![Edith Avenue in Moss Side](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Edith_Avenue_in_Moss_Side.jpg)
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
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...
in
central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
, and the
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Georg ...
that defines the
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
of
Bath.
The design became a popular way to provide high-density accommodation for the
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 colou ...
in the 19th century, when terraced houses were built extensively in urban areas throughout
Victorian Britain
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
. Though numerous terraces have been
cleared and demolished, many remain and have regained popularity in the 21st century.
Definition
Terraced house
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 ...
s, as defined by various bylaws established in the 19th century, particularly the
Public Health Act 1875, are distinguished by properties connecting directly to each other in a row, sharing a
party wall
A party wall (occasionally parti-wall or parting wall, also known as common wall or as a demising wall) is a dividing partition between two adjoining buildings that is shared by the occupants of each residence or business. Typically, the builder ...
. A house may be several storeys high, two or three rooms deep, and optionally contain a basement and attic. In this configuration, a terraced house may be known as a
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 ...
, having a ground and first floor with two rooms on each. Most terraced houses have a duo pitch
gable roof
A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ca ...
.
For a typical two-up two-down house, the front room has historically been the
parlour
A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...
, or reception room, where guests would be entertained, while the rear would act as a living room and private area. Many terraced houses are extended by a back projection, which may or may not be the same height as the main build. A terraced house has windows at both the front and the back of the house; if a house connects directly to a property at the rear, it is a
back to back house
Back-to-backs are a form of terraced houses in the United Kingdom, 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 for the rapidly ...
. 19th century terraced houses, especially those designed for working-class families, did not typically have a
bathroom
A bathroom or washroom is a room, typically in a home or other residential building, that contains either a bathtub or a shower (or both). The inclusion of a wash basin is common. In some parts of the world e.g. India, a toilet is typically i ...
or
toilet
A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popu ...
with a modern drainage system; instead these would have a
privy
Privy is an old-fashioned term for an outdoor toilet, often known as an outhouse and by many other names. Privy may also refer to:
* Privy council, a body that advises the head of state
* Privy mark, a small mark in the design of a coin
* Privy Pur ...
using ash to deodorise human waste.
Origin
![Bath Circus 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Bath_Circus_3.JPG)
Terraced houses were introduced to London from Italy in the 1630s.
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
was laid out to resemble the
Palazzo Thiene
Palazzo Thiene is a 15th-16th-century palace in Vicenza, northern Italy, designed for Marcantonio and Adriano Thiene, probably by Giulio Romano, in 1542,Andrew Hopkins, 2002. ''Italian Architecture from Michelangelo to Borromini''; p. 21. and revi ...
in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
. Terraces first became popular in England when
Nicholas Barbon
Nicholas Barbon ( 1640 – 1698) was an English economist, physician, and financial speculator. Historians of mercantilism consider him to be one of the first proponents of the free market.
In the aftermath of the Great Fire of London, he be ...
began rebuilding London after the
Great Fire in 1666.
The terrace was designed to hold family and servants together in one place, as opposed to separate servant quarters, and came to be regarded as a "higher form of life". They became a trademark of
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Georg ...
in Britain, including
Grosvenor Square
Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable re ...
, London, in 1727 and Queen's Square,
Bath, in 1729.
[ The parlour became the largest room in the house, and the area where the aristocracy would entertain and impress their guests.
17th and 18th-century terraced houses did not use as sophisticated construction methods. Building materials were supplied locally, using stone where possible (such as ]Bath stone
Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...
in the eponymous city), otherwise firing brick from clay. The house was divided into small rooms partly for structural reasons, and partly because it was more economical to supply timber in shorter lengths. The London Building Act of 1774 made it a legal requirement for all terraced houses there to have a minimum wall thickness and a party wall extending above the roofline to help prevent fire spreading along the terrace, along with other specified basic building requirements. However, these requirements did not extend elsewhere, and towns had varying requirements until the mid-19th century.
19th century
Terraced houses were still considered desirable architecture at the start of the 19th century. The architect John Nash included terraced houses when designing Regent's Park
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...
in 1811, as it would allow individual tenants to feel as if they owned their own mansion.
The terraced house reached mass popularity in the mid-19th century as a result of increased migration to urban areas. Between 1841 and 1851, towns in England grew over 25% in size, at which point over half the population lived in urban areas; this increased further to nearly 80% by 1911. Terraced houses became an economical solution to fit large numbers of people into a relatively constricted area. Many terraced houses were built in the South Wales Valleys in the mid to late 19th century owing to the large-scale expansion of coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
there. In the Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ('' ...
, the population increased from 4,000 in 1861 to 163,000 in 1891. Because of the imposing local geography, containing narrow river valleys surrounded by mountains, terraced houses were the most economic means of providing sufficient accommodation for workers and their families.
Nationwide legislation for terraced housing began to be introduced during the Victorian era. The 1858 Local Government Act stated that a street containing terraced houses had to be at least wide with houses having a minimum open area at the rear of , and specified the distance between properties should not be less than the height of each. Other building codes inherited from various local councils defined a minimum set of requirements for drainage, lighting and ventilation. The various acts led to a uniform design of terraced houses that was replicated in streets throughout the country.
This design was still basic, however; for example, in 1906, only 750 houses out of 10,000 in Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
had an indoor WC. Sanitation was handled, imperfectly, by outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry toilet, dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may als ...
s (privies) shared between several dwellings. These were originally various forms of "earth closet" (such as the Rochdale system of municipal collection) until legislation forced their conversion to "water closet" (flush toilet
A flush toilet (also known as a flushing toilet, water closet (WC) – see also 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 another lo ...
).
Terraced houses were as popular in working-class Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
as in Britain. The Bogside
The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The large gable-wall murals by the Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard Féile (an annual music and arts festival held in a former gasyard) are p ...
in Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
is composed mainly of traditional Victorian terraces and their overcrowding in the mid-20th century was a key trigger for the Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
.
Though many working-class people lived in terraces, they were also popular with middle classes in some areas, particularly the North of England. In 1914, despite the introduction of newer housing, terraces still catered for 71% of the population in 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 populati ...
. In some areas, these terraces contained 70–80 houses per acre. Houses were generally allowed to be used for commercial purposes, with many front rooms being converted to a shop front and giving rise to the corner shop
A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery tick ...
. By the 1890s, larger terraces designed for lower-middle-class families were being built. These contained eight or nine rooms each and included upstairs bathrooms and indoor toilets.
20th century
Terraced houses began to be perceived as obsolete following World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the rise of the suburban semi-detached
A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single family duplex dwelling house that shares one common wall with the next house. The name distinguishes this style of house from detached houses, with no shared walls, and terraced house ...
house. After new legislation for suburban housing was introduced in 1919, Victorian terraces became associated with overcrowding and slums, and were avoided. Terraced houses continued to be used by the working class in the 1920s and 30s, though Tudor Walters
Sir John Tudor Walters PC (25 February 1866 – 16 July 1933) was a Welsh architect, surveyor and Liberal Party politician. He served as Paymaster-General under David Lloyd George from 1919 to 1922 and once again briefly in 1931 under Rams ...
state owned houses, such as those in Becontree
Becontree or Both pronunciations are given as Received Pronunciation in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, but the form is prioritised (). The dialectologist Peter Wright wrote in 1981 that is the traditional pronunciation in the cockney ...
, became another option. Developers built "short terraces" of only a few contiguous houses, to resemble semi-detached housing. Back to back housing, popular for 19th century low-class homes throughout Northern England, was outlawed in most towns by 1909, finally becoming obsolete in Leeds by 1937. Although the worst slums deemed "unfit for human habitation" were demolished, progress on removing terraced estates was slow. The criteria of what constituted a "slum" gradually rose during the early 20th century, such that by the 1950s it was applied to houses that had been previously considered perfectly acceptable. The Housing Act 1957 set a new mandatory set of requirements for houses, including running hot water, inside or "readily accessible" toilet, and artificial lighting and heating in all rooms, which required modernisation of Victorian terraces.
Since the 1950s, successive governments have looked unfavourably on terraced houses, believing them to be outdated and attempting to clear the worst slum
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...
s.[ Between 1960 and 1967, around half a million houses deemed unfit were demolished. ]Tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building
A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently ...
s began to replace terraces in working class areas, though public opinion began to change against them following incidents such as the collapse of the Ronan Point
Ronan Point was a 22-storey tower block in Canning Town in Newham, East London, that partly collapsed on 16 May 1968, only two months after it had opened. A gas explosion blew out some load-bearing walls, causing the collapse of one entire cor ...
tower block in 1968. By the 1970s, traditional urban terraces were being upgraded by fitting modern bathroom and heating systems, and began to become popular again. Residents in Leeds began to protest against the blanket demolition of back to back houses, saying they were perfectly acceptable accommodation for the elderly and low-income households.
21st century
In 2002, the Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
government introduced the Housing Market Renewal Initiative
The Housing Market Renewal Initiative (HMRI) or Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinders programme was a controversial Cole, Ian and Flint, John ''Addressing housing affordability, clearance and relocation issues in the Housing Market Renewal Path ...
scheme, which would see many terraced houses demolished and replaced with modern homes, in order to attract middle-class people into area and improve its quality. The scheme was controversial and unsuccessful, as many of the terraces that had survived the 1960s cull were well-built and maintained, and has led to many derelict terraces in urban areas. In 2012, 400 homes 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 popul ...
were planned to be demolished; a small number were saved, including the birthplace of the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
in the Welsh Streets.
Despite their association with the working class and Victorian Britain, terraced houses remain popular. In 2007, a report by Halifax Estate Agents
Halifax (previously known as Halifax Building Society and colloquially known as The Halifax) is a British banking brand operating as a trading division of Bank of Scotland, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group.
It is named ...
showed prices of terraces had increased by 239% over the past ten years, with an average price of £125,058.[ By 2013, the average price for a terraced house had exceeded £200,000. Conversely, ]Wales Online
Media Wales Ltd. is a publishing company based in Cardiff, Wales. As of 2009 it was owned by Reach plc (formerly known as the Trinity Mirror Group). It was previously known as the Western Mail & Echo Ltd.
History
The ''Western Mail'' was fo ...
reported in 2011 that a terraced house in Maerdy
Maerdy (, cy, Y Maerdy) is a village and community (and electoral ward) in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying at the head of the Rhondda Fach Valley.
History
"Maerdy" i ...
, Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ('' ...
, was one of the cheapest on the market at £7,000. In 2015, the television show DIY SOS
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
filmed a group project to rebuild a street of derelict terraced houses in Newton Heath
Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883.
Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial Re ...
, Manchester, as homes for retired war veterans. Because few terraced houses are listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
, they are easier to convert as planning permission
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
is either unnecessary or simpler, with English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
describing them as being 60% cheaper to maintain on average. By 2011, a fifth of new houses built in Britain were terraced, and recreations of classic Georgian terraces have been built, such as at Richmond Lock.
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
Search for Spinners' End
A description of working class terraced house evolution used to postulate on a fictional location.
{{Housing in the United Kingdom
House styles
House types in the United Kingdom
Urban studies and planning terminology
Architecture in the United Kingdom
Housing in the United Kingdom