The Estate - Bevendean History Project
Bevendean Estate Self-Build Schemes
Plymouth Avenue
In June, 1948, twenty demobilised men decided that the only way to get homes for their families was to build them for themselves. They formed a society, qualifications for membership being, an investment of £50 and an undertaking to give up all their spare time until the houses were completed.
After overcoming a number of legal and other difficulties the men who wanted homes of their own started work on Saturday 13th August 1949 on the first of the twenty houses they had planned as a communal venture.
These semi-detached houses in Plymouth Avenue were completed in 22 months.
On the 28 July 1951 the Brighton and Hove Herald reported the unvailing of a plaque to the 20 men who had built their own houses in Plymouth Avenue.
Twenty Men Who Tired Of Waiting
THEY BUILT A HOUSE EACH IN 22 MONTHS
On a wind-swept hillside at Bevendean stand ten pairs of houses. They look much like any other houses, and represent 22 months and 13 days of sweat and toil by twenty Brighton ex-Service men who saw no hope in the Corporation housing list.
The men formed themselves into the Brighton ex-Servicemen's Housing Society, Ltd., in 1948, and 14 months later, with borrowed capital, they started to build their own homes.
There were people who said that the scheme would never come to anything, and that once some of the men had got their homes built they would not want to carry on with the rest. They were wrong.
To prove just how wrong, a tablet, placing on record the completion of the project, was unveiled by the Deputy Mayor of Brighton (Alderman S. Davey) on Tuesday on the wall of the last pair of houses completed.
Of the men whose names are on the tablet, Alderman Davey said, “They have shown a spirit which could very well be emulated by a lot of other people in this country. We have lost sight of this spirit in the past."
The men borrowed £1,100 on each house, so they will pay a weekly rent. But when this mortgage is paid off, the houses will be their own.
Brighton & Hove Herald on 28 July 1951
This was the first of several self-build schemes on the Bevendean Estate.
The bungalows in Plymouth Avenue were built by individuals not by a group of people.
Continued
