Re: British (european?) kitchen counter electric outlets

Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote:

On 17/06/2024 22:41, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote:
 
[...]

The house design he describes is relatively modern transition probably
around the 1930's. Pre 1910 and solid wall is much more likely.

 
I don't know how common this was, but a house I lived in, which was
built in 1901, had cavity walls.  All the terraces of houses in that
area, which were built between 1895 and 1905, had cavity walls, even
though they were built down to a price for sale to ordinary working
families.

 
That is early for cavity walls. It is possible that in cities the larger
builders doing big projects used it sooner than those out in the sticks.

I suspect there may have been another reason: 

A Midlands industrialist bought the land and made his money selling it
off in small parcels for local builders to develop .  The area was
exceptionally rich in clay and, as part of the speculation, he also
established and operated a brick & tile works. 

Brick houses would not have sold well in Bath (they may even have been
banned under planning laws) so the appearance of the houses had to be
Bath Stone, which already supported a considerable quarrying industry in
the surrounding area.  By making the houses with a cavity wall, the
outer appearance could be expensive Bath Stone and the inner structure
local brick (of atrocious quality), thereby keeping the price down and
supporting both industries.

I suspect there may have been some coercion clause in the building
contracts to force the use of local brick, because I know of no other
areas in Bath where the builders used it voluntarily.


--
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk