Originally published on Photoblog by Gethin Thomas JULY. 13, 2020
Or to give them their full title Prefabricated Housing.
In Birmingham, England there still remains a row of seventeen 1940s’ Phoenix design prefabs.
The Grade II listed Phoenix prefab bungalows were designed and manufactured by John Laing, McAlpine and Henry Boot, as part of a consignment of 2,428 prefabs supplied to the Ministry of Works under the Temporary Housing Programme during and after the Second World War. In the war about 250,000 homes were destroyed and two million more were badly damaged. These temporary homes were only expected to be in use for ten years but 70 years on they are still in use. There are no other known surviving Phoenix prefabs still lived in which makes these extra special.
All but one of the prefabs are owned by Birmingham City Council. I'll leave you to guess which one.
Back in 2014, Birmingham Conservation Trust became involved and commissioned an Options Appraisal on behalf of the City Council to look at the potential for the Trust to take on one or more Prefabs to run as a museum and holiday lets.
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