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Back-to-back houses


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Guest Hallysann

A friend of mine used to live on Franklin Street. At the town end there was a barbers shop kept by a gentleman called Horace who later moved to a shop in Woodseats. ( Top of The Dale I think) Franklin Street was demolished around 1964/5 and most of the residents moved to the Norfolk Park estate.

Hi, My first post so fingers crossed it works...

I have been researching a family living at 77 Franklin Street on the 1891 census, also on the Whites and Kelly's Directories of 1911 to 1925 but couldn't find the street on today's maps. I e-mailed the Sheffield Council and asked where the street had gone. They sent me a picture of a compute screen (probably one I shouldn't be seeing) where it showed the full closure of Franklin Street for the Lansdowne redevelopement. The date it gave for the closure was 03/11/1969.

I was also looking at 22 Mount Pleasant Road in 1891. It appears only half of just one side was closed, but I was unable to get a date for this. Also 21 Horner Road, an address from the 1881 census. Part of Horner Road (from 22yds west to 157yds west of Abbeydale Road was closed on 17/11/1981.

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Hi, My first post so fingers crossed it works...

I have been researching a family living at 77 Franklin Street on the 1891 census, also on the Whites and Kelly's Directories of 1911 to 1925 but couldn't find the street on today's maps. I e-mailed the Sheffield Council and asked where the street had gone. They sent me a picture of a compute screen (probably one I shouldn't be seeing) where it showed the full closure of Franklin Street for the Lansdowne redevelopement. The date it gave for the closure was 03/11/1969.

I was also looking at 22 Mount Pleasant Road in 1891. It appears only half of just one side was closed, but I was unable to get a date for this. Also 21 Horner Road, an address from the 1881 census. Part of Horner Road (from 22yds west to 157yds west of Abbeydale Road was closed on 17/11/1981.

Hi Hallysann

Welcome to the site, I am sure somebody will tell you more, but in the mean time have a look at our OS maps. Franklin St is on 269 and Horner Rd is on 268.

For the area concerned maps 21 and 262 to 265 may also be of interest.

Link to map section

http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/i...ost&p=22162

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In a similar vein does anyone know when the last of the 'court' housing went? and are there any examples left around the country?

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When and where in Sheffield was the last back-to-back house demolished?

Back-to-back houses were once quite common in Sheffield, and large families lived in their cramped conditions.

Can anyone identify the Road/Street in the picture. As you can see the photograph was taken shortly before the houses were demolished.

Hi,

The photo shows a long, straight, level street and there weren't too many of those in Sheffield. My first guess would be somewhere in the Don valley, such as the Newhall Road area or further down the "Cliffe" around Coleridge Road.

Remember its only a guess

Regards

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When and where in Sheffield was the last back-to-back house demolished?

Back-to-back houses were once quite common in Sheffield, and large families lived in their cramped conditions.

Can anyone identify the Road/Street in the picture. As you can see the photograph was taken shortly before the houses were demolished.

I think there may be some left in Western Road, Crookes. Although not (from the outside) looking like back to backs, they were according to 'Crookes Revisited' compiled by the Crookes Local History Group, only half a house deep. I must admit as I passed them each schoolday I thought they were rather posh. Not at all like back to backs.

"These houses were designed in a Dutch style, with double pitched roofs, and are unique in Crookes. Built around 1900 they cost about £100 each. They might fairly be described as being of normal width but only half a house deep. Each had a single sitting room with a narrow staircase paralell and adjoining the back wall. A small kitchen completed the ground floor. In one house the kitchen was at the back and in the front of the next. Where the kitchen is at the front, the house appears to be double fronted but, in fact, all the houses are the same size."

Picture Sheffield Link

Google Satmap: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source...mp;t=h&z=17

Don't know which end of Western Rd the photo shows, but the houses were there when I last drove down it ......mind you was a few years ago. Are these back to backs?

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I think there may be some left in Western Road, Crookes. Although not (from the outside) looking like back to backs, they were according to 'Crookes Revisited' compiled by the Crookes Local History Group, only half a house deep. I must admit as I passed them each schoolday I thought they were rather posh. Not at all like back to backs.

"These houses were designed in a Dutch style, with double pitched roofs, and are unique in Crookes. Built around 1900 they cost about £100 each. They might fairly be described as being of normal width but only half a house deep. Each had a single sitting room with a narrow staircase paralell and adjoining the back wall. A small kitchen completed the ground floor. In one house the kitchen was at the back and in the front of the next. Where the kitchen is at the front, the house appears to be double fronted but, in fact, all the houses are the same size."

Picture Sheffield Link

Google Satmap: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source...mp;t=h&z=17

Don't know which end of Western Rd the photo shows, but the houses were there when I last drove down it ......mind you was a few years ago. Are these back to backs?

I'm pretty sure that this is the location of your pictured terrace Tsavo.

Corner of Western Rd and School Rd.

Interestingly they've used the original roof style on the newbuild.

You can just make out the Dutch roof in a couple of shots.

(Sorry for the crappy Phone camera photos)

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Thanks Vox, for the pictures. Things sure have changed since I last....etc. I couldn't work out if they were the block you've shown or the section on the right between Springvale Rd and Slinn St. Speaking of Slinn Street, there was a very nice house at the junction with Western Rd. Has that survived? Used to peer through the gates at the beautiiful garden on way back from school.

Many thanks again, nice to find someone local to the old place!

Laurence

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Thanks Vox, for the pictures. Things sure have changed since I last....etc. I couldn't work out if they were the block you've shown or the section on the right between Springvale Rd and Slinn St. Speaking of Slinn Street, there was a very nice house at the junction with Western Rd. Has that survived? Used to peer through the gates at the beautiiful garden on way back from school.

Many thanks again, nice to find someone local to the old place!

Laurence

I lived with relatives on Slinn St for a while, '69 to '70ish

The house you mean is just about opposite where I was. It's still there but (as is the way) they sold the garden off years ago and built another house (or are there two) on it. I'll have a look tomorrow.

---------------------

It's tomorrow now so here is your beautiful garden as it is now Laurence.

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I think there may be some left in Western Road, Crookes. Although not (from the outside) looking like back to backs, they were according to 'Crookes Revisited' compiled by the Crookes Local History Group, only half a house deep. I must admit as I passed them each schoolday I thought they were rather posh. Not at all like back to backs.

"These houses were designed in a Dutch style, with double pitched roofs, and are unique in Crookes. Built around 1900 they cost about £100 each. They might fairly be described as being of normal width but only half a house deep. Each had a single sitting room with a narrow staircase paralell and adjoining the back wall. A small kitchen completed the ground floor. In one house the kitchen was at the back and in the front of the next. Where the kitchen is at the front, the house appears to be double fronted but, in fact, all the houses are the same size."

Picture Sheffield Link

Google Satmap: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source...mp;t=h&z=17

Don't know which end of Western Rd the photo shows, but the houses were there when I last drove down it ......mind you was a few years ago. Are these back to backs?

Those Dutch houses pictured are still standing, straight across from Westways School on Western Road. I used to go out with a girl who lived in one.. Happy days

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Guest tsavo

I lived with relatives on Slinn St for a while, '69 to '70ish

The house you mean is just about opposite where I was. It's still there but (as is the way) they sold the garden off years ago and built another house (or are there two) on it. I'll have a look tomorrow.

---------------------

It's tomorrow now so here is your beautiful garden as it is now Laurence.

Thanks for the pictures.... how sad. I think I'll just hold on to my memories......easier on the blood pressure!

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Theres lots of back to back houses in rotherham that still exist especially around ferham park. Rotherham tends to keep their old buildings unlike sheffield.

Is this the Rotherham just down the road from Sheffield or some other? Rotherham's attitude to it's old buldings is nothing short of diabolical and had contributed more than enough to the decline of the town centre. The latest attempt at regeneration being just the latest in council lunacy.

In addition I think there are no back to backs left in Ferham, there are some old terrace properties, but I cannot think of any back to backs in that area.

Chris

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In a similar vein does anyone know when the last of the 'court' housing went? and are there any examples left around the country?

Just want to bump this question I asked up again see if anyone knows.

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Guest skeets

Well, after four plus hours Googling, I'm still no nearer answering your question. I know the info's out there but maybe better luck tomorrow

HI TSAO I'v'e just lost a post to you re Heely Coliseum, anyway l think that rd is Stewart RD .THIS is a new pc and type is so small All the best Arthur Skeets

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Just want to bump this question I asked up again see if anyone knows.

I lived in a court on Wentworth Street until late 1958

My grandmother lived in a court on Division Street until 1962 when she moved to Park Hill Flats

So one way to answer this question RichardS is to find the member with the most recent memories of moving out of this type of housing.

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Just want to bump this question I asked up again see if anyone knows.

Hi RichardS

If you want to start a new topic on that question feel free - I'm sure it would get more exposure ?

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Hi RichardS

If you want to start a new topic on that question feel free - I'm sure it would get more exposure ?

I don't think they all have been demolished. Can you remember the TV programme on Sheffield emergency

services a fortnight ago, the fire brigade said they were heading to a back to back house which was on fire.

It looked like they were driving up Glossop Road so maybe it could have been around Broomhall where there are still

alot of old houses. Just a thought.

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Guest plain talker

I don't think they all have been demolished. Can you remember the TV programme on Sheffield emergency

services a fortnight ago, the fire brigade said they were heading to a back to back house which was on fire.

It looked like they were driving up Glossop Road so maybe it could have been around Broomhall where there are still

alot of old houses. Just a thought.

hi Ukelele Lady.

the problem is, "terraced" housing is a term now used interchangeably with "back-to-backs".

I don't believe there are any true "back-to-back" houses left, in the city, as they would contravene all the bye-laws about sanitation etc. (where would the renovators put the bathroom and loo, for a start?)

True back-to-back properties had single rooms on each storey, a living-kitchen, as you entered, with stairs to the upper storeys:- one bedroom on the first floor, and then usually a second bedroom/ garret (attic) bedroom on the second storey. the lavatory was a shared block across the yard. there was no bathroom. You'd have a tin bath, filled from a "copper" (a boiler/ washing machine) that heated the water. there would probably be a cellar beneath the living-kitchen, for the coal.

Terraced houses had at lest two rooms on the ground floor, (kitchen/ living and a "parlour" and two bedrooms on the first floor, with a garret on the second storey) and sometimes an "offshot" kitchen.

From what I saw of the programme, the "back-to-back" house was a bog-standard Victorian terrace. (not that the programme makers were exactly sticklers for accuracy in the rest of the programme... for example, the times they said "elm lane fire staff" and showing a generic shot of Mansfield road fire station! lol)

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Upper Allen Street

At Upper Allen Street, Sheffield, ARCUS excavated the remains of two 19th century courtyards with back-to-back housing. During the course of excavation, a large in situ dump was uncovered and was comprised largely of pot and smaller quantities of glass, shell, animal bone and building materials. It is rare in the United Kingdom to find a single context dump which could be associated with a particular group of houses for this period.

http://arcus.group.shef.ac.uk/upper_allen.php?p=cs

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hi Ukelele Lady.

the problem is, "terraced" housing is a term now used interchangeably with "back-to-backs".

I don't believe there are any true "back-to-back" houses left, in the city, as they would contravene all the bye-laws about sanitation etc. (where would the renovators put the bathroom and loo, for a start?)

True back-to-back properties had single rooms on each storey, a living-kitchen, as you entered, with stairs to the upper storeys:- one bedroom on the first floor, and then usually a second bedroom/ garret (attic) bedroom on the second storey. the lavatory was a shared block across the yard. there was no bathroom. You'd have a tin bath, filled from a "copper" (a boiler/ washing machine) that heated the water. there would probably be a cellar beneath the living-kitchen, for the coal.

Terraced houses had at lest two rooms on the ground floor, (kitchen/ living and a "parlour" and two bedrooms on the first floor, with a garret on the second storey) and sometimes an "offshot" kitchen.

From what I saw of the programme, the "back-to-back" house was a bog-standard Victorian terrace. (not that the programme makers were exactly sticklers for accuracy in the rest of the programme... for example, the times they said "elm lane fire staff" and showing a generic shot of Mansfield road fire station! lol)

I think the misunderstanding of "Back to Back" is also compounded by the differing types that were built, and the different periods in which they were built.

1/ There were those which were incorporated into a "Court", where the shared middens and wash houses were in the communal enclosed yard in the centre.

2/ some in terraces with a street on one side and a yard on the other,

The yards were for the use of the immediate house and its rear adjoining neighbour (who would have to walk from his front door and down the alley to reach his shared yard)

3/ the ones (the like of which are still used in some towns) with a street on both sides with no yards or outbuildings for the individual houses.

The last type would have had a shared toilet or midden on the ends of the blocks, (as in the b&w photo.) and washing was hung across the street from one block to the other. I drove through Toxteth a year or so ago and there are still lots of rows of back to back terraces there.

There were, of course, other variations on these themes, but essentially, as mentioned before, the main criterion was - No back door.

Also here's a bit of video about Back to Backs, in Leeds.

http://www.voomtv.co.uk/recent-work/back-t...rait-of-a-house.

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hi Ukelele Lady.

the problem is, "terraced" housing is a term now used interchangeably with "back-to-backs".

I don't believe there are any true "back-to-back" houses left, in the city, as they would contravene all the bye-laws about sanitation etc. (where would the renovators put the bathroom and loo, for a start?)

True back-to-back properties had single rooms on each storey, a living-kitchen, as you entered, with stairs to the upper storeys:- one bedroom on the first floor, and then usually a second bedroom/ garret (attic) bedroom on the second storey. the lavatory was a shared block across the yard. there was no bathroom. You'd have a tin bath, filled from a "copper" (a boiler/ washing machine) that heated the water. there would probably be a cellar beneath the living-kitchen, for the coal.

Terraced houses had at lest two rooms on the ground floor, (kitchen/ living and a "parlour" and two bedrooms on the first floor, with a garret on the second storey) and sometimes an "offshot" kitchen.

From what I saw of the programme, the "back-to-back" house was a bog-standard Victorian terrace. (not that the programme makers were exactly sticklers for accuracy in the rest of the programme... for example, the times they said "elm lane fire staff" and showing a generic shot of Mansfield road fire station! lol)

Back to back was the term the fireman used. I used to live in one as a child, not very nice.

You did a good discription of the back to backs but you forgot the "bugs" :o

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Guest plain talker

Back to back was the term the fireman used. I used to live in one as a child, not very nice.

You did a good discription of the back to backs but you forgot the "bugs" :o

oh, goodness me, now:- *shudder* I hate crawlies!

My Gran told me about when she was a newlywed, back in the 1930s, and they found bugs in their home... *shudders even more!*

She went to the local shop, and asked for something to deal with them. The shopkeeper sold her some sort of "smoke bomb" with which to "stove" the house.

When asked whether the "stove-ing" was successful, she wryly replied.

"Yes, I think it worked, but every ruddy bedbug in Sheffield turned up to the sodding funeral!"

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