The rapid rise, after 1900, of women working as clerks, secretaries and shorthand typists in London created an urgent need for affordable and respectable accommodation. Building on models of elegant Victorian ladies’ residential chambers in Bloomsbury, Marylebone and Chelsea, and the vast working men’s lodging houses, a new type of working women’s hostel emerged. The special function of these proud, architect-designed buildings was often not apparent externally, where handsome facades blended into the London’s Edwardian streetscape. However, architectural plans, writings and rare photographic glimpses reveal distinctive interiors. Inside, these hostels had efficiently planned tiny private spaces, and comfortable, shared dining and sitting rooms, as well as libraries and even bicycle stores. Emphatically not charitable or municipal endeavours, these were business-minded enterprises, often established and advocated by other women in Edwardian London. In turn, the little-known buildings supported, enabled and empowered a new generation of intrepid working women in the capital. Emily Gee will set the scene of this remarkable building type across London, focusing on the buildings in Camden and Westminster, and the fascinating women who lived in them. 

Emily Gee is Director for Cathedral and Church Buildings for the Church of England, and former London and South East Regional Director at Historic England.

This talk will be via Zoom (CHS members will be advised of the link by our email invitation).