...and with the change in Victorian house design, of having stairs perpendicular to the street; the half landing would make a very low ceiling in my kitchen if it wasn't sunken!
There's a street nearby where the houses were built in the mid-19th century for mill workers and while the average height for people has grown since then i can only think they employed midgets. So small! I'm 6' and had to bow like a penitent man to go through the door. Low beams in the downstairs room make it an obstacle course just to go into the kitchen...and, best of all, they're all listed buildings, so any changes have to keep to the original design.
As the bathroom roof was designed as an extension to the main roof ie a ski slope without a gable end the head height in the bathroom was low hence the drop down.
A mate or two’s first homes had the kitchen and an outside toilet on the back “extension” (probably built from new)
There was often a smaller bedroom built above the kitchen.
Over time, the smaller bedroom was sometimes converted to a bathroom.
The thunder box became a shed.
Again, the stepping was probably roof related.
My brother’s house was a much larger terrace with a shared pitched roof with next door. This was a 90° to the road.
But it meant a flat floor to bedroom three and a bathroom more in the main house.
Would they make a bathroom lower than the next room lower to avoid water flowing through the house if there's any water spill from a bath or sink, or even a leak?
This description seems to support the idea that the scullery was built on the bare ground, at the rear of the house, lower than the suspended floors (as decreed by the bylaws) of the living rooms, for the principle reason of avoiding leaks or flooding...
I remembered seeing height of Victorians mentioned somewhere. I don't know the source. Probably in health studies. I also remember that in WW1 many conscripts from poor areas were very small, formed IIRC into "bantam" regiments. Cause is poor nutrition over several generations, as small mothers have small children.
"The average height of a British man in 1888 was 5 feet 7 inches!
Most of the known witnesses put Jack between 5' 6" and 5' 8". I don't think it's any It's any coincidence that most of the victims where around 5' 0" - 5' 5" a good height for a 5' 7" man to strangle?"
Discussion of other or multiple victims, or any threads that wouldn't fit under one specific victim forum.
forum.casebook.org
It was only after WW2 that welfare reforms introduced by the Labour government brought medical and health services within reach of the poor. Older DIYnotters may remember free issue of milk for schoolchildren, and free dentistry as well. Diseases of poverty, such as Rickets and Scurvy, were pretty well wiped out until recently.
At the outbreak of World War One, the height requirement for recruits to the British Army was 5ft 3ins. It soon became apparent that this rule excluded many fit and healthy men, and so the Bantam battalions were formed...
A timeline of the average house price from the end of WWII is a good indicator of how far inflation can make your pound stretch... A century of house building in Derby will be a fun read from my perspective - featuring a grand old pic showing the Sherwood Foresters embarking for the front in 1914 from Friargate. They were involved in the retreat from Mons and many didn't make the return journey. No bantams among those stout yeoman. They didn't arrive until 1916 when height regulations were lowered to allow more men into battle.
The first house i bought was built before then, in the 1890s, when more folk were working in the growing industry of the city. In 1891 figures suggested that less than 3% of the population were living more than two to a room.The 1911 census shows a population of 123,000 but only 28,000 private houses were available. Many of those houses have been knocked down around the city center for development of the inner ring road and a growing trend for rentals has increased since the Polytechnic was expanded in the University of Derby. It's a terrible thing what they're doing to the city center. Fine Art Deco buildings, like the old Ranby's, have been laid waste for steel and plastic coffee houses to take their place. Those old soliders wouldn't recognise Friargate these days.
The detached house we have today would've cost around £750 (£45,000 in today's money) when it was built in 1931. A new window recently installed cost £1800.
After thinking about it further and looking at various photos, I've come to the conclusion that, at least in the case of my house (and the nine other houses on my terrace), the bathroom was sunken to bring the kitchen/first floor bathroom extension level with the existing roof, whilst ensuring sufficient headroom in the bathroom.
If the bathroom floor had been raised to be level with the first floor landing, unless the bathroom ceiling was vaulted it would feel pretty claustrophobic in there.
The loft space above the bathroom is inaccessible, so thermal efficiency/ventilation issues aside it would have been good to level the floor and vault it - the two steps down are not ideal with small kids in the house (or me and the wife after a couple of bottles of plonk).
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