Daily Express Housing Competition - Class 1: Houses for Unskilled Labourers

MODEL HOMES EXHIBITION – Mr Robert J McBeath MSA Birnam House Sale has been awarded the first premium of £200 for the best plans of cottages for unskilled labourers, submitted in the Model Homes Competition held by the “Daily Express” in connection with the forthcoming Model Homes Exhibition, to be opened by Mrs Lloyd George on May 19 at the Central Hall. Westminster. The competition was divided into two sections. Premiums of £200, £100 and £ 50 have been awarded in each of the three classes in the professional section (1) cottages for unskilled labourers, (2) cottages for skilled artisans and (3) houses for clerical workers, making 1000 guineas in all. In the amateur section, prizes amounting to 500 guineas have been awarded for similar classes, but under easier conditions. The large number of plans sent in by both professional and amateur house designers was a significant indication of the great popular interest now being taken in the housing question, and the high quality of the designs, “which mark a distinct advance in the evolution of homes for the working classes,” was the subject of special comment in the award signed by Mr Henry T Hare, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, who was chairman of the Committee of Adjudication. Models of the premium houses will be on view at the exhibition. [Manchester Guardian 28 April 1919 page 6]

Reference    Builder 11 April 1919 Page 336
Reference    Building News 30 April 1919 Page 264
Reference    Manchester Guardian 28 April 1919 page 6.