Adrodd fel Amhriodol
Testun Gwreiddiol (Anodiad: EPW032218 / 238139)
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Housing accommodation was scarce in this area at the end of WW1 so the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Electric Supply Company (NESCO) built a model village at Billingham to provide housing for the workforce at its new North Tees Power Station. Seventy-three houses were built on East, South, West and Middle Avenues as well as the eastern side of Old Road. The mainly semi-detached houses were built at about eight to an acre and all were provided with gardens with hedges at the boundaries and plot divisions.
This estate had a novel feature; the houses were amongst the first to have electricity installed in the original build. Other than an open fire (with back boiler for hot water) in the living room and another fire in the bedroom above, everything was electric – lighting, cooker, wash boiler and heating in the other rooms. NESCO published a small pamphlet describing the houses and their innovations. Local Housing Associations were also invited to inspect the estate and a furnished “Exhibition House”.
My attached photograph shows two sisters outside 14 West Avenue in about 1926.
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