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Between the first and second world wars there was an expansion of building within Britain, which is personified by the British suburban ‘semi’. With only minor variations in their external appearance they utilised the same internal layout and were the housing equivalent of the model T Ford.

Although it may be said that man sees the world through a window a surveyor can see much of the condition of a building in a window. From the narrow windows of the massive constructions of medieval times, the development of the structural frame with infill enabled windows to be enlarged. But it was the encouragement of the development of glass towards the end of the Middle Ages which enabled windows to throw light into the interior of the buildings and encouraged, the advancement of interior design and decoration.

For the purpose of this article I want to look at one of the house types most common in all the main cities and large towns of this country, the Victorian terraced property, usually on two floors, with a pitched roof falling from the middle to the front and rear and often with a back extension on two floors stretching out into the garden.

The Victorian Town House, built in the second half of the 19th century to house the upper and middle classes with their retinue of servants, has since World War II been increasingly converted into self‐contained flats.