Andrew Barrow

Why prefabs really were fab

A review of Prefab Homes, by Elisabeth Blanchet. In 1946 you had to be very posh to have a house with an inside toilet

Grade II-listed Phoenix prefabs in Moseley, Birmingham. [Getty Images] 
issue 18 October 2014

Sir Winston Churchill did not invent the prefab, but on 26 March 1944 he made an important broadcast promising to manufacture half a million of them to ease the new housing emergency caused by enemy bombs and the continued growth of inner-city slums.

He went on to claim that these easy-to-assemble, factory-made bungalows would be ‘far superior to the ordinary cottage’. Readers of this richly illustrated, hard-hitting little book will find that Churchill was right.

The new prefab — an early prototype immediately went on show at the Tate Gallery, of all places — did not meet the approval of George Bernard Shaw, who called it ‘Heartbreak House’ and that ‘Damn Tin Can’ — but seems to have been hugely enjoyed by most of those lucky enough to live in one.

Costing the government only a few hundred pounds to make, each home came with its own indoor toilet, bath, gas cooker, refrigerator, coal fire and, most amazing of all, heated towel rails.

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