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Boswell Houses

Alan F Brookes

Brummie babby
I am building a model of a Boswell House, the Council Houses that were built immediately after WW1.
Does anyone have a front and back view so that I can estimate the dimensions?
 
Hi and welcome to BHF. This sounds like an interesting project. My recollection of the Boswell house in Birmingham were they were modelled on the standard pre-war brick-built house that are still commonly around.

There were some variations, depending on location did you have one in mind?
 
One of the rear of Hastings Road

View attachment 156330
Thanks. That's how I remember the back gardens just after the war, complete with Anderson shelters. Ours was buried completely, and, after the war, my Dad used it as a photographic dark room. This is pretty well the view that I got from my bedroom, which was the little room at the back of the house. I lived in that house, with my parents and grandparents, from 1945 till I was married in 1978. By cutting and pasting this image, together with a few more, into Paint.net, I was able to calculate the dimensions of the rear of the buildings.
 
Glad we could help. There are a couple of members of the forum, including myself who were involved in the repairs and maintenance of the Birmingham Council Housing Departments housing stock. While a lot of the stock followed standard pattens, there was also some variation depending on the time built, so please do ask, we will be happy to help.
 
Glad we could help. There are a couple of members of the forum, including myself who were involved in the repairs and maintenance of the Birmingham Council Housing Departments housing stock. While a lot of the stock followed standard pattens, there was also some variation depending on the time built, so please do ask, we will be happy to help.
What were the features of a "Boswell" house? I recall "concrete" houses in Pype Hayes and Tile Cross. Were these what is being discussed?
 
There was a report about the houses but not sure if it’s still available. Viv.

881CB685-A3A3-421E-842D-827F3F5BF433.jpeg
 
In a nutshell, they were a type of non-traditional construction (not brick and tiles roof) that were one of many attempts to reduce the cost of construction.

They were built off a very shallow concrete ring beam with upright concrete posts and panels that slotted in. A bit like how they do fence panels and concrete posts.

Once completed, they quickly started to show signs of defects and structural instability. I know the houses around Pype Hays needed tie bars inserting. I have to mend one on Erdington Hall Road once.
 
Living in Perry Common what is the difference between a Boswell, and the Boot houses that had to be demolished?
It’s interesting that both Perry Common, and Pype Hayes both had vast housing stock demolished, and were regenerated, but not on the same scale of houses demolished.
 
Good question, but slightly harder to answer. Boswell, and Boot houses were similar in their construction and made by different companies. Looking at them its almost impossible to tell them apart.

There has been quite a lot writing about the problems of non-traditional construction, so it is hard to get an overview. My recollection are that the houses in Pype Hayes developed structural defects quite soon after construction and had to be reinforced. I understand that these were the Boswell type, but will stand to be corrected.

The Boot houses around Perry Common seem to look sound but were developing a weakness in the concrete stanchions. They used to call it concrete cancer.

I don’t know what the number of affected houses were or how many were built to replace them.
 
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