Domestic 4: The Modern House and Housing

A guide to outline the selection criteria used when listing modern houses and housing.

Domestic architecture of the twentieth century can claim particular significance. The Arts and Crafts Movement and the Garden City Movement are two international trends of modern times that originated in England, and the private house – the unit of the English suburb – lay at their heart. In the inter-war years, interesting private houses were built in a variety of traditional as well as modern styles, and to an extent this continued in the post-war years.

This selection guide concentrates on the twentieth century, but looks back to the later nineteenth century in some regards. There is some overlap with the other three Domestic Buildings selection guides Vernacular Houses, Town Houses, Suburban Country Houses, in particular those on Suburban and Country Houses and Town Houses.

This is one of a series of guides which set out some of our approaches to listing buildings. Covering twenty broad categories of building types, they including historical overviews and special considerations for listing, plus select bibliographies. They are primarily intended to develop understanding of listed buildings and structures, and to offer insight into listing decision making.