Hostel, House and Chambers

This book is the first comprehensive study of the campaigns to house a new generation of working women, the specialized design and interiors of the buildings, and the women whose lives were changed by this remarkable architectural movement. The rapid rise after 1900 of women working as clerks, secretaries and shorthand typists in London and other cities created an urgent need for affordable and respectable accommodation. Building on models of elegant Victorian ladies’ residential chambers, and the vast working men’s lodging houses, a new type of single working women’s hostel emerged. The special function of these proud, architect-designed buildings was often not apparent externally, where handsome facades blended into the London’s Edwardian streetscape, however, architectural plans, literary descriptions and rare photographic glimpses reveal highly distinctive interiors. Inside, these hostels featured efficiently-planned tiny private spaces, and comfortable, shared dining and sitting rooms, as well as libraries, bicycle stores and occasionally ballrooms. Emphatically not charitable or municipal affairs (indeed London County Council failed to provide any, despite repeated attempts) these were business-minded enterprises, often established and advocated by other Edwardian women. In turn, the little-known buildings supported, enabled and empowered a new generation of intrepid working women in the capital. This book brings the buildings, and the women residents, to vivid life through previously untapped sources.