Doors

[Mary Ann]

Steve wrote:

> It has to do with doors in British home, and the question is,
> why so many?

I think part of the answer lies in winter heating.  My childhood home in Montreal was built in 1927 but was pretty much open plan downstairs.  Despite its age it was built complete with central heating.  When we moved there in 1974 there was the original, huge, scary-looking by-then-converted-to-oil coal furnace which heated the water for the radiators, which were huge as well.  I remember not setting foot in the furnace room 'til that scary furnace was replaced (hey, I was six!).

I'm currently living in my second 1930s British home.  Both houses have/had doors everywhere and were only centrally heated during the 1990s.  By having doors everywhere heat could be contained within one room without the heat escaping.  Winters may not be as cold here as in Canada but the awful damp cold prevalent in southwest England gets right to your bones.  The original heating source was coal fires, with the smallest bedrooms not even having fireplaces.  After World War II gas and electric heating became popular, but these heating sources still only heated one room at a time.  When I first moved to the UK I lived in a flat built in 1972 which had electric storage heaters and doors for every room.  If you look at British real estate adverts they still list central heating as a feature of the house, though nowadays most houses, certainly in urban areas, are most likely centrally heated.

I could be completely wrong, but that's my theory. :)

Mary Ann, who has a life-long love of Britcoms