Before the 1950's did many people live in apartments ,,flats?? or is this a recent, modern phenomenon?

Question

why or how so?

And I am referring to mainly the US and Europe.

Answer 1

Probably not many people, but yes, there were flats and apartments in in the middle decades of the last century. Large organizations like the miltary housed their employees and their families in apartment blocks. So did large steel corportations, oil companies etc.

Flats became more universalized from the 1970s owing to the spiral in real estate prices.

Answer 2

My parents were married (in the UK) on the day WW2 broke out and spent the first 15 years of their married life in a flat. Not a high rise, just three stories. Flats like this were common in towns and cities across the the UK and were built from the 1900's, or earlier, onwards. In London they could be very upmarket - called 'mansion flats' and were the usual place of habitation of many 'upper class' people, particulalrly in the 1920s and 1930s. If you ever get a chance to see one of the Poirot TV dramas starring David Suchet they often show the exterior of one such supposedly including the great detective's flat. Many of these were 'serviced', i.e. the inhabitants didn't have to cook, for example, but could order meals.

There were also blocks in industrial cities. Tenement blocks as they were called were common in Scottish industrial cities, particularly Glasgow - in the Gorbals area. These were not nearly so desirable.

I believe that, in fact, the plebs in Ancient Rome lived in a early form of flat development.

The answer which suggest people didn't live in flats in the UK until the craze for 'high rise' in the 1960s, is quite incorrect.

Answer 3

In the UK most people lived in houses though if you were poor it was often shared between many families. They only really started building high rise flats after the war because much of the housing was old and dilapidated and where there was significant areas of bomb damage. In the sixties there was a huge housing boom of high rise buildings considered very chic at the time. Also as in London the burgeoning population needed a place to live and it was considered better to build up than to build new houses to accommodate more people.

Answer 4

Yes. In the '50s, '40s, '30s and even as for back as
WW I, people lived in apartments and flats.
You could probably find some old photos if you went
to google and typed into their search engine:
apartments+early 20th century+photos

Good luck.

Answer 5

In many cases people didn't live in flats - they rented rooms as that was all they could afford.

Answer 6

some discover show was about apartments in rome 2500 years ago
another showed ones under edinburg scotland from the 1300s
new york apartments certainly predate the 1950s, but idk by how much
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Answer 7

oh gosh i think they have been used since Victorian times at least!