Home improvement plans from the ’30s
THE house plans in the picture above have been folded away and carefully stored for the last 85 years. They belong to Bugle reader David Cookson of Amblecote, Stourbridge, and the plans were drawn up by his father Norman. Norman spent his entire working life in local government, joining the sanitary department of Stourbridge Council as a clerk on leaving grammar school in 1931. Two years later, in 1933, Stourbridge Borough absorbed neighbouring Lye and Wollescote Urban District Council, bringing areas such as Careless Green under its remit. Originally a separate village, Careless Green now gives it name to a road that runs from the top of Brook Holloway in
Wollescote to Bald’s Lane, with the Wollescote Diamond Jubilee Schools at the northern end, and in the 1930s it was a mix of industrial and domestic buildings.
Several of the old terraced houses had inadequate sanitation, so the local authority set about improvements. For the houses 46 to 53, this entailed the building of new sculleries at the rear.
Task
Young Norman Cookson had the task of penning the plans for the head of his department, Arthur Kent.
The plan was drawn to a scale of 1/8th of an inch to 1 foot and shows the uniformly set out new sculleries. They were all 14’ 8” long but varied in width from 6’ 10” to 7’ 6”. Each had a sink and a boiler, for the family’s hot water and washing, and off each scullery was a lavatory. Each also had a store room-cum-coal bunker.
However, it is not certain that these sculleries were ever built. The houses 46-53 no longer stand and the houses that have replaced them appear to have been built in the 1930s. Perhaps these plans for new sculleries were rejected in favour of more comprehensive redevelopment of the area.
Saving
Norman had a habit of saving documents and other items that were being thrown away by his department and these rescued items have made quite a trove of historic material that is now in the possession of his son. Norman likely kept these plans as he was proud of the work he had put into them.
Norman was called up for army service in the Second World War and was stationed in India. He returned to his job afterwards and later joined Brierley Hill Council, which was later absorbed into Dudley Council, and he retired in 1979.