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IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN 1930s HOUSES THEN YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN THIS!
Superintendent's Lodge, Coney Hill Cemetery, Gloucester, UK
We lived in a 1930s Cotswold stone cemetery lodge in Gloucester (my dad was the cemetery superintendent) and I suppose my fondness for that house contributed to my love of the 1930s/40s. I have written a brief account on our house as I remember it in the very early 1960s, as at that time very little had changed with the decor or interior features since it was built in the 1930s.
History Of The House
This lodge was used as the cemetery office from the latter part of the 1930s until the crematorium and an office were built onto the cemetery chapel in 1953. There was a bell incorporated into the lodge's chimney stack which originally used to be rung each day to signify the closing of the cemetery grounds. I never did hear it ring, as by the 1950s there was a much larger bell built into the crematorium tower for this purpose, and for some reason this old bell was never taken down.
 
(Photos by kind permission of Barbara Butcher)
General
The lodge had three bedrooms, upstairs bathroom with separate loo, lounge, hall, dining room, kitchen, front porch and a back porch leading into the outhouse. All the doors were panelled 1930s style with black bakelite handles, all light switches/sockets were bakelite and the downstairs reception rooms had the coloured glass flycatcher lampshades. We had picture rails in most of the rooms from which our pictures hung on chains by special hooks. I can remember in the very early days being dull coloured lino on the floors with a rug in the middle of the rooms. The only room that had wallpaper was the lounge, all other rooms had either cream, green or blue painted walls.
Rear view of the house
Our windows were wonderful; stone framed with leaded light panels and often on winter mornings would wake up to find the curtains frozen to the inside of the windows (my children who were brought up with central heating think this is hilarious). It was always freezing cold in the house, even in summer, partly due to the hugely thick Cotswold stone walls.
We did not get electric storage heaters for the two downstairs rooms until the 1970s. I suppose we were just used to being cold, wore lots of layers and went to bed with thick pyjamas, hot water bottles, piles of blankets and huge old eiderdowns.
Downstairs
Our front door was magnificent; a panelled door with window panels in the top half, set in an arch with window panels either side, that led into a large porch. A stone Gloucestershire coat of arms lay above the door. There was an electric doorbell which was so loud, the clanging noise would reverberate in my ears. We even had anouthouse which everything got chucked into, which used to be the coal house before we got an outside coal bunker.
Lounge
We had a grey tiled fireplace in the lounge, the only fireplace ever used and this had to be cleaned out and re-laid every morning. A metal caged fireguard stood in front, I guess for our safety but useful for drying washing on in front of the lit fire.
An hexagonal mirror hung above this fireplace on a chain and above the two windows which were at each end of the room, were these original 1930 crinkled pelmets made out of cream coloured bakelite. We had long green patterned curtains. There was a huge old 1950s console black and white television at one end of the room. A set of 12 child encyclopaedia's on a wooden book rack perched on one window sill along with a potted red geranium, that always seemed to be there no matter what time of year it was.
We had a lovely huge old squishy green three piece suite and two utility armchairs, that had some pinkish loose material covers made to cover up the worn bits. An old bureaux with books crammed underneath with an old 1940s "art deco" electric clock. There was a big cardboard box in the corner that our toys were chucked into at the end of the day.
Dining Room
The dining room fireplace was a tall dark oak surround with inserted brown tiles. The table, chairs, sideboard and trolley were all dark wooden utility furniture from the 1940s. An old wireless (very crackly & difficult to tune in) sat on the sideboard. Our very posh green and white speckled china only came out when we had visitors. A tablecloth was always used at meal times and we always ate up at the table, unless we were ill! There was an ancient black 1930s telephone perched on the window sill, with the round dial and handset that sat along the top
Kitchen
The kitchen had a butler sink with an enamel drainer, a green and cream maid saver for all the kitchen paraphernalia, and a lovely quarry tiled floor. There was an antiquated electric boiler hanging by the sink, which gave us hot water for the upstairs too. The first washing machine I can remember was a 1950s yellow top loader with a mangle above. There was a matching yellow electric clothes dryer and electric cooker. A corner of our kitchen was an odd shape which was where the old copper once stood but my father had this taken out when we moved in.
Pantry
We had a walk-in pantry, via the hall, with a quarry tiled slab which was used to store all our food until we got a fridge in the mid-1960s. I have very vivid pre-school memories of being dragged from the butcher's, baker's, grocer's etc. almost daily for our food and household goods but the milkman would deliver our milk daily except Sunday.
Upstairs
The stairs twisted round with a long stretch of banisters along the landing. The heavily patterned carpet went up the middle and it was often my job to dust the exposed painted side bits of the stairs. I actually remember enjoying this, can't think why! The hall and stair's plain walls were painted in gloss cream for the lower half and matt cream for the top half.
Bedrooms
My parents bedroom was furnished with basic dark brown wooden utility furniture, a throwback from the 1940s. Here there was a brown tiled fireplace and a dark wooden fireguard with a fixed landscape picture. Being the only girl, I was lucky to have the tiny single bedroom whereas all five brothers had to share the second bedroom in two sets of bunk beds and a single bed. They were all extremely jealous of this fact, but hey...that's life for you!
My bedroom furniture consisted of a bed, wardrobe and dressing table all made by my grandfather for my mother when she was a child, back in the early 1930s. Of course my dolls house took pride of place on the floor.
Bathroom & WC
The bathroom was tiny with a white china sink and enormous white enamel bath that ran the entire length of the bathroom. The loo was separate and I can always remember the cheap "Izal" loo paper we used to have, bit hard on your rear but which I often used to nick as it made great tracing paper! I gather in the 1930s it was deemed un-hygienic to have a loo incorporated into the bathroom so the loo was always separate.
And finally..
We had a coal bunker outside which we used to play on and I loved it when the chimney sweep came, covering everything with white sheets and us always banished to the garden, waiting for his brush to poke out the chimney!
My father kept a huge vegetable and fruit plot which we lived off practically all year round, mind you there were a lot of us to feed!
I used to love shelling the freshly picked peas & helping my dad pick his runner beans. In the summer/autumn we had a never ending supply of stewed rhubarb, plums, blackberries, blackcurrants & gooseberries....truly wonderful.
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