09/09/2026
On 7th October Emily Gee, Director for Cathedral and Church Buildings, will tell the story of the campaign to build housing for a new generation of urban women. After 1900, the rapid rise of women working as clerks, secretaries or typists, in London and other cities, created an urgent need for affordable and respectable accommodation. Building on models of elegant Victorian ladies’ residential chambers and the vast working men’s lodging houses, a new type of single working women’s hostel emerged. The talk will focus on the campaigns to house them, the specialised design of the buildings and the women whose lives were changed by this architectural movement. These often anonymous buildings, most of which survive and have been converted - a handful have been listed - deserve to be understood and celebrated for the extraordinary role they played in supporting a dramatic social for a new generation of intrepid working women. Tickets are £10 and can be bought using the link below. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/accommodating-the-victorian-edwardian-working-woman-by-emily-gee-tickets-1992812825807?aff=oddtdtcreator
