Interesting that the houses were’t faced, like they are today.
No, not the infamous and somewhat notorious housing estate in Tipton, but Brownhills. These photos are postcards currently for sale on everyone’s favourite tat bazaar, eBay, interestingly, all the way from a seller in Australia. Both cards are used, and date from the mid-1920’s.
They unquestionably picture the Avenues Estate in Brownhills, I’d tenure not long after construction. What’s interesting to me is that both cards describe the location as ‘Garden City, Brownhills’. The same photographer clearly took both pictures at the same time, whilst stood on the corner of Lichfield Road and Chase (Ogley) Road, Brownhills, otherwise known as Co-op corner – it’s clear he just rotated 45 degrees.
This estate – together with the Hussey Estate, would have been the beginning of the social housing boom, and probably the first steps Brownhills took as a town towards decent, affordable housing for it’s growing population.
I’d be interested if any readers have heard the term ‘Garden City’ used to refer to the Avenues estate before – I certainly haven’t. Was it a general term for such new build at the time, or was this peculiar to Brownhills? Was the name official, and why did it die?
As usial, please comment here, or BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Cheers.
A view many Brownhillians will be familiar with…