1930s Houses - The Expansion of the Suburbs | Historic Doors Blog (2024)

FAQs

What house style was popular in the 1930s suburbs? ›

They would offer Jacobean, Georgian and Tudor style homes. Pebble-dash wall rendering was popular, as it was cheap and didn't require much maintenance. Bay windows were found on almost all 1930s homes because council houses would never have them.

1930s houses had a very typical layout with a room off the front hall with a second living room and kitchen at the rear. Upstairs in these small homes were usually two bedrooms, a small room and a bathroom with a toilet. There would also be a detached garage.

Edwardian houses are known for ornate decorative details, including floor tiles, stained glass, and timber, as well as large rooms with high ceilings. After the end of the war, the Interwar Period covered the 1920s and 1930s, leading up to the Second World War in 1939.

The Art Deco style with its smoothly finished wall surfaces and distinctive ornamentation of chevrons, zigzags and other geometrical motifs, led to the development of a new, more streamlined, less ornamented style of architecture, the Moderne style of the 1930s.

Interior colors of the time were soft and dusty with creamy yellows, blued grays, soft pinks and accents in deep forest green and burgundy.

Classic 1920s and 1930s features? The typical 1920s house was slightly smaller than those of previous decades and craftsmanship gave way to the mass-produced. In the 1930s, again properties were still smaller than preceding years, concrete walls were more commonly used in building.

At home or in public, women most commonly wore dresses with wide shoulders; puffy sleeves; modest necklines; higher, belted waistlines; and mid-calf flared hemlines. Frilly bows, ruffles, buttons, and other details often decorated dresses.

Art Deco, short for the French Arts Décoratifs, and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s and 1930s.

At the same time, however, the backdrop of 1930s America was also an ongoing Great Depression. And perhaps as a reaction directly opposed to those dark times, popular colors of the era were light, soft hues … seafoam green, muted gold, pale blue and lavender helped mark the 1930s.

In the main, a 1930s home is an excellent property type to live in. They are spacious compared to most other homes built in the Victorian era and post Second World War. Not only are they internally large, but many have much better sized gardens than you would see in pre and post-1930s properties.

Did 1930s houses have bathrooms? ›

The new homes of 1930s suburbia featured a bathroom, inside toilet and a third bedroom. They also tended to be dry, better insulated, light and airy. The homes of this era featured a new style kitchen in which the cooking and washing were both done.

Homes built before 1929 all tend to have solid walls, as cavity walls had not been invented. Homes built between 1930 and 1939 may or may not have solid walls. This is when cavity walls were becoming more popular but not yet "the norm".

Perhaps 1930s fashion is probably best known for its invention of the bias cut. This involved cutting the fabric at a 45 degree angle instead of along the straight grain and was introduced by Vionnet.

Alternately called a duster, topper, smock, robe or housecoat, these garments were intended to be worn at home only -- presumably after you'd let out your girdle and wanted to relax. The heyday of the housecoat was the 1930's through the early 1960's.

A new house had a price tag of $3,900, which sounds attainable given that the average income was $1,731 per year. A new set of wheels would set you back $860, a movie ticket was just 25c, gas was 10c per gallon and a postage stamp was 3c.

Bright, Cheerful Color Palettes

Popular color choices included cherry red, pink, deep blues, white, bright yellow, and a wide range of green tones. To bring the kitchen design of the decades to your home, opt for brightly colored patterns, appliances, and window treatments.

Furniture was minimalist, atmospheres were peaceful, and walls and soft fixtures were very green indeed. For the modernist home, pastel green represented an escape from everyday life and a return to nature - and the same remains true today.

That's right; the quaint and twee pink, which decorates the streets of cottages and wonky houses, is the byproduct of pig blood mixed into the limewash paint used to protect these ancient houses for so long.

Art Deco, also called style moderne, movement in the decorative arts and architecture that originated in the 1920s and developed into a major style in western Europe and the United States during the 1930s.

What type of house style was predominant in 1920 1930? ›

The Cape Cod cottage is a subset of the Colonial Revival style, most popular from the 1920s to the 1940s.

In homes, a 1930s interior is characterised by striking colour combinations; usually golds, oranges and blue shades and, of course, monochrome. Bold geometrics appeared in tiling, parquet flooring, door panels, lighting and metalwork.

Art Deco and Streamline Moderne were the two most popular furniture styles in the 1930s. Art Deco, which first appeared in France, celebrated the modern world through architecture, art, and even home furnishings. Streamline Modern echoed industrial products and represented the machine age.

Featured inventions include: the helicopter, xerography, the parking meter, the walkie talkie, and the electric guitar.

Brick and brass fireplaces, chrome wall sconces with milk-glass shades, metal pole lamps with beaded, fringed lampshades, and small, round mirrors added light and reflection to a 1930s living room. Curtains with large floral patterns and delicate, lace sheers were commonplace.

Broad shoulders, puffed sleeves, and matching belts were defining features of 1930s fashion, while bold prints and patterns characterized day dresses. The bolero jacket and house dress were practical yet elegant staples, while longer hemlines and natural waistlines defined evening wear.

Period 1930s furniture have heavy lines, graphic symmetry, and repeated patterns on upholstery prints and decorative elements like table legs and drawer pull. The motifs usually have natural elements with somewhat unnatural preciseness, like perfectly symmetrical sunbursts.

"Generally, going with neutral colors like shades of white, beige, taupe, and grays lead to a faster sale," she shares.

A survey by interior design service Modsy has found that, among more than 1,500 respondents, the colors purple and yellow were the least popular paints, yet those same colors had the most positive influence on one's sense of well-being at home.

Do 1930s houses have thick walls? ›

Walls - Most houses built in 250mm cavity construction with brickwork in both leaves; wall ties mostly galvanised steel or steel coated with bitumen. Even as late as 1930s some houses were still built with solid walls (one-brick thick). Mortar was usually lime based, sometimes gauged with cement.

During the 1920s and 30s foundations remained much the same. Text books from the 1930s suggest that in clay soils foundations should be 3 feet deep (900mm) - guidance in fact not much different from today.

These rooms are traditionally seen in country and large suburban houses up until the 1930s for storage, but many homeowners later converted these spaces into small bedrooms. Read on for some box room ideas to help you maximise these small but potentially useful spaces.

Before toilet paper, people mainly used whatever was free and readily available for personal hygiene. Unfortunately, many of the options were quite painful: Wood shavings, hay, rocks, corn cobs, and even frayed anchor cables.

The flush toilet was invented in 1596 but didn't become widespread until 1851. Before that, the “toilet” was a motley collection of communal outhouses, chamber pots and holes in the ground.

1930s bathrooms are characterized by the use of neatly placed tile, both patterned and pain, for the floor and often the walls. This elevates the overall effect of the bathroom as the varied textures and colours create visual intrigue, all the while remaining stylishly aloof.

Older homes (built in the 1920s and '30s) have thicker walls than today's homes because of different construction methods. While some homes from this era were framed out of wood studs with some kind of exterior siding, the more elegant homes generally used brick.

Those gaps are called “weep holes” — a building code requirement that drains water out of brick exterior walls. Typically, behind the brick is a 1.5-inch cavity or air space and then the wood structure.

The shift away from structural brick began after World War II. Mid-century consumers wanted suburban homes that looked distinct from their urban counterparts and newer building codes no longer required brick. That, meant less demand for both the material and the masons needed to install it.

Chicken divan casserole, cherries jubilee, sweet potato-marshmallow surprises, and black bottom pie were very popular during the 1930s. In towns and cities, some women entertained in their homes, often at an afternoon tea with dainty sandwiches, nut breads, and tiny cookies.

What was the beauty ideal of 1930s? ›

A smooth and youthful complexion was the beauty ideal for women in the 1930s. Subsequently, beauty adverts often dictated to women that to look lovely was your social duty. Adverts further suggested that without a lovely complexion one would never be able to snag and keep a man.

The decade was defined by a global economic and political crisis that culminated in the Second World War. It saw the collapse of the international financial system, beginning with the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the largest stock market crash in American history.

The National Mortgage Crisis of the 1930s was a Depression-era crisis in the United States characterized by high-default rates and soaring loan-to-value ratios in the residential housing market.

A small meal during the 1930s, like the diners of the day often served, would have usually cost between 15 and 40 cents, depending on what you ordered and where the restaurant was located. But, during these lean years, some eateries offered much lower prices for their meals: only 1 penny per item.

A pastiche of architectural influences, these houses sported elements from all three periods, in reaction to the Arts and Crafts movement. Areas of herringbone brickwork, tiled walls, weatherboards and wood-framed windows with iron casem*nts and diamond-shaped leaded panes are clues to a house from the 1930s.

The new homes of 1930s suburbia featured a bathroom, inside toilet and a third bedroom. They also tended to be dry, better insulated, light and airy. The homes of this era featured a new style kitchen in which the cooking and washing were both done.

Antebellum architecture (meaning "prewar", from the Latin ante, "before", and bellum, "war") is the neoclassical architectural style characteristic of the 19th-century Southern United States, especially the Deep South, from after the birth of the United States with the American Revolution, to the start of the American ...

The Cottage Revival style popularized during the 1920s housing boom brought cozy charm and whimsical craftsmanship to tree-lined streets across America. Reinterpreting elements of classic English architecture, cottage-style homes feature dramatic roof slopes, welcoming arched doorways, and oversized chimneys.

What is 1920s house style called? ›

Art Deco house style – 1920s to 1940s

Art Deco architecture has a highly distinctive style, characterized by strong geometric shapes, motifs and bold colors.

According to The Spruce, double front doors were a sign that a home had multiple rooms, which was a sign of wealth. Think about windows or garage doors on today's homes—sure, it's all about status and curb appeal. Here's why some Southern houses have a separate porch door.

Sometimes referred to as "antebellum architecture," southern architecture is often defined by large homes on farms or plantations that feature massive, wrap-around porches, sloping, exterior staircases, large windows, and Greek-inspired columns.

Types of Southern Colonial homes include the Georgian, French Colonial, and Spanish Colonial styles. Colonnades and porticos, which feature columns aligned in a row, are another common feature. A four-over-four design alludes to a first floor with four rooms and a second floor with four rooms.

The Ranch House is America's Most Commonly Sold Home

Ranch-style housing is the most popular across 20 states. This American classic was built in such quantities in the mid-twentieth century that it prevails through sheer force. The ranch house offers space and, occupying just one floor, cradle-to-grave accessibility.

The first houses were thought to be windbreaks made of animals skins stretched over a frame. There is evidence that “hom*o Erectus” constructed 50-foot-long branch huts with stone slabs or animal skins for floors.

Cottages were usually constructed in a style known as post and beam, which gives them their distinctive low ceilings. Early cottages would have had earthern floors. Gradually these were replaced by pamments, or tiles, set into a layer of sand.

A cottage is referred to as a cozy dwelling, generally in rural or semi-rural areas. Cottages are typically small homes built to look like old-fashioned homes. Cottages are commonly used as temporary residences such as lake houses, summer vacation homes, and even winter vacation homes.

Craftsman homes are an American architectural tradition that emerged and spread primarily between 1900 and 1929. It was a backlash against the mass-produced, Industrial Revolution-fueled Victorian architecture boom that prized ornament and decoration made all the more accessible by new technologies.

The exterior of a home built during this decade was often of a red brick siding, and the interior home flooring was often of hardwood, just as it was in earlier decades. Other luxuries of 1940s homes included newly-installed roofing, kitchen cupboards, spacious rooms, and thermostat controlled heat.

What was the architectural style in the twenties and thirties? ›

Art Deco History

In the 1920s, Art Deco style took off in Europe with a sleek elegance that quickly spread to the United States. There, it became especially popular in the 1930s as an architectural style due to extensive urban development.

Two of the most common types of Victorian homes are Queen Anne and Italianate. "Queen Annes, with their asymmetrical feel, often showcase wrap-around porches, steeply pitched roofs, a turret, and two to three stories," says Mize.