AIORH Prefab, St Fagan’s, Cardiff 30 March 2024
Prefabs were one of the solutions the government employed to resolve the acute housing shortage after WW2. Designed as “temporary” many were in use until the 1970s. Because of their, for many people, lavish equipment - refrigerator, gas or electric cooker, indoor toilet and running water hot and cold, they were often referred to as “the people’s palaces”. I lived in one from 1955 to 1964 in Penyparc, Pontnewydd, and was very sorry to leave it for a conventional house (my mother wasn’t).
There were several patterns, we lived in an asbestos exterior Arcon V, this one is an AIROH, referred to as “ the Aluminium Bungalow, but internally the bungalows were almost identical. There was also the two storey British Iron & Steel Federation (BISF) prefab resembling a conventional house and much longer lasting; many in fact are still occupied and, due to their internal size and usually, large gardens, are highly sought after.
St Fagan's is an open air museum, part of the National Museum of Wales. Buildings and artefacts from all over Wales have been dismantled and re-erected here, often saving them from destruction. This process is ongoing.
AIORH Prefab, St Fagan’s, Cardiff 30 March 2024
Prefabs were one of the solutions the government employed to resolve the acute housing shortage after WW2. Designed as “temporary” many were in use until the 1970s. Because of their, for many people, lavish equipment - refrigerator, gas or electric cooker, indoor toilet and running water hot and cold, they were often referred to as “the people’s palaces”. I lived in one from 1955 to 1964 in Penyparc, Pontnewydd, and was very sorry to leave it for a conventional house (my mother wasn’t).
There were several patterns, we lived in an asbestos exterior Arcon V, this one is an AIROH, referred to as “ the Aluminium Bungalow, but internally the bungalows were almost identical. There was also the two storey British Iron & Steel Federation (BISF) prefab resembling a conventional house and much longer lasting; many in fact are still occupied and, due to their internal size and usually, large gardens, are highly sought after.
St Fagan's is an open air museum, part of the National Museum of Wales. Buildings and artefacts from all over Wales have been dismantled and re-erected here, often saving them from destruction. This process is ongoing.