AIBU to hate 1930s semi's?

[boymum9]

I was just hoping for someone to talk me around to 1930's semis...! I don't know what it is but I just find them, for the main part, so ugly! I generally dislike the look, the windows, pebble dash.

We live in an area for mainly 4 story Georgian houses, most turned into flats, we love the area but can't afford to stay here (1-3 million for a house) we have sold our 2 bedroom flat for 600,000 and are struggling to find a house a little further out from here because I hate the 1930s houses and there's a lot of them! (If you want parking, garden and good schools) DH is starting to get annoyed with me! It's not a snobbery thing, I just don't like the look of them and have fallen in love with Georgian and Victorian houses. I also hate new builds!

Can someone gives me all the great things about living in a post war house? I love that they have bigger gardens and love a lot of the original features, I'm just getting sad about looking out my windows and seeing houses I don't like the look of! First world problems I know!

YANBU, I’m not keen either! Buy a pretty Victorian terrace.

Oh I hate them. I hate that they’re all extended and 90% of the extensions are hideous. I wouldn’t mind them if they’d not been touched but the extensions making them all not symmetrical anymore really gets rid of any appeal.

YABU and showing your ignorance. 1930s was a great time for house building, and houses are far better quality than the utter crap built now and far less draughty and in need of maintenance than older properties. Also there is a massive variety of designs - I've not seen many with pebbledash. More of those are likely to be slummy Victorian terraces where the brickwork is shot to pieces.

I've never heard of anyone singling out 1930s houses negatively before. What a strange and rather stupid opinion.

I love 30s semis. I think it is because both sets of grandparents lived in them and it gave me a feeling of security. They aren't all pebble dashed you know.
My favourites are the ones with round bay windows.
My grandparents ' houses had lovely big gardens, too.

In an ideal world I agree.

I have owned several properties- they all have their aspects.
I owned a beautiful Georgian villa near the city center. Beautiful features, intact shutters, fireplaces.
Maintenance costs were horrendous. Casement windows, stonework. It was cold in winter, hard to heat, no double glazing.
I now live in an ugly 1970s semi. Rooms are huge. Five bedrooms with garden. Cost me £205K three years ago. Twenty minutes to city centre. Surrounded by woodland. Cheap and easy to maintain.

I love my ugly house.

I used to live in a 1930s semi. It was very comfortable to live in and I liked it.

However I now live in a 1950s house and love it even more. It is light and airy and good room size, plus a drive and large garden.

The Victorian house I lived in was cold and drafty, with a tiny garden and no drive. Never again.

Have you actually looked at any in person or are you dismissing them all online? I think you need to go and visit some and also other house that you can afford so you can compare properly

I've never heard of anyone singling out 1930s houses negatively before. What a strange and rather stupid opinion.

I’ve said to an estate agent before that the one thing I won’t look at is a 30s semi and it definitely wasn’t something they were surprised to hear.
Anyway my problem with them is the extensions which make them in the most part pretty hideous. Also round here they tend to be on main roads. I have actually seen once or twice a nice row of 30s semis on a less busy road where the majority weren’t ruined by extensions and they were far nicer.

I've never heard of anyone singling out 1930s houses negatively before. What a strange and rather stupid opinion.

How extraordinary - it's very common to dislike semis. They're ugly, drab, there's 1000s of them and they reek of suburbia. Some are poorly constructed with cheap materials as they were thrown up fast to meet housing demand. They often have small rooms compared to Edwardian and Victorian houses.

Some 30s houses can be nice, just not the semis. On the plus side as semis aren't conservation grade you can do what you like with them. They can be transformed inside to make stylish homes.

This London semi has been transformed inside to create a lot of space.

I grew up in a 30s semi. It had a lot of positive points, but what i don't miss is the wall being thin between us and the neighbour and lack of soundproofing.

Some 30s houses can be nice, just not the semis.

Nonsense.

There are nice houses and not so nice houses in every single type of housing imaginable. Trying to single out one type and lumping them altogether is ridiculous.

I live in a 30s semi and I love it!
It's lovely and warm with a huge garden and no pebble dash. I'd do more to it to improve the kerb appeal if we had the money but I love the house!
Dh originally booked the viewing 3 years ago and I thought it didn't look like much from the pictures but fell in love when we looked at it.
Although it did only cost us £165k (now worth about £200k)

There are nice houses and not so nice houses in every single type of housing imaginable.

Afaik there are no 'nice' 30s semis. I could make one work though in the right location with a complete internal redesign.

However, I like some 30s deco detached houses with cream/white external walls.

I feel ya, OP. I never, ever wanted to live in a 30s semi. The ones I’d seen had felt cold and depressing, on dreary suburban streets.
Then we needed to move somewhere bigger and more accessible than our top-floor flat in a beautiful stuccoed house.

We looked at loads of pretty Victorian terraced houses but the ones within budget felt a bit cramped.
Then we saw our house - 30s semi with big front and back gardens and masses of space - and I was won over. It feels as if we finally have room to breathe. I do still look at our road sometimes and wonder how the hell I ended up here, but I don’t regret the move at all.

reek of suburbia
but that's the dream- out of the real London slums in the depression era to your own castle in the country

The area I live in is classic 1930s built surburia just outside London, some look better than others (some look awful due to really badly done extensions).

The downside can be the fact that they all pretty much have a small 3 bedroom if unextended and can look awful if extended badly

The upsides are they are built well and you can have a pretty clean slate and creating the house you want if you have the budget for it and they are pretty spacious (apart from the 3rd bedroom issue(

Afaik there are no 'nice' 30s semis.

Well, if that’s what you know then you don’t know much.

I like mine. Stockbroker Tudor style and a massive garden.

Oh I'd rather have pebble dashing over the smooth red engineering brick style you get. Loads of houses round here are that and I hate it! I fell in love with Victorian houses as well. The only way we afforded ours was because it needed a massive renovation, including rewiring and everything.

Oh, I really like that era of houses! I agree with a PP that you need to find one that has retained its original features.

Well, if that’s what you know then you don’t know much

C not K - typo.

Why not just accept that someone on the internet has different taste?

Right back at ya there Riding.
You say there are no nice 1930s semis.
I believe mine to be very nice thank you.
See, different taste.

Our 1930's house has weird nooks and crannies which looked bizarre with light colours so we went dark. Have trees all around us so there is no natural light and you can't fight it.
Play to your house's strengths and it will work. Not everyone loves my black kitchen and some friends hate the fact I don't have white ceilings but hey ho.

We live in a postwar semi complete with pebble dashed walls. The pebble dash isn't actually that bad; what does my head in is the lack of plug sockets and the super strength walls that you can't knock a nail in to. The fact that it's on a v. narrow street with no driveway is also a pita. The rooms are fairly spacious though and we have 2 decent sized gardens so that's a positive.

It's a housing association house though so doesn't belong to us.