I just had to share this.
When William Straw, a grocer, died suddenly in 1932, his grief-stricken widow and sons decided to leave their house exactly as he knew it.
Decorated in 1923, the redbrick Worksop semi then remained just as it was until the last Straw to live there, Mr Straw’s son William junior, died and bequeathed it to the National Trust in 1991.
Wish I lived a bit closer, would love to see it.
Fascinating, but sad in a way, no? Would love to see it though I agree with the narrator–I feel as though I’d be betraying William. Do you think he meant for it to be opened so the world would intrude?
Very touching.
Caroline Have you seen this? (I hope this link works) http://meanqueen-lifeaftermoney.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-1939-house_2.html
Lovely. I also enjoyed the TV series about houses in different eras like the 1940s House.
Each house like this one is a time capsule showing the way of life at that time. And yet what has always struck me is the way it changes and yet remains the same.
The main changes have been in the way we heat and light and communicate and handle waste. Other than that life is much the same.
For instance if I was to run around and remove all the late 20th and early 21st century gadgets in my house what remains would be much the same as what is in the Straw house.
I have a hall table and chair and in the living room I have a couch and chairs and a dining table and cabinet. I have china and rugs and curtains and paintings.
Upstairs I have beds and linen and dressers and chairs and wardrobes and clothes. Different and yet the same.
I have lights and lamps that are electric. Older era house had lights and lamps just different – gas or oil instead of electric. Same with heating. Now I heat with oil with a high efficiency furnace. Before it was coal or wood.
A TV replaces a radio. A high definition TV with a DVD recorder replaces the colour TV we bought in 1991. We have a flushing toilet instead of a little house at the end of the yard but we bath and heat water in much the same way. And cooking with electricity or gas is different and yet much the same as with a solid fuel range. A refrigerator is much more practical than an ice chest but both keep food cold.
We recently watched a science fiction film taking place in the far future. Their house looked much the same as ours – had all the same things that we require for comfort and function just a different design or technology.