Where Shall She Live

The ladies’ residential chambers of the late nineteenth century provided models for a new building type: purpose-built, architect-designed hostels for the new waves of low-waged women working in Britain’s cities. From 1900, a vast increase of clerical women workers meant there was a great need for affordable and respectable accommodation. The resultant working women’s hostels are defined by their homely architectural style and the provision of private spaces and communal areas, which together enabled independence and a mutual support structure. Many of the buildings were also architecturally impressive with notable Edwardian architects much involved in their design. A handful of these buildings have been listed and a further few deserve assessment in the future. This paper aspires to set an historical context for the building type so that assessments can be made for the designation and conservation of this little-known building type that played an important role in the housing of twentieth-century working women.

Figure 2 York Street Chambers, City of Westminster, London. 1892, Balfour and Turner.

Figure 7 Ada Lewis Women’s Lodging House sitting room 1913 (Anon, Daily Mirror).

Emily Gee

Emily Gee has worked at English Heritage since 2001 and is Team Leader (South) in the Heritage Protection Department, advising Government on statutory designation in London and the South East. In addition to casework, this role includes some policy work for the Heritage Protection Reform and thematic designation. She has degrees from Smith College, the University of Virginia and the Architectural Association and is a member of the IHBC.

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Donhead Publishing 2010