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Prefabs

According to my notes this photograph in Desford Road is of the Hope Family and was taken in the late 1940s. To the best of my knowledge all the post war prefabs that were supplied under the Temporary Housing Programme had refrigerators.
Not our design but yes many had .
 
Thanks for your reply. What type of prefab did you live in?
We lived in the type that was erected in Beeches Road (just down from the Nursery) and in Trehurst Avenue. I cant recall any locally which had the same design but do remember seeing one of the same or near design at Duxford Airfield. There may have been some in Bristol but that could be a fuzzy memory rather than reality!!! I will have a look through old photos at home to see if any exist and ask one of my old neighbours. The type had a flat roof and a "trellis" effect on the side of the porch- very useful for climbing up to access the roof- my brother was fond of climbing up to sunbath- I usually stacked the fire with suitable materials to smoke him off!!!!!
 
This photo is earlier in the thread and shows objects on the roofs enclosing the flues. I was told (when I was a lad) that they were water tanks and the hot flues pre-heated the water. Now, older and a bit wiser, I realise that they could freeze in cold winters so were probably not water tanks. Not all prefab designs had them as other photos in the thread show. Does anyone know what they were?
SladeRdPrefabs.jpg
 
The prefabs did have an open coal fire that would have required a brick-built chimney stack. This was the top that had to pass beyond the roof timbers as a fire precaution. I have been on the roofs of these prefabs in Slade Road when they modernised the roofs from flat to pitched.

Interestingly, they did have a warm air heat exchanger in the hot water tank cupboard that sent warm air to the bedrooms. The water was heating by the fire.
 
We lived in the type that was erected in Beeches Road (just down from the Nursery) and in Trehurst Avenue. I cant recall any locally which had the same design but do remember seeing one of the same or near design at Duxford Airfield. There may have been some in Bristol but that could be a fuzzy memory rather than reality!!! I will have a look through old photos at home to see if any exist and ask one of my old neighbours. The type had a flat roof and a "trellis" effect on the side of the porch- very useful for climbing up to access the roof- my brother was fond of climbing up to sunbath- I usually stacked the fire with suitable materials to smoke him off!!!!!
There were 45 prefabs in Trehurst Avenue and they were called the UK100. This was the only post war prefab type not designed in the UK. It was made in the USA by the Tennessee Valley Authority from wood and a material called Homasote, which was in fact a cardboard based material. They were slightly smaller the British prefabs and were composed of a hundred sections hence its name UK100. One of the stories we heard was from a Jenny Faulkner who, as a child lived in one of the nice Tarran prefabs on the Portobello Estate in Willenhall. Some of the Portobello prefabs were the American type. Jenny said that “Those of us who lived in the gravel prefabs (Tarrans) rather looked down on the houses of those who lived in what we called the cardboard prefabs”.
So the class system lived on, even in prefab land!
This photograph is of a UK100 prefab on display at the Tate gallery in London in 1945.

UK100 or American prefabricated house in in the grounds of the Tate Gallery - London - 14 July...jpg
 
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There were 45 prefabs in Trehurst Avenue and they were called the UK100. This was the only post war prefab type not designed in the UK. It was made in the USA by the Tennessee Valley Authority from wood and a material called Homasote, which was in fact a cardboard based material. They were slightly smaller the British prefabs and were composed of a hundred sections hence its name UK100. One of the stories we heard was from a Jenny Faulkner who, as a child lived in one of the nice Tarran prefabs on the Portobello Estate in Willenhall. Some of the Portobello prefabs were the American type. Jenny said that “Those of us who lived in the gravel prefabs (Tarrans) rather looked down on the houses of those who lived in what we called the cardboard prefabs”.
So the class system lived on, even in prefab land!
This photograph is of a UK100 prefab on display at the Tate gallery in London in 1945.

View attachment 149304
That's it!!! Brilliant photo!!! My Mother always said that the prefab was American QED!!! The only change that came with time was the fitting of a fire escape in the back bedroom in the late 1950's. And yes it was cardboard eventually it was externally painted with a thick paint. Yes there was a lot of snobbery about prefabs and I remember it being voiced as a child and teenager - it bemused and amused me probably as a result of a grounded upbringing . However having moved from Hockley to the edge of the city meant as children and later teenagers we had the benefit of access to a city and what was effectively countryside. An old friend of mine who lived down the avenue often says we were privileged to have lived there because of the dual access. We always had a fire in the grate to heat the water using a back boiler -very much a habit from there always being a fire in the range of our back to back for cooking etc and to keep "the place aired". A few years (1990's) after demolition in the1980's I visited the site and at that time the then grassed over area still had our Lilac and Rowan where the bottom of the garden ran.
 
That's it!!! Brilliant photo!!! My Mother always said that the prefab was American QED!!! The only change that came with time was the fitting of a fire escape in the back bedroom in the late 1950's. And yes it was cardboard eventually it was externally painted with a thick paint. Yes there was a lot of snobbery about prefabs and I remember it being voiced as a child and teenager - it bemused and amused me probably as a result of a grounded upbringing . However having moved from Hockley to the edge of the city meant as children and later teenagers we had the benefit of access to a city and what was effectively countryside. An old friend of mine who lived down the avenue often says we were privileged to have lived there because of the dual access. We always had a fire in the grate to heat the water using a back boiler -very much a habit from there always being a fire in the range of our back to back for cooking etc and to keep "the place aired". A few years (1990's) after demolition in the1980's I visited the site and at that time the then grassed over area still had our Lilac and Rowan where the bottom of the garden ran.
Mind more of a Thick Composite Cardboard than a Kellogg's box!!!!!
 
I remember walking to my nan's house as a little girl and seeing the prefabs that ran along the edge of Witton Lakes Park (Perry Common Road). Not sure how long they have been gone, but a good number of years I would think
 
I remember those too, it was quite a large estate of prefabs that extended all the way along Maxted Road to College Road
 
Are there any tradesmen around who worked for Birmingham City Housing who remember the dilemmas of working on pre fabs or council house modernisations containing asbestos? I'm interested in the the 60' 70's and 80's. If you have asbestosis like my carpenter husband you may be able to help us.
 
Reading through these posts about Prefabs, makes me realize that they were loved homes, people cared for them with pride, and although old , never wanted to be moved out of them. I have stated before on this thread, that as a boy had many friends who lived in these, (wonderlands), for want of a better metaphor. Fridges, unheard of in this time period for working class, laid out fitted kitchens, also unheard of, bath and inside toilet, integrated heating and fire system, they were like little palaces, they came with an outside shed, and garden back and front, I was quite jealous as a kid they would be an answer for all the homeless ills we suffer from in today's society. Paul
 
Off on a bit of a tangent here with nothing to do with the technicalities of prefabs.. I went to school with a mate who lived in a prefab somewhere on the No 17 route (Hobs Moor Rd?) As I lived in a flat on the Coventry Rd in Small Heath, his detached home with beautiful gardens front and back seemed a real step up from where I was living.
 
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