My 1930s house just doesn't look 1930s - why?

[Devora]

I've moaned on here before about how my 1930s semi has had every original feature ripped out. When I first saw it I thought it was 1950s. But a neighbour argued with me the other day that it COULDN'T be 1930s because it has no bay windows etc, and it got me thinking.

I know it must be 1930s because the deeds say it was built in 1930. My neighbours (the adjoining bit of the semi) still have some original features that are clearly 30s: doors etc. But the frontage doesn't look remotely 30s. Why would this be? Could it have suffered bad bomb damage in the war, and had to have the front rebuilt? (I know there were bombs in our street.) Any ideas on how I could find out? Are there any clues on the inside that would indicate that the whole thing is indeed younger than 1930? (I'm aware features like doors could be added at any time.)

(I know this isn't important, and yes I do have better things to do with my time, but it's like a brain worm niggling away at me.)

I'm sure it was a typo.

you can even find out if someone has passed away in your house - not that you'd really want to- by looking at the records and if there were any homicides near..

Blegh, yes typo. Apologies!

Due out in 2022. Info here: www.1911census.org.uk/1921.htm

Gatekeeper, I put 'local history' into the search engine on my local council website and it came up there. I think we have very active volunteer local historians round here (it's that sort of area) and I don't know if that's typical. But I was definitely lucky that there were plans to look at - many of the planning applications were only text.

morethan, I suspect this is more like my alternative to genealogy. My mum did some searching a couple of years back, particularly into her mother's family, and found that my poor gran had been spun a web of lies about her father. He died when she was very young, and she had been sold this vision of him as some kind of hero, ennobled for his services to education etc etc. Turns out he had done time twice (for bigamy and forgery) and was no more knighted than you or me. My gran was gutted.

I also have an amazing family history, written by my great-great-grandmother and laboriously typed up, with photos stuck in, in the early 30s. By 1943 she was dead, one of the last Jews alive in Berlin (we don't know the circumstances of her death). This is very precious to me, but I don't speak Germany so will have to get it translated. i'm not sure why I haven't yet.... it is the only copy, so very important I do something with it soon. I think it feels potentially very fraught.

Bifaid, that's interesting. We need to campaign for the recognition of the unsung Plain Janes of 1930s architecture. It's like when books/docs on 30s style always show these amazing Hollywood-style places, and you think, "But most people didn't live like that!"

What an incredibly precious document, Devora. I imagine it has wider historical importance as well being priceless for your family.

I'm sure an archive would gladly tell you how to preserve it as well as possible, and how to safely copy it (photograph in natural light, I'd guess).

The houses in my road are all clearly 1930s but they are also all different - well several different styles all scattered down the road. The 1945 aerial images on Google Earth are fascinating as you can see gaps where there are now houses that don't match the style of the others.

This is where Google Earth images and Street View are going to be wonderful in the distant future.

There's a great map tool featured in today's Telegraph showing where bombs fell in London. Certainly explains a few of the gaps on my local roads

That's really interesting, Closer. 32 bombs on my street or the two parallel roads. I think I said upthread that we have the national physics laboratory here, but I've just remembered that there was also a British Aerospace factory just a few minutes walk away - which presumably was the target. From the map, it seems that more bombs fell on my street than on the factory.