An alley house is a style of house constructed in an alley that serves the back of other homes rather than a larger residential street. Often, these take the form of terraced houses, which can maximize the use of the spatial limitations of an alley. Alley houses were prevalent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; their small size made them less expensive in high demand property markets. They have often housed working-class people, immigrants, and/or young families in industrial towns who may have otherwise been excluded by these property markets.[1] Alley houses have declined in their prevalence due to demolitions enacted by governments which were often driven by class prejudice.[2][3] In some regions, more recent trends in housing construction have included homes fronted on alleys. For example, in urban Canada, alley-facing homes described as laneway houses have been constructed in recent years to meet increased demand in the housing market.[4]

Asia

Bahrain

Archaeological studies of Dilmun settlements in Bahrain, structures which were built in Eastern Arabia some time between the 4th and 1st millennia BCE, have demonstrated examples of alley houses in an ancient society. At a Dilmun era settlement on the outskirts of the residential town of Sar, alley houses had been slotted into spaces between existing buildings, and were constructed to resemble more 'standard' two-room houses from the era while forgoing certain features such as kitchen installations due to spatial limitations.[5]

Europe

United Kingdom

The construction of alley houses became common in London, England, during the 17th century, as the city's population increased rapidly largely as a result of migration from provincial England, the rest of the British Isles, and continental Europe. This influx of a population that tended to be younger, and to live in smaller, poorer households brought on a diversification in housing styles to accommodate for the concentrated demand to live in the city's centre.[6]

North America

United States

Alley houses in the United States were constructed in several states and cities, and were particularly common in older cities along the east coast, such as Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Alexandria. Alley houses were also built in various smaller industrial towns, such as Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania; in some towns in Southern states like Georgia, Alabama, and Texas; and in Midwestern cities such as Columbus, Ohio and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]

References

  1. ^ Mosher, Anne E.; Holdsworth, Deryck W. (April 1992). "The meaning of alley housing in industrial towns: examples from late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Pennsylvania". Journal of Historical Geography. 18 (2): 174–189. doi:10.1016/0305-7488(92)90130-2.
  2. ^ Wagner, Rose (July 29, 2021). "Alley houses, now an 'endangered species,' were once the core of working-class Baltimore". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  3. ^ Zhong, Xiaohua; Leung, Ho Hon (March 18, 2019). "Exploring participatory microregeneration as a sustainable renewal of built heritage community: two case studies in Shanghai". Sustainability. 11 (6): 1617. doi:10.3390/su11061617.
  4. ^ Lajoie, Étienne (2021-09-14). "Laneway living means she can stay close (but not too close) to her parents". Toronto Life. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  5. ^ Killick, Robert; Blakeney, Sara; Farid, Shahina; Hicks, Alison; Hicks, Martin; Kiely, Jennifer; Wasse, Alex (1997). "London-Bahrain archaeological expedition: 1994 and 1995 excavations at Saar, Bahrain" (PDF). Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 8: 96–98. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0471.1997.tb00148.x. hdl:2027.42/74907.
  6. ^ Harding, Vanessa (2007). "Families and housing in seventeenth-century London". Parergon. 24 (2): 115–138. doi:10.1353/pgn.2008.0015. S2CID 144867766.
  7. ^ Fair, Justin (May 2020). Tiny houses and the Black experience in Baltimore (Master of City and Regional Planning). Morgan State University School of Architecture and Planning.
  8. ^ Borchert, James (1973). "Alley life in Washington: an analysis of 600 photographs". Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. D.C. History Center. 49: 244–259. JSTOR 40067743.
  9. ^ Dickinson, Joan Younger (1966). "Aspects of Italian immigration to Philadelphia". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 90 (4): 445–465. JSTOR 20089965.
  10. ^ Bearman, Camilo Llorens (February 14, 2000). Modal shifts: row houses and alley houses in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia (Master of Architecture). Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
  11. ^ Mosher, Anne E.; Holdsworth, Deryck W. (April 1992). "The meaning of alley housing in industrial towns: examples from late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Pennsylvania". Journal of Historical Geography. 18 (2): 174–189. doi:10.1016/0305-7488(92)90130-2.
  12. ^ Lands, LeeAnn (August 15, 2011). The Culture of Property: Race, Class, and Housing Landscapes in Atlanta, 1880-1950. University of Georgia Press. p. 47. ISBN 9780820342238.
  13. ^ Beasley, Ellen (2006). The Alleys and Back Buildings of Galveston: An Architectural and Social History. Texas A&M University Press. pp. 109–111. ISBN 9781585445820.
  14. ^ Schultz, Stanley K. (September 1981). "Organizing Dixie: Alabama Workers in the Industrial Era. By Philip Taft. Edited by Gray Fink. Westport, Ct: Greenwood press, 1981, Pp. xxv, 228. $35.00. (Reviews of Books)". The Journal of Economic History. 41 (3): 702–703. doi:10.1017/S0022050700044697. S2CID 154058794.
  15. ^ McKenzie, R. D. (September 1921). "The neighborhood: a study of local life in the city of Columbus, Ohio". American Journal of Sociology. 27 (2): 486–509. doi:10.1086/213301. S2CID 144681917.
  16. ^ Hubka, Thomas C.; Kenny, Judith T. (2000). "The workers' cottage in Milwaukee's Polish community: housing and the process of Americanization, 1870-1920". Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture. Vernacular Architecture Forum. 8: 33–52. doi:10.2307/3514406. JSTOR 3514406.

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