36 Newton Street, Ulverston, Cumbria: House History

Number 36 Newton Street is typical of a number of houses built in Ulverston in the late 19th century and early 20th century as part of a rapid expansion of the town on to what had previously been open land. These houses were constructed to accommodate the expanding working class population, but despite being built for practicality over comfort, they were still finished with a number of fashionable decorative features and were a considerable improvement on the cramped, squalid slums that had been commonplace 50 years earlier. James Grice, a stonemason and builder residing at Beech Hill, Colton, built number 36 Newton Street as one of a terrace of six houses in 1906 or 1907, and these houses were owned by the Grice family and their descendants until the 1950s. During that period the house was home to various families, the majority of which apparently only comprised married couples. The original proposed plans of the building show a kitchen, hall and parlour on the ground floor, with a scullery extending to the rear and an outside toilet in the yard, and three bedrooms on the first floor. This arrangement seems to have been in place until at least the 1950s, at which time an extra floor for a bathroom was added above the scullery. Within the building a number of the original features have survived, including the tiled hearths of the fireplaces, tiled floors in the scullery, kitchen and hall and the banister rail and staircase.