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The most desirable type of home for British people is a detached house, which ensures privacy and symbolizes status. While a large stately home is unrealistic for most, even a small detached house with a garden provides the rural feel valued in British culture. Most British people prefer to avoid living in apartment blocks, seeing them as lacking privacy. Although high-rise public housing projects provided modern amenities, residents disliked feeling isolated and unable to monitor children at play. As a result, high-rises were unsuccessful in Britain and now only 4% of the population lives in apartments, showing the strong dislike for that living situation compared to other European countries.

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Женька Воронько
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94 views4 pages

+housing - Text 1

The most desirable type of home for British people is a detached house, which ensures privacy and symbolizes status. While a large stately home is unrealistic for most, even a small detached house with a garden provides the rural feel valued in British culture. Most British people prefer to avoid living in apartment blocks, seeing them as lacking privacy. Although high-rise public housing projects provided modern amenities, residents disliked feeling isolated and unable to monitor children at play. As a result, high-rises were unsuccessful in Britain and now only 4% of the population lives in apartments, showing the strong dislike for that living situation compared to other European countries.

Uploaded by

Женька Воронько
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Housing

Almost everybody in Britain dreams of living in a detached house; that is, a house which is a
separate building. The saying, ‘An Englishman’s - home is his castle’ is well-known. It illustrates the desire
for privacy and the importance attached to ownership which seem to be at the heart of the British attitude
to housing.
Houses, not flats
A large, detached house not only ensures privacy. It is also a status symbol. At the extreme end of
the scale there is the aristocratic ‘stately home’ set in acres of garden. Of course, such a house is an
unrealistic dream for most people. But even a small detached house, surrounded by garden, gives the
required suggestion of rural life which is dear to the hearts of many British people. Most people would be
happy to live in a cottage, and if this is a thatched cottage, reminiscent of a pre-industrial age, so much the
better.
Most people try to avoid living in blocks of flats (what the Americans call ‘apartment blocks’).
Flats, they feel, provide the least amount of privacy. With a few exceptions, mostly in certain locations in
central London, Hats are the cheapest kind of home. The people who live in them are those who cannot
afford to live anywhere else.
The dislike of living in flats is very strong. In the 1950s millions of poorer people lived in old, cold,
uncomfortable nineteenth century houses, often with only an outside toilet and no bathroom. During the next
twenty years many of them were given smart new 'high rise' blocks of flats to live in which, with central
heating and bathrooms, were much more comfortable and were surrounded by grassy open spaces. But
people hated their new homes. They said they felt cut off from the world all those floors up. They missed
the neighbourliness. They couldn’t keep a watchful eye on their children playing down there in those lovely
green spaces. The new high-rise blocks quickly deteriorated. The lifts broke down. The lights in the
corridors didn't work. Windows got broken and were not repaired. There was graffiti all over the walls.
In theory (and except for the difficulty with supervising children), there is no objective reason why
these high-rise blocks (also known as ‘tower blocks’) could not have been a success. In other countries
millions of people live reasonably happily in flats. But in Britain they were a failure because they do not suit
British attitudes. The failure has been generally recognized for several years now. No more high-rises are
being built. At the present time, only 4% of the population live in one. Only 20% of the country's households
live in fiats of any kind.

The most desirable home: a detached house.


This is what is usually written in a builder’s advertisement.
Notice:
 the “traditional” building material of brick (the walls) and slate (the roof);
 the irregular, “non-classical” shape, with all those little corners, making the house feel “cosy”;
 the suggestion of a large front garden with a tree and bushes, evoking not only the country side but
also giving greater privacy;
 that the garage is hidden discretely away, so that it is not too obvious and doesn’t spoil the rural
feeling;
 that the front door is not even seen (the privacy criterion at work again).

Second best: a semi-detached.


Unless they are located in the remotest parts of the country, detached houses are too expensive for most
people. So this is what a very large proportion of people live in: one building with two separate households.
Each house is the mirror of the other, inside and out. These houses can be found, street after street, in the
suburbs of cities and the outskirts of towns all over Britain. There is a separate front garden for each house.
At the sides, there is access to the back, where there will also be two gardens. The most common building
material is brick. The typical semi-detached has two floors and three bedrooms.

Less desirable: a terraced house.


This kind of house usually has no way through to the back except through the house itself. Each house in the
row is joined to the next one. (Houses at the end of the row are a bit more desirable — they are the most like
a semidetached). They usually have two floors, with two bedrooms upstairs. Some have gardens, back and
front, others only at the back and others no garden at all. Before the 1960s Britain had millions of terraced
houses, most with no inside toilet or bathroom. Many of these were then knocked down, but in some areas
those that have survived have become quite desirable´ after repairs and building work have been carried out.

An exception: the town house.


These houses, which can be found in the inner areas of most cities, are an exception to the general pattern.
There is great variety regarding both design and use. They often have three or more floors, perhaps including
a basement or semi-basement. Although they are usually terraced, those-that are well-preserved and in a
«good» area may be thought highly desirable. Many have been broken up into flats or rooms for rent. Most
of the comparatively small number of people who rent from private owners live in flats of this kind.
Sometimes they are «self-contained» flats (they have washing and cooking facilities and it is not necessary
to walk through anybody else´s flat to get to your own); sometimes they are «bedsits» (i.e. bed-sitting rooms;
residents have one room to themselves and share washing and cooking facilities with other residents). The
least desirable: a flat.

Not having a separate entrance to the outside world does not suit British tastes. Although it is densely
populated, Britain has the second lowest proportion of flat-dwellers in the EU (the lowest of all is in
Ireland).
Exercises:
1. Read and translate the text.

2. Give your own explanations to the following: a detached house; a semi-detached; a terraced house; the
town house; a flat.

3. Answer the following questions: (Федечко ч.1)


 What is the British attitude towards housing?
 What does the saying ‘An Englishman’s home is his castle’ illustrate?
 Why do the British dream of living in a detached house?
 What is dear to the hearts of many British people?
 What is an unrealistic dream for most British people?
 Why do most British people avoid living in blocks of flats?
 High-rise blocks haven’t been a success in Britain, have they? Prove your answer.
 What are the modern statistics about housing in Britain?

Answer the following questions:

 What kind of house do you live in?


 What is the view like?
 What is there around your house?
 What kind of home do you have?
 What’s your flat like?
 How are the other rooms furnished?

4. Find the appropriate answer.


1. The saying ‘An Englishman’s - home is his castle’ illustrates that:
a) those who don’t live in castle, have no home
b) everybody in Britain wants to live in castle
c) the British desire to have their private territory
d) the British desire to have big and beautiful houses.

2. Most people avoid living in blocks of flats because…


a) they are the cheapest way of living
b) they do not provide the feeling of privacy
c) there are too many neighbours there
d) these flats are rather small and there is no garden.

3. What kind of people live in blocks of flats?


a) The poorest people
b) The most powerful and very rich people
c) Those who like to live some floors up
d) The people who cannot afford buying houses

4. Did the people like the idea of living in high-rise blocks?


a) No, they didn’t because there was no central heating there
b) Yes, they were happy to move in high-rise blocks from their uncomfortable houses
c) No, they didn’t because these high-rise blocks were very uncomfortable
d) No, because they felt cut off from the world and missed the neighbourliness.

5. At the present time…


a) only 20 % of the population live in high-rises
b) only 4 % of the population live in high-rises
c) only 14 % of the population live in high-rises
d) only 40 % of the population live in high-rises.

6. A detached house gives to the British …


a) the feeling of safety and happiness
b) the feeling of wealth
c) the suggestion of rural life
d) the suggestion of aristocratic life.

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