Privacy, the Housing Research Unit at the University of Edinburgh and the Courtyard House, 1959–70

Abstract

With a focus on post-war Britain (and Scotland in particular), this article contributes to the literature on the history of ’community’ by examining its apparent inverse, namely privacy. In particular, it explores the interest that emerged in 1960s Britain in a type of housing that was considered to provide enhanced privacy for residents — the courtyard house. The article begins by looking at the ways in which privacy was considered in official documentation on homes and housing in the post-war period in both England and Wales, and Scotland. It then turns to the work of the University of Edinburgh’s Housing Research Unit in the 1960s, which included not just the design and construction of housing schemes, but also social investigation of the built results. The article examines the ’urban’ housing designed in Cumbernauld and the ’rural’ counterpart in Prestonpans, both of which were intended to provide enhanced privacy for residents. It then looks at the unit’s evaluation of the completed courtyard housing built at Prestonpans as well as another survey undertaken in Dundee, both of which explored the residents’ experience of privacy. Overall, the article argues that the idea of privacy, as understood by designers and experienced by residents, played an important role in post-war housing, as part of the ambition not just to improve standards, but also to provide new choices.