ABSTRACT

Britain has a unique mass housing inheritance, thanks to its role in initiating the industrial revolution. Many were built in haste to house the labour force for the rapidly expanding economy. There were exceptions: some houses were built by philanthropic mill owners who assumed responsibility for the welfare of their employees. World famous examples include Saltaire near Leeds and Port Sunlight near Birkenhead. For much of the rest of the 19th-century housing stock, the official view from the 1950s–1980s was to consider them prime candidates for demolition. Liverpool provides a classic example of this attitutde.