The People Still Living in WW2 - Wartime Prefabs 2024

A few hundred people still live in WW2 - that is, they live in accommodation designed as short-term emergency housing in response to German aerial bombing. But almost 80 years later, these humble houses are still in use. I found one of the largest collections of these houses still remaining - join me for an exploration!

Help support my channels:

Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Mark Felton Productions. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Mark Felton Productions does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.

Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; The Prefab Museum; zaphad1; Gaius Cornelius; Chemical Engineer; Deb; Le_Deluge

[maryb]

People in my home town fought like mad to keep theirs. They were much loved. Economical, cosy, etc.

[allDIYtrains]

My grandma, reaching 99 years next month lived in the German equivalent of this after the war (somewhere between 1946 to about 1955). She has very fond memories of her "Behelfsheimchen" (Roughly translates to "substitute homey" or something similar.) This is where she met my grandfather, whom she married in 59. Even tho hers didn't have a water tap or a toilet, there was a community tap and toilet house down the alley. It was surrounded by a tiny stretch of land, where she grew potatoes and cabbage. That's how my grandpa won her over, as she once told him if she only had beans. So grandpa got her some beans, as in, dug out the plants somewhere else at night. A true post war romance...

[frederickjohnsen]

To make way for more solid structure? Yet, 80 years later these temporary houses are still going strong and providing a comfortable life for those who live in them. Great episode, as always.

[stuartcassie]

I have one. it was the family home until 1972 when a new house on the property was built. It was never demolished. It was renovated in 1997 and I moved in to it as my own home. My own family lived in it until 6 years ago. This year its back in use and my Inlaws now live in it. It Looks like a Tarral type, but has a flat roof. There are many of them in my town, all modernised and with pitched roofs now fitted. It was way warmer than my current house.

[ziepex]

Impeccable timing Dr Felton, i was just talking to my Nan about her time in prefabs shortly after the war, she said she found them very inhabitable and cozy. Thanks for the video.

[eeeandeee]

Thank you for this video. I am a building surveyor and did a post graduate diploma in building conservation. My dissertation was "Prefabs - The Dichotomy of Listing a Temporary Building, or, a 'Permanent Temporary'". A fascinating subject. A large number are 'Listed'. The residents loved them. The local authorities hated them. The local authorities had to maintain a Listed prefab which was designed and built to last ten or so years using techniques and materials which were not suitable (poor insulation, poor reinforcing and of course asbestos cement sheet). Also, the prefab estates had a low density with large gardens. The local authorities wanted to demolish the prefabs and build houses in a higher density and weren't able to. I think the remaining prefabs are a fitting memorial to what the people of teh country went through during and after the war and the ingenuity of the designers in providing housing that was so well considered and designed in such difficult times.

[ClarenceCochran-nedu]

American here, and yes there are still PreFabs in the US built at the end of the War and the years that follow. Of course here, it wasn't due to bombing, but the Housing Shortage in the years following the War.
We call them Cracker Boxes. A single story 2 bedroom, 1 bath home, set usually on a concrete slab or concrete footer.
Here in the US, there's still whole neighborhoods of these homes made in the 40s and 50s.
A childhood friend, helped his Dad dig a basement under their PreFab. Finished it off with additional bedrooms for his brother' and him. That was in the late 60s.

[kirkbrown]

Long live Ipswich prefabs! As an ex Sidegate Lane resident I have affection for these prefabs, the large gardens, the wide leafy streets and the well kept modest buildings, that don’t pretend to be Tudor, Georgian or some other pastiche!

[peterpbans]

I live in the eastern part of the Netherlands. After ww2 the British prefab houses came to our town too. Part of the city was bombed because we have an important railway network with connecting to Germany. These houses still exist and have recently been renovated, same as overseas, people like them because of the bungalow layout and very big gardens. You find them in Hengelo and also in the nearby town of Enschede.

[jimmyconway]

I’m from the midwestern USA- the Ipswich neighborhood looks like a typical small town neighborhood here. It’s very interesting hearing the little known details of wartime Britain. Thanks so much Dr. Felton!

[jhughes]

I admire Mark Felton even more when he mentioned that "Allo Allo" was one of his favorites 🙂

[Hairnicks]

As a policeman in Bristol in the 70's, we had many pre-fabs and they were warm and comfortable and much loved. We also had lots of bomb sites still which were used as city centre cars parks, fascinating as they were often in the old cellars from the High Street. We could learn a lot from the pre-fabs in a time where they say we need thousands of houses. Cheap and cheerful but effective and homely.

[kibblenbits]

I live in Michigan and was raised in the 50's. We still have many prefab houses that were built after WWII, for returning soldier's and their growing families. They were all single story, low pitched roofs, and built with either a 2 bed/1 bath, or 3 bed/1 bath layout, with a livingroom and small kitchen (there was a wall furnace, and no duct work). They were built in our (at that time) rural area, which is now part of the city. The inside wall's of these homes look like plywood and are only about 2 inches thick (30 year old mobile homes have thicker wall's), and all were placed on cement slab's. None had a garage. I went to school with classmates who grew up in these houses, and was in and out of many of them as a kid. Almost all of them are still standing, most have been renovated, and are in use today. We also had a couple quonset hut's in the neighborhood, that people purchased from the Army/Navy surplus store, and turned into homes.

[embossed]

I grew up ten years before Mark, and WW2 was even bigger in our lives and culture, my dad was a WW2 vet as were all my uncles and my aunts all worked in war industry in one way or the other. It was generation to be admired in so many ways.

[lonzo]

Felton always comes up with interesting stories. He mentioned that in his youth, many of the older generation had direct ties to the war because they had either simply lived though it, or had participated. I am 63, so I also experienced this. Nearly all middle aged, or older, men I knew as a boy had served during the war. My uncles and father served. One uncle flew the P-38 Lightning in combat in the MTO. Dad was in US Navy basic training when VE Day was announced. He only served for a year after that, since much of the military demobilized during those days right after the war ended. He was trained as a radar technician.

In hindsight, I wish I had talked to more veterans than I had. The stories they told me always had me in rapt attention. It's hard to believe that most of them are gone now. As Felton mentioned, WW2 was so much a part of the culture for the decades that immediately followed the end of hostilities.

[rgelfand]

We still have WW2 housing in my town here in the US. During the war, the government set up houses for workers who moved to the Pittsburgh area to work in war production industries. One such neighborhood is called Mooncrest, in Moon Township, PA, which is minutes away from Pittsburgh, Ambridge and other major Steel & war production plants. This neighborhood was completed in 1943. There is another such neighborhood in Leetsdale, PA, right next door to Ambridge, PA.

[chrisberry]

I had friends in Liverpool who lived in a prefab, and I remember visiting in the 1979s, and being really impressed by how warm, comfortable and well laid out the house was.

[WildBikerBill]

A living example of there is "nothing so permanent as a temporary government program" - Milton Friedman.

I remember around 1973 attending a week long Soaring (flying) Camp at Fort Indiantown Gap in Southeastern Pennsylvania USA, which still had a lot of WW2 era buildings. The program was sponsored and run by a Military Reserve unit - this was what they did for their mandatory annual service. The barracks we youngsters stayed in were also WW2 vintage. Maintenance makes all the difference in the longevity of facilities. The fact they used real wood versus the many types of cheap particle board/plywood used today in construction also helps tremendously.

[RolfSAMA]

Cheap, look good, compact, have everything you need for a cozy life. I'd totally live in one of those.

[PeteGibbons]

I’m so lucky. My house was built in 1936. It’s solid. The walls are 2ft thick stone and concrete. Gives the Atlantic wall a run for its money. But it’s the massive garden I have that makes all the difference. I live in a mining town in Fife. The thought of living in a cramped hole in London would make me beg for the Luftwaffe to return.