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12
Coincident with this development of the district, a definite
change has been, and is, taking place, in other respects. To anyone
who has a fairly long recollection of the district, the changes
which have occurred are patent. No one would recognise Bedford
Park of to-day from the description in a book published less than
a quarter of a century ago. In it Bedford Park was described
as a garden city, the architecture of its bouses modelled in the Queen
Anne type, and inhabited chiefly by artists, literary people, leisured
people, and persons holding positions in London and finding it
easy of access to their business. The South-East Ward is still entirely
residential in its character, but some of the larger houses have disappeared
and in many of the streets, the houses are divided and sublet.
One of the most noticeable changes in the district is the disappearance
of the large residential houses, most of them situated
in their own pleasure grounds, of considerable extent. The same
changes are possibly occurring in all the inner suburbs of London.
Whatever the cause, these large houses are disappearing.
Some have been pulled down and other buldings have been erected
'on the site : some have been adapted for other purposes : very few
remain still as private residences.
Changes have also occurred in many of the houses which contained
from five to nine bedrooms : a large number of these have
been converted into tenements. It is not suggested that these
changes have been brought about entirely because of the industrialisation
or even the urbanisation of the district. Other factors
have been in operation, chiefly economic. The domestic servant
question here as elsewhere, has been a factor, possibly one of the
most important. The domestic help problem is general throughout
the country, but it is more acute in the neighbourhood of factories.
It is not only the large houses which are now let in tenements.
The majority of the houses in Acton were originally intended
for one family, but most of them are now occupied by two
or more families each. If an examination of the Census returns
of 1931 be made, and a comparison made of Tables ten and eleven
in the County of Middlesex Volume, this point will at once he made
clear, as the following figures, extracted from these tables, will show.
Structurally separate dwellings and separate families occupying—
1 room 31 1 room 1085
2 rooms 110 2 rooms 1920
3 rooms 636 3 rooms 4650
4 rooms 2197 4 rooms 3535
5 rooms . 2843 5 rooms 2980
6-8 rooms 6973 6-7 rooms 3497
9 or more rooms 1022 8-9 rooms 820
10 or more rooms 189