Industrial Homes, Domestic Factories: the Convergence of Public and Private Space in Interwar Britain.

Abstract

Browsing through interwar editions of Industrial Welfare,1 a journal which represented the interests of industrial welfare supervisors, one might easily in a moment of lapsed concentration imagine that it was a home and garden journal. Interspersed with articles on sports and timekeeping are numerous pieces extolling the virtues of model companies, illustrated with photographs of factory kitchens, gardens, dining rooms, restrooms and bathrooms. These images of upholstered chairs, artwork, flowers, tablecloths, beds and curtains represent the factory environment not as a site of industrial production but as an idealized middle-class home.