Between the two World Wars, there was an unprecedented need for new houses in Britain which resulted in a building boom. This book examines these modest Modernist houses within the context of the Modern Movement in Europe, as well as the inter-war building boom in suburban Britain.
'Finn Jensen is a wonderfully erudite and inspiring guide through a century of architectural modernism in England, from its beginnings soon after the First World War to the "New Modernism" of the last few decades. Modernist Semis and Terraces in England is a thoughtful and sympathetic exploration of a hitherto neglected but vast and important area of British cultural heritage. Instead of reaching for familiar examples of individual modernist houses commissioned by wealthy patrons from well known architects, Jensen reveals the beauty of modernist designs in working-class estates and lower- and middle-class mass housing: those places where modernist achievement is often overlooked and not infrequently threatened. His engaging study takes us from Greater London, along the coast to Cornwall and back inland, into villages, and down suburban and urban streets, and it encourages us to see that modernism has become a very British way of building houses and that it more than merits - and in this book gets - a serious architectural study.' Vesna Goldsworthy, Kingston University, UK 'In the search for ways of building more and better housing we could learn a lot from the 30s, when the semi took off as the standard way of building mass housing. It is the definitive British contribution to house design, with its small garden front and rear, and modern appliances. Finn Jensen provides fresh insights into why the UK departed from the rest of the world, particularly as far as modernism is concerned.' Nicholas Falk, URBED, UK 'Although the story of modern architecture in pre-war England is often told as one of missed opportunities, Finn Jensen's comprehensive study of Modernist semis and terraces shows how close English domestic architecture once came to the Siedlung and woningbouw of European Modernism.' Neil Jackson, University of Liverpool, UK '... there is much of interest to the general reader in this book and Jensen is to be commended for bringing attention to an often o
