1891 - Coulson - South Shields - *The house, not the people*

[dtcoulson]

Took me a moment to get past the leggy women but I found the shop at no 43 Tennant St.

All street views from early twentieth century... fantastic.
And the tough looking lads from the screen pit!
Gives an impression of what neighbours my grandfather probably ran around with.

Thanks.

-DC

[heywood]

In my home, as was probably the norm, the other downstairs room was a ‘front room’ - maybe some people called it a parlour.
This was only used on high days and holidays and contained the best furniture - ornate sideboard, piano etc.
This was in the 1950s.
My parents had one bedroom and the other slept a grandparent and two children.
Next door though, there was a grandma, her daughter, the granddaughter with husband and young adult grandson.
I don’t know how they organised their sleeping arrangements and it didn’t seem unusual at the time. 

[dtcoulson]

You anticipated my question, Heywood.

I was going to ask about that front room, which you say was called a parlour.
If the extra bodies in the house used this as a bedroom then it means that people
walked through a bedroom from the front door to get to the kitchen which functioned
as much as a communal space. There'd be clothes and belongings spread out all over the floor and chairs and tables, maybe a couple of cot beds that folded up and leaned against a wall during the day? I imagine a fairly chaotic and oderous house.

Interesting remark earlier about a basement.
Did these houses typically have basements?
What about lofts? Maybe a ladder going through a hole in the ceiling to a loft where someone could sleep?

-DC

[heywood]

I think you have to accept that living styles and standards were very different and we find it hard to envisage what it was like.
There wouldn’t be lots of clothes, although with that number one daily and one Sunday best outfit would mount up.
Yes, some houses did have attics too.
Thinking back to my childhood, the back door was generally used rather than  the front door in our row of houses because they were easily accessed. We had a back yard with a toilet and coal place.
There were some Courts near us, where toilets were at the end of a shared yard and some families even shared toilets. There were also back to back houses, where the occupants had to walk to a row of toilets. These houses were all from the era of your family and indeed there are many still in my town and many other towns which have been renovated. You posted a photo of similar ones.
That’s my vague history lesson of the day done  Some rootschatters will have much better knowledge of living conditions in 1891.

[Ruskie]

There might have been a hallway from the front door with the front room and another room behind it accessible through doors from the hall. Some doors led directly into the front room especially in the smaller terrace houses. Many terrace houses would not have had cellars, nor would they have "loft conversions" / usable lofts (it would have been freezing up there).

If it is the correct Tennant Street which I posted a link to, you can compare sizes of houses with those on streets which still exist and then check them out on google maps.

Although this book relates to a later time and different city (London), there would probably have been similar conditions in cities in other parts of the country. I have not read it but it comes recommended:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_About_a_Pound_a_Week

[heywood]

Yes, Ruskie, some houses did have hallways which would afford privacy for the front room.
I do remember houses with cellars which were used for coal and storage.
If there was outdoor access from this area, it was also used as a wash house - laundry room.
An attic was a properly accessed roof space -storage, although my friend’s brother had a bedroom in the attic.
This wasn’t the same as a loft roof space where people now have loft conversions.

[Ruskie]

Looking at the map the housing seems to vary a bit along Tennant Street. This is what it looks like on the Graham Rd end:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01mny/
Unfortunately the road has been blocked off so no google street view and there also looks to have been quite a lot of development in the area. Something I have noticed is that the streets are very wide with a lot of space around. The houses seem to be a reasonable size, with possibly a wash room at the back?

Added: Thanks for that interesting information heywood. 

[heywood]

They look lovely and as you say, quite spacious,

[barryd]

And an outside toilet ………  I have as a boy lived in such houses in County Durham.