Any books on Tenement buildings?....

[Maud Jarvis]

Hi
I was found the item by Moonwatcher,re the Glasgow Model, fascinating reading, especially the language used.

My son being brought up in England having an English father, would need to have that translated to be able to understand what it meant,
I still buy the Sunday Post every week (have it on order from my newsagent) and son is quite tickled by the "Broons" which obviousy he hardly understands a word of until I translate it for him!

I am presently trying to write up our family history in an interesting way and in so doing, am describing the tenement building in which I was born and lived in until we moved into a council house in late 1943. My son finds it very difficult to envisage how a family with parents and perhaps 10 children could live in a "single end" which as you no doubt know is really just one room with a wee scullery, at least that was the description of the single end my grandfather moved into when we left our room & kitchen in Pattison Street, he did not want to come with us preferring to stay in his "own wee hoose" he therefore exchanged his room & kitchen for the middle single end where a family were with their large family, for them it was like moving into a palace to have a room & kitchen with an inside toilet! whilst we of course were `moving up in the world` to a council three apartment and the luxury of a bathroom, a big change from having to have a bath every week in the backyard wash-house!

So, I wonder if anyone knows of any books that have photographs in them showing what a tenement flat looked like inside, I have of course some photos of my grandfather standing outside the ground floor single end flat in Pattison St. but that does not give any idea of what it was like inside, I would love to get one with these illustrations, both to be able to take a copy for showing inside my family history "book" and also to enable my son to see what it would have been like.
I`m sure he only half believes me when I try and describe them to him, he just cannot imagine a bed in the hole in the wall!

If anyone knows the title & author of any books similar to what I have described, I would love to know, so that I can either purchase it or order it through my local library, I have had a good look in our libraries here, (in Essex) but cannot see anything that compares with the Scottish tenement buildings. So, any suggestions would be most appreciated thank you.

[Davie]

This is a guid wee book on tenement life.
Up Oor Close: Memories of Domestic Life in Glasgow Tenements, 1910-45 by Jean Faley
If you go into the Virtual Mitchell you should find some pics
http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/cgi-bin/ ... =Interiors
I still live up a close on Cathcart Road, it has not changed much in 100 years
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dauvit ... .dir=/5ac2

Davie

[DavidWW]

This is a guid wee book on tenement life.
Up Oor Close: Memories of Domestic Life in Glasgow Tenements, 1910-45 by Jean Faley
If you go into the Virtual Mitchell you should find some pics
http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/cgi-bin/ ... =Interiors
I still live up a close on Cathcart Road, it has not changed much in 100 years
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dauvit ... .dir=/5ac2

Davie

Guess which book's title I was struggling to recall

Highly recommended.

Weel done Davie =D>

David

PS "up a close", Davie, may require a wee bit of explanation for those not familiar with the phrase. I assume that it's "wally" close
dww

[Maud Jarvis]

Hi
Many thanks Davie & David WW, for sending me the title of the book, I will ask our local library if its possible for them to acquire it for me, but most likely I`ll see if I can purchase it myself.
I`ll have a look at the site yoiu have mentioned.

Thank you very much for your help, much appreciated.
I have not forgotten the many Scottish descriptions such as "wally dugs" for instance, sometimes I admit I have a wee struggle to recall a few, once you no longer hear various words & phrases you do find it strange, although I`ve spent so many years in England (since the early 50s) I still retain my Scottish accent, although I no longer use many of the words, I still remember them.

My late husband used to tease me about my accent, and would often quote to me the words, "ther`s a moose running loose in the hoose" he thought he could use the accent, but he sounded so funny trying, I used to curl up laughing at him.
Thanks again for your replies.

[Davie]

Greetin's Maud
Up oor close is still in print.
Borders, Ottakar's, Waterstones etc.
If you cannot get a copy locally or from your local library, I have a couple spare (second hand) and would be happy to send you one.
There are only about three pics of interiors and none are really very revealing, but a really good insight of tenement life.
Davie

[Maud Jarvis]

Hi
Thank you Dav ie for your ofeer of the book, my son has found however tht it can be purchased here, and he had placed an order for it, so I`m looking forward to reading it.
I looked up the Michael library site and found the many photos very interesting, I of course immediately looked for Dalmuir, but sadly the only pic shown for there was the Sewage Works! so that was a bit disappointing. still I do have a photo of my grandfather standing outside his window (taken about 1950) so at least it does give an idea of what the building looked like. My son cannot really imagine the toilet being in the "close" grandfather`s was. just near the back entrance, and I remember it as being really cold and draughty, especially on a windy winters day!.
I used to sit and read the bits of the newspaper hanging in there, especially anything from the News of the World, I was never allowed to read that, so I would often sit there and have a sneaky look, I ended up getting many spoonsfulls of Syrup of Figs then, my mother would bang the door and ask what I was doing being so long in there, and I would reply that I was constipated, so on coming out she would be waiting with the syprup of figs. She knew full well what I was doing and that was her way of discouraging me!!
Did not cure me of reading in the toilet though, at home I would often sneak my book in , hidden under my jumper, it seemed to me the only place where I got peace to read, my mother, not being much of a reader herself, would get a bit infuriated at me, she was always complaining that I "had my nose stuck in a book" she admitted many years later, that she knew what I was up to (and also having a sneaky puff on a ciggie out the window, I imagined then that she would not smell it)

Well I`ll hopefully get on with a bit of work now, I have rather a lot of filing to do, notes galore have been piling up during the summer months, so now I must get cracking and have a good tidy up before getting down to typing everything up. It often happens that you have nothing new for a long time, and then suddenly lots of new all come in at once, I have just recently had a great lead on my paternal grandfather (never knew him) I had been searching for years to find out what happened to him after 1896 (when my father was born) and then, thanks to great help from a very kind gentleman, I had news and BMDs which of course was really exciting, so now I have to re type what I had already written and set out the facts I have now received, I also have to follow up and find out where he was during the Boer War, it seems he was away in 1901 involved in that, and my son has promised to make a visit to Kew for me before the winter sets in and see what he can find.

Thanks again for your help and offer, much appreciated.

[Davie]

Greetin's Maud
Another wee book you might be interested in is "Old Dalmuir"
It has some great pics in it, and not just of the Sewage works, Canal or Auchentoshan House
It was wriiten by John Hood and published by Richard Stenlake.
Stenlake does several of these wee books and you can see them on line.
Another wee tip is to check out the local estate agents and see what they have on offer.
Although there is no "Single ens" (studio Flats these days) left, there will be quite a few "Room n' Kitchens" up for sale locally.
Awrabest
Davie

[Maud Jarvis]

Thanks for giving me the title of the book on Dalmuir, I will be very interested in seeing that, son says he can get it through Amazon books, it will be nice to be able to show him the area where I was born, although he has been there when he was a small boy, he does not of course remember it very well.
I bet its very different now to what it was when I last saw it, and Pattison Street of course will be very different, that is, if its still there.
I dont suppose I will ever see any of Scotland again, I would like to, but being disabled now it would be too difficult for me to travel up there, son is hoping that one day, I might be fit enough for us to have a holiday to see Edinburgh, we always used to talk of going there for a holiday when my husband was alive, but we just never got around to it, I had a gt uncle lived near the Haymarket, and I used to visit him every weekend until I was age 16 (when he died) and I have not been back there since.
Anyway, I`ll have to wait and see what the future holds as whether I will ever make it or not.

Fancy the old single ends having a posh name of studio flats, still I expect they would look very different today from what they were!

[nancy]

Hi Maud,yes it sure brings back memories having to use outside loo on cold dark winter nights There was no light so toilet door would be left ever so slightly ajar, to let close light shine in, as either ma or da would have to stand at close entrance smoking a cig whilst waiting on me Sunday papers could of course only be read in loo during the day,as the window let in lots of light.Didn't smoke though,left that to mum and dad.Did try it a few yr later at pics on Sat afternoons with my pals ,but thankfully didn't like it. Maud i have a pic of hubby as a7 yr old climbing into bed in "hole in the wa".If you like i can scan and email it to you,just let me get my scanner up and working. I see you're in Essex.My son's there also,he's in Colchester!Isn't Essex a beautiful part of the country,and quite a size! Cheers Nancy.

[StewL]

Hello Maud

Although this site is not about tenements, it might be of some interest.

http://www.theclydebankstory.com

Stew