30 January 2012, Dr Liz Stewart A Place called Home, Liverpool Court Housing

Dr Stewart showed plans of typical court housing which consisted of two rows of back to back houses with a central courtyard, an ash pit and privy at one end of the courtyard and sometimes a standpipe in the centre. Houses were usually entered up a flight of steps to allow families to inhabit the cellar area. Upper floors were shared between several families. Courts were either “open” to the street or “closed” when there was only a narrow entrance. This type of housing was developed from the Georgian terraces as a cheap alternative in an acute housing crisis when there was an influx of Irish and other immigrants in the 1800s. In 1889 building regulations began to be tightened in response to campaigns about the insanitary conditions, closed courts were declared illegal, and by the early 20th century the courts were being demolished and social housing was being provided in new areas of the city.