Wartime housing and shops

Dear all, I'm new on this forum. I hope your knowledge about Coventry's history might be able to help me. I'm doing some comparative research on blitzed cities in Europe. Currently, I'm working on the various emergency housing schemes developed throughout Europe. In a town planning journal from 1944 I found a section on Coventry. It displays a street with temporary shops (Broadway?) and street with emergency dwelling (built with bricks). The captions say nothing about the location or the exact date. The pictures were provided by town councillor M.F. White and were published earlier in a Swedish journal on social housing in July 1943. Please find a photocopy of these pictures below (apologies for the poor quality). I'd be very grateful to obtain some more information from you. And in the best case, obtain references to higher quality pictures. Many thanks in advance, Stefan Couperus (the Netherlands).

Hi Stefan, and welcome to our forum! The first photo looks like the temporary shops in Corporation Street with St John's church in the background. The second appears to be properties, still standing and occupied today, in Sheriff Ave, Canley. in fact there are more recent photos elsewhere on this forum (just do a search for "Sheriff Ave") I'm sure someone else can help with further information on the first one. Good Luck

Here they are at the Hill Street end in 1976

I have been looking for photographs of the temporary post war shops in Earl street opposite the Council House for some time without success. Can anyone help? My family had the tobacconists there in the 1950's.

Thank you Dutchman, spot on. I used to help in the shop in 1953 and so the date is quite appropriate.

Regarding the 'Britain From Above' site, I have noticed that they have recently added some cracking clear views of Coventry, circa 1946, the Cathedral and environs are so clear. Don't forget to sign in to zoom. It seems ungrateful, but you do have to sift through the rest to find the new additions!

Thanks for the headsup Foxcote

Yes thanks Foxcote - If you put Coventry 1946 in the search bar they'll appear Really shows up the destruction that occurred. That's some hole where the original Owens was!!

If you select "newest" you'll solve that problem

Thanks both for the tip for the 'newest' photos I can't believe the clarity, did you see all the buses and people in the 1946 Cathedral ones, amazing

It's still there!!!

I found some photos on wartime brick housing. I know the two storey houses were built along Sheriff Ave. But does anyone know where the single story houses might be located? Thanks! Edited by member, 27th Mar 2014 11:42 am

They could be the ones on Holloway Fields, just off the Radford Road by Brownshill Green Road. They are still there now, I can remember when they put the apex roofs on them. Have a look on Google maps. Just found one in Thistley Fields next to Holloway Fields that looks just like this, with a roof on but the other way round if the black and white print has been reversed. Edited by member, 27th Mar 2014 12:18 pm

The single storey houses look very similar in style to those round the corner from Sheriff Ave in Henry Boteler Road (off Mayors Croft). Not quite the same though.