Semi-detached

A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single family

Semi-detached houses are the most common property type in the United Kingdom (UK). They accounted for 32% of UK housing transactions and 32% of the English housing stock in 2008.^[1] Between 1945 and 1964, 41% of all properties built were semis. After 1980, the proportion of semis built fell to 15%.^[2]

History of the semi-detached house in the United Kingdom

Housing the rural working classes

Housing for the farm labourer in 1815 typically had one downstairs room with an extension for a scullery and pantry, and two bedrooms upstairs. The house would be of brick, stone if it occurred locally, or

In the late 18th century, estate villages followed local architectural styles. This later changed as landowners adopted model designs from pattern books. By the early 19th century, landowners were typically using a "picturesque" style, and building double cottages as a way to reduce cost. In 1834, Edinburgh architect George Smith wrote "this species of cottage can be built cheaper than two single ones, and, in general, these double cottages are found to be warmer and fully as comfortable as single ones".[5]^[6]

Housing the urban working classes

At the same time as the huge increase in the population of the rural counties there was an even greater shift in population from the impoverished land to the large towns and to cities. Society was restructuring, with the labouring classes dividing into artisans and labourers. In the cities, labourers were housed in overcrowded

In 1866 the Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes built Alexander Cottages at Beckenham in Kent, on land provided by the Duke of Westminster. The development initially comprised 16 pairs of semis. By 1868, they had built 164 semis.^[7]

In

The development of Port Sunlight and Bournville was important. The Port Sunlight model village was begun in 1887. William Lever used architects William Owen and his son Segar Owen and stated in 1888 that:

It is my and my brother's hope, some day, to build houses in which our work-people will be able to live and be comfortable – semi-detached houses with gardens back and front, in which they will be able to know more about the science of life than they can in a back-to-back slum.^[10]

At Bournville in 1879 the

The middle class became an important and expanding group in the 19th century. With industrialisation came material gain to the capitalist entrepreneur. New professions came into existence to serve their needs: insurers, engineers, designers. The growth in the population required more architects, lawyers, teachers, doctors, dentists and shopkeepers. Hierarchical tiers emerged within the middle class, each watching each other's status. According to A New system of Practical Domestic Economy (1820–1840), being middle class required an income of £150 p.a. or more.[11] In 1851, 3 million out of a total population of 18 million in the UK would have been considered to be middle class. ^[12]

Semi-detached houses for the middle class began to be planned systematically in late 18th-century Georgian architecture, as a suburban compromise between the terraced houses close to the city centre, and the detached "villas" further out, where land was cheaper. There are occasional examples of such houses in town centres going back to medieval times. Most early examples are in areas such as Blackheath, Chalk Farm and St John's Wood, now the outer fringes of Central London.^[13] Richard Gillow of Lancaster (1734-1811) was designing 'semis' or pairs of houses in that town as early as 1757, in Moor Lane. The earliest identifiable surviving pair is that built in 1759 on Cable Street (now facing the bus station and partly demolished) for Captain Henry Fell and Samuel Simpson. The specification for this building still survives in the Gillow archives.

In these early years a common style was a row of houses in which several pairs of semi-detached houses are linked by a wall along the frontage. An example is The Paragon in Blackheath, where a blank colonnade runs between the houses. Most early examples were relatively large houses with access at the rear.^[10]

During the 19th century, a father and son architectural partnership, John Shaw Sr. and John Shaw Jr., drew up designs for semi-detached housing in London. Examples of their work can be seen in Chalk Farm, North London. John Nash, better known for his Regency terraces, built some semi-detached villas either side of the Regent's Canal. These were styled to appear as substantial single detached villas with the entrances to the side. Similarly, the landscape gardener John Claudius Loudon built a pair of semi-detached villas fashioned to appear as a single house in Porchester Terrace in 1825. In his 1838 book The Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion he gives advice on how to disguise the join between the houses by using false windows.^[14][15]

Late 19th century and 20th century

The

After the Second World War, there was a chronic shortage of houses. In the short term this was relieved by the construction of

The recommendations of the Parker Morris Committee became mandatory for all public housing from 1967 till 1980. Initially the private sector adopted them too, but gradually lowered their standards.^[20]

Outside the United Kingdom and Ireland

Although semi-detached housing is built throughout the world, it is generally seen as particularly symbolic of the

In

Semi-detached homes continued to be built in the post-war period, often alongside detached types such as the bungalow. They remain popular with developers as they are cheaper to build than detached houses. According to the 2006 census, Toronto had more than 139,000 semis, more than any other Canadian city by a wide margin.^[24] Red-brick semis are a common sight throughout downtown and older suburbs.^{[citation needed]}

Cultural references

• "Semi-Detached, Suburban Mr. James", written and performed by Manfred Mann, is a satirical song about a lost love marrying a boring man from semi-detached suburbia. It was released in 1966 and reached No. 2 in the UK charts.
• live album by Richard Thompson
  .
• "My Pink Half of The Drainpipe", written and performed by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, satirises neighbourly relations and ownership of property, referring to the practice of each family painting only one half of the drainpipe that runs down the centre of the dividing line between properties.
• “Wisemen” is a song written and performed by British artist James Blunt, and refers to three wise men having a “semi” by the sea.

See also

• Single-family detached home
• Linked house

References

Citations

1. ^ Anon. "Special Feature 2: Semi-Detached Properties" (PDF). Nationwide: House prices. Nationwide. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
2. ^ The Guardian Wednesday 20 January 2010, Patrick Collinson, "50 years on: homes are more expensive but loos are indoors" London p.17
3. ^ Burnett 1986, p. 34.
4. ^ ^{a b} Burnett 1986, p. 35.
5. ^ Smith 1834, p. 27.
6. ^ Lofthouse 2012, Housing the Rural Working Classes.
7. ^ ^{a b} Lofthouse 2012, Housing the Urban Working Classes.
8. ^ Burnett 1986, p. 94.
9. ^ Burnett 1986, p. 95.
10. ^ ^{a b c d} Lofthouse 2012.
11. ^ A new system of practical domestic economy: founded on modern discoveries, and the private communications of persons of experience. London: Colburn and Bentley. 1831.
12. ^ Burnett 1986, pp. 98–99.
13. ^ "Where, when and by whom were semi-detached houses first built? – Notes and Queries – guardian.co.uk". www.theguardian.com.
14. ^ Loudon, John Claudius (1838). The Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion. London: Printed for the author and sold by Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans; and W. Black, Edinburgh.
15. ^ Wainwright, Oliver (1 April 2015). "The grand London 'semi' that spawned a housing revolution – a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 8". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
16. ^ "BBC - Standard Grade Bitesize History - Public health : Revision, Page 3".
17. ^ Burnett 1986, p. 223.
18. ^ ^{a b} UWE 2008, Section 4..
19. ^ NHBC 2015, p. 5.
20. ^ Park 2017, p. 23.
21. ^ "The Tale of the Two-Flat". wbez.org. August 20, 2014.
22. ^ Kyles, Shannon. "Styles Page". ontarioarchitecture.com.
23. ^ "StackPath". www.oaa.on.ca. Archived from the original on 2015-04-27.
24. ^ Mirsky, Jesse (3 March 2012). "Don't get too attached: A primer on the semi". National Post.

Sources cited

• Burnett, John (1986). A social history of housing : 1815-1985 (2nd ed.). New York: Methuen.
  ISBN 978-0416367805
  .
• Lofthouse, Pamela (2012). "The Development of English Semi-detached Dwellings During the Nineteenth Century".
  doi:10.5334/pia.404
  .
• Park, Julia. "One hundred years of space standards" (PDF). Housing Space Standards. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
• Smith, George (1834). Essay on the Construction of Cottages Suites for the Dwellings of the Labouring Classes. Glasgow: Blackie & Son.
• Sir
  ISBN 0712620958. (Also see revised edition, edited by Howard Colvin
  , 2003)
• Turner, Clive (2015). The making of modern housing - NHBC (PDF). Milton Keynes: NHBC Foundation.
  ISBN 978-0-9930691-3-0
  .
• "History of Council Housing". University of the West of England. 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Semi-detached houses.

• The Semi-Detached House by Hon. Emily Eden (1797-1869), published London: R. Bentley, 1859.