Britain in the 1950s: archive photos show what UK homes really looked like
Alexandra Upton
22 November 2024
Welcome back to the 50s
Lightworks Media/Alamy Stock Photo
A post-war economy
©Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
Rationing continues
Picture Kitchen/Alamy Stock Photo
The Windrush generation
Tim Ring/Alamy Stock Photo
Multicultural Britain in the 1950s
Allan Cash Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo
The housing crisis
Photo by A. Vines/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The rise of council housing
Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo
The New Towns Commission
David J. Green/Alamy Stock Photo
The modern house
Haywood Magee/Stringer/Getty Images
Functional and practical, the modernist house
Tony Henshaw /Alamy Stock Photo
The Festival of Britain
Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo
Model communities
Chris Ware/Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The dawn of DIY
Retro AdArchives/Alamy Stock Photo
Bigger bedrooms
Christopher Nicholson/Alamy Stock Photo
No money for modernity
Tony Henshaw/Alamy Stock Photo
Dated bathrooms
Raymond Kleboe/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Tin bath on a Friday
Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo
Colourful new fixtures
Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images
The evolution of the kitchen
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Social spaces
SDGH Images/Alamy Stock Photo
Mid-century modern dining
Neil Baylis/Alamy Stock Photo
The family gathering place
M&N/Alamy Stock Photo
The early 50s living room
LH Images/Alamy Stock Photo
The late 1950s living room
Alex Segre/Alamy Stock Photo
TV time
Frank Martin/BIPs/Getty Images
A new opiate of the masses
Sam Oaksey/Alamy Stock Photo
The rise of the Hoover
Joseph McKeown/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
New kitchen appliances
Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A return to domesticity?
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The perfect housewife
Retro AdArchives/Alamy Stock Photo
The return of the nuclear family
©Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
Moving forward
ClassicStock/Alamy Stock Photo
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