintenance is required and they are often close to universities and colleges, particularly in the areas of
Headingley
Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...
,
Burley and
Kirkstall
Kirkstall is a north-western suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on the eastern side of the River Aire. The area sits in the Kirkstall ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds West parliamentary constituency, represented by Rachel Reeves. T ...
.
Although banned by existing
building regulations for new builds, architects are keen for the regulations to be relaxed, particularly as many of the historical health concerns associated with back to-back-housing, such as open sewers and communal toilets, are no longer relevant.
A study was conducted in 2008 to canvas the views of the communities living in these properties, to help ensure that they could continue in use into the 21st century. Seventy-five per cent of those questioned suggested that the heritage value of the houses was important to the identity of Leeds. Overall, 51 per cent of respondents were positive, and 45 per cent felt negatively towards them. Residents of these back-to-backs generally felt strongly about their heritage value, but their opinions were not valued as highly as non-residents or professionals. Despite the feedback, there was insufficient recognition that the properties should be protected because of their perceived heritage value.
Preservation as museums
![Birmingham Back to Backs exterior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Birmingham_Back_to_Backs_exterior.jpg)
The
Birmingham Back to Backs are a
historic house museum
A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...
created by
The National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
for the city's last remaining back-to-back houses. The dwellings are furnished as they would have been in the 19th century and are now
Grade II listed buildings
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
According to the BBC, this is the last example of such housing grouped around a court.
![Birmingham Back to Backs interior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Birmingham_Back_to_Backs_interior.jpg)
In
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, back-to-back court housing was once home to more than 40 per cent of its population,
before demolition during the 1960s and 1970s as part of slum house clearance programmes. A set of nine pairs of these houses survived and were restored as part of a museum attraction.
A proposal to preserve and restore the city's last surviving court housing block was made in 2016, with structural work taking place to secure the building, as well as a new roof to prevent further water damage. The project would complement the existing court dwellings at the
Museum of Liverpool
The Museum of Liverpool in Liverpool, England, tells the story of Liverpool and its people, and reflects the city's global significance. It opened 2011 as newest addition to the National Museums Liverpool group replacing the former Museum of ...
which opened in 2011 and recreates a former street from 1870 in the area around
Scotland Road
Scotland Road, known locally as Scottie Road, is the section of the A59 road situated near the docks in the Vauxhall district of north Liverpool, England.
History
Scotland Road was created in the 1770s as a turnpike road to Preston, Lancashir ...
.
The
Bradford Industrial Museum has a block of back-to-backs decorated as dwellings of 1875, the Second World War, and the 1970s.
See also
*
Nagaya (architecture), a Japanese version
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
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External links
Back-to-back housing in Reading
{{Housing in the United Kingdom
House types in the United Kingdom
Urban studies and planning terminology
Slums in Europe
Industrial Revolution in England
Public health in the United Kingdom
Public housing in England
Courtyards
Working-class culture in the United Kingdom