Old houses with bomb shelters

[PrettySquareGal]

I got to thinking about 1950's bomb shelters while watching Twilight Zone today. Does anyone live in a house with an old bomb shelter? If so, I'd love to see pics!

 

[Rufus]

Many homes across the UK had/have 'Anderson' shelters in their gardens. My grandparents had one, and I played in it as a child.

I helped a friend rip one out of his tiny garden in North London a few years ago...proved to be harder work than we'd estimated!

Ruf

 

[Charlie Noodles]

Not a common thing here. But when we move I plan to bury a shipping container in the yard and make it into an office.

 

[Charlie Noodles]

I've only ever heard it as a suggested idea and in rumors of certain Canadians doing it for large scale marijuana growing operations. I think it would make for a cool study.

 

[cookie]

I got to thinking about 1950's bomb shelters while watching Twilight Zone today. Does anyone live in a house with an old bomb shelter? If so, I'd love to see pics!

No but when I was a kid growing up in Manly in the 60s our neighbours had one which fascinated us as kids especially as it was so small. It was built into their back yard and looked formidable when the Japs were shelling Sydney in WWII..

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I wonder then if some properties have underground shelters in the yards unbeknownst to the owners!

 

[Madcap72]

It's a hair larger than a shelter (45k sq. ft), but I'm going to work for my cousin, in a Titan one facility in Eastern Wa. Sold off as surplus in the 60's. Looks like i'll be half day laborer/ half night watchman

 

[scotrace]

I have always been told there were such houses in my area, but I don't know which they might be. Interesting thing to find out.

 

[BellyTank]

Stockholm, Sweden...
Bomb shelters in the basements of apartment buildings.
Our building, an eight story block, was built in 1963 and in concrete- has a "Skydsrum" in the basement, which is now used as cellar storage space per appartment. Big steel doors, like Bank vaults doors but without the big locks.

Pretty normal here.
Don't know when they stopped doing it- or if they did.


B
T

 

[Julian]

"Roger, I want a divorce."​

​

 

[Diamondback]

Does having a purpose-designed bunker under a planned "new construction" residence I'm designing count? OTOH, I do need to gather more information about "bunker/shelter design theory" to make sure I get it right...

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

This woman fixed hers up:

A cool shot of the Instructions:

However, This place is the one to beat, I think...

 

[Edward]

Many homes across the UK had/have 'Anderson' shelters in their gardens. My grandparents had one, and I played in it as a child.

That must have been a fairly rare animal over in the Old Country, no? It's been years since I last studied anything on the 'Belfast Blitz,' but as I recall, most families would have made do with crowding in together under the stairs.... Of course, Northern Ireland wasn't subjected to the level of bombing London was by far - just a few nights - so there probably wasn't much of a perceived need for more shelters. The Methodist Church in Whitehead, where I grew up, has an air raid shelter building, which has long been used as a Sunday School hall amongst other things. It's simply a small, oblong building - probably about 20 ft by 35 ft or so, with small windows, high up tight to the flat roof, one storey. Until it was redecorated in the early 80s, there was a curtain inside, in the middle. Heavy, dark curtains, designed to separate the interior into two sides, for men and ladies. I think from memory there is a toilet cubicle inside too... though I'm not honestly sure - not been in there for at least a decade now. I'm not sure how many folks it was nitended to hold, though I guess maybe forty folks could have slept in there at a real squeeze. It was intended to be a communal shelter. I highly doubt it would have stood up to more than a hefty sideswipe of shrapnel, but then that was the case for most shelters. Quite frankly, I've long been of the belief that bomb shelters in general (much like the issued "gas masks" - really simple dust ventilators, no use against gas.... and possibly harmful as they contained asbestos) were much more about keeping morale up and making people feel safe as part of the psychological end of the war than they were of any actual physical protection value.

 

[Warden]

I put an Anderson Shelter up in my garden, while I was putting it up the neighbours asked asked if it was a piece of modern art. What can you do?

See pics of our Anderson here

Harry

 

[Edward]

Interesting! If ever I lived in a house and there was a big enough garden, I'd be tempted to fit one of those as an alternative sort of Summer house... Was it a repro you used, or a reconditioned original? Do I remember correctly that there was an asbestos issue with the originals?

 

[Warden]

The sides are orginal. The ends where missing so I used a roofing compersite to make the ends. It is made of steel and currently covered in hammeright to protect it.

Next summers project is to half bury it in the garden and make it into a little den so I can hide from the kiddy wigs

Harry

 

[goldwyn girl]

There is at least one in Vegas but you would think with all the bomb testing there would be more, perhaps there is and the owners know nothing about it. I would love to have one, all that extra storage space and a piece of history.

 

[sixsexsix]

I've only ever heard it as a suggested idea and in rumors of certain Canadians doing it for large scale marijuana growing operations. I think it would make for a cool study.

My friend has one in the woods that he uses as his art studio, I have also heard of people that use them as cottages (obviously reno'ed)

 

[Edward]

The sides are orginal. The ends where missing so I used a roofing compersite to make the ends. It is made of steel and currently covered in hammeright to protect it.

Next summers project is to half bury it in the garden and make it into a little den so I can hide from the kiddy wigs

Harry

Good luck with that.... the kids ill likely want to cam pout in it all Summer. I have fond memories of spending most of the Summer sleeping in a tent in my folks' back garden.... if there had been electricity and a TV in it, I doubt we'd have left it much at all.

 

[Warden]

You know I think you are right

Harry