The 1900 House Information

The 1900 House is a historical reality television programme made by Wall to Wall/Channel 4 in 1999. The show is about a modern family that tries to the live in the way of the late Victorians in 1900 for three months in a modified house. It was shown on Channel 4 in the UK and PBS in America (with American commentary).

The series was accompanied by a book titled 1900 House: Featuring Extracts from the Personal Diaries of Joyce and Paul Bowler and Their Family by Mark McCrum and Matthew Sturgis.^[1]

The house

The 1900 House in question is 50 Elliscombe Road, Charlton, South-East London. An 1890s-built two-storey terraced house with a drawing room, a dining room, a kitchen, a scullery, a bathroom, three bedrooms (there were actually four, but one was used as a safety room with a telephone) and an outside loo. To make it the 1900 house, all modern elements were removed, including electricity, insulation, indoor toilet, and central heating. Period fixtures such as a 'copper' (a large pot used for heating washing clothes over a fire), cast iron oven and fire places were installed.

The Bowler family

Paul was the father of the family. In contemporary life, he was a Warrant Officer in the Royal Marines. In the house, he worked in the recruiting office in London (for two months after that he had to go to his regular job in the Marines). He felt that the role of "Man of the House" was difficult to act.

Joyce was the mother of the family. In her normal life, she was a civil servant for Somerset Social Services. She looked after the family and later in her free time she looked at the growing suffragette movement. She had problems with her hair (shampoo hadn't yet been invented in 1900) and difficulty with incorporating her vegetarian lifestyle into the project.

Kathryn was a 16-year-old performing-arts student. In the house, she missed modern cleanliness, her friends and her social life.

Ruth and Hilary were 11-year-old twins. In the house, they missed their friends and their music.

Joe was a 9-year-old boy. In the house, he missed sweets and fast-food.

Other people

Daru Rooke

Daru was the consultant historian to the series who helped the family adjust to the 1900 lifestyle. He later visited the house for a dinner party with the family. He also equipped the family with a useful reference manual to aid their stay at the house, based on sources of the period such as Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management and Cassell's Household Guide.

Elizabeth Lillington

Because looking after the house became difficult, the Bowlers decided to hire a maid-of-all-work. Elizabeth was chosen, however after a few weeks the family sacked her as Joyce decided that she could not reconcile her views on women's emancipation with employing a woman as a domestic. However, being 'liberated' was not the view Elizabeth herself took of her dismissal. It was pointed out that a woman in Elizabeth's position in 1900 would have faced desperate poverty had she been denied housekeeping work.

Afterwards

The show was a ratings winner for Channel 4, so much so that after the programme had finished another series was commissioned, The 1940s House.

Sequels

UK

• The 1940s House – a family "living" through the Second World War.
• The Edwardian Country House
• Regency House Party
• Coal House – a 1920s Welsh mining community
• Coal House at war – a 1944 Welsh mining community

Australia

• Outback House – a family running a sheep station in 1861 Outback Australia
• The Colony - Four families and several individual "convicts" try to live life in New South Wales of 1800.

New Zealand

• Pioneer House - essentially a New Zealand production of The 1900 House.
• Colonial House - a recreation of the experiences of typical British immigrants to Canterbury, circa 1850; complete with a Sea Voyage from Auckland to Lyttelton, tramping over the Bridle Path to Christchurch with their children and belongings, setting up house in a canvas Tent, and eventually, building their own house.
• One Land - Also a recreation of New Zealand in the 1850s. It featured three families, one Pakeha and two Maori, and aimed to replicate the experences of British migrants and the indigenous Maori of the period. The Maori families were housed in a traditional Maori Pa, and one of those families was specifically chosen for their knowledge of Maori language and customs. This family was asked to speak only Maori throughout the Series.^[2]

Germany

• Schwarzwaldhaus 1902 (Black Forest House 1902) – a family "living" without electricity, on rural Kaltwasserhof in Münstertal (August 2001 - January 2002)
• Windstärke 8 – Das Auswandererschiff 1855 (about an emigration ship for the United States)
• Die Bräuteschule 1958 (teenage girls attending a domestic science school in the 1950s)
• Abenteuer 1900 - Leben im Gutshaus (The 1900 Adventure) - about a noble family and their servants in a manor near Berlin.
• Abenteuer 1927 - Sommerfrische (The 1927 Adventure) - life in the manor from Abenteuer 1900, this time in the Roaring Twenties
• Steinzeit - Das Experiment (The Stone Age Experiment) - life under conditions of the stone age.
• Die harte Schule der 50er Jahre (Difficult 1950s School) - teachers and students experiencing a boarding school under 1950s conditions.
• Abenteuer Mittelalter - Leben im 15. Jahrhundert (The Medieval Adventure) - people living in a 15th century castle.

USA

• Frontier House – three families live as 1883 homesteaders in Montana
• Manor House – family of five and staff of 14 live in a 1900 English manor house (re-presentation of The Edwardian Country House)
• Colonial House – set in the American frontier of 1628 (shown in the UK as Pioneer House)
• Texas Ranch House – set in the American frontier of 1867

VHS/DVD

The 1900 House was released, alongside The 1940s House by Acorn Media UK.

Similar Series

Although not involving a normal family living the experience, the following series are similar to The 1900 House and its sequels in that they include historians reconstructing period lifestyles and customs.

• The Victorian Kitchen Garden (1987) recreates a Victorian kitchen garden in the Wiltshire village of Chilton Foliat. It spawned three sequels:
  • The Victorian Kitchen
  • The Victorian Flower Garden
  • The Wartime Kitchen and Garden

Each of the following is related, or a direct sequel, to the UK series Tales from the Green Valley (2005):

• Tales from the Green Valley, focusing on life in a Tudor-era 1620s farm community in Wales.
• A Tudor Feast at Christmas, a direct sequel special, which showcases attempts to recreate a Tudor Christmas banquet.
• Victorian Farm, in which the team lives for a year recreating life on a Victorian-era farm in Shropshire, England.
• Edwardian Farm, a sequel to Victorian Farm, using an Edwardian-era farm in Devon, England.
• Victorian Pharmacy, a four-part series focusing on the daily running and evolution of a town pharmacy during the Victorian era.

References

1. ^ Macmillan, London, 1999. ISBN 978-0-7522-1711-6
2. ^ http://tvnz.co.nz/one-land/index-group-3134642

External links

• The 1900 House at the Internet Movie Database
• The 1900 House at TV.com
• The 1900 House at PBS.org

Categories:

• 1999 in British television
• 1999 British television programme debuts
• 1990s British television series
• British reality television series
• Channel 4 television programmes
• English-language television series
• Peabody Award winning television programs
• PBS network shows
• Historical reality television series

Related 'The 1900 House' Searches:

See Also:

• Sell This House