Beamish museum plans to create 1950s town and your house could be a part of it

Nominate your 1950s semi-detached house and see it replicated at Beamish’s new 1950s town.

1950s houses to be replicated at Beamish museum

The Beamish museum has announced plans for a new 1950s town attraction that will help depict the great period of change in post-war Britain, including the construction of social housing estates. As part of the project, Beamish is inviting the public to get involved by nominating their homes to be replicated within the 1950s town. If you live, or used to live, in a semi-detached house in the North East, built between 1950 and 1959 and originally constructed as social housing, then you can nominate it to be replicated as part of the project.

The house which will be included in the final plan is set to be picked by public vote between 27th and 30th March 2015. Beamish will work with the chosen homeowners to explore the history of their house and the impact of the 1950s within their community.

The 1950s town will form part of the ‘Remaking Beamish’ project along with Upland Farm, a Georgian Coaching Inn and other developments. The Museum has received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a £10.75m grant. The 1950s Town is set to include, in addition to houses, a parade of shops, police house, cafe, cinema and recreation area.

Richard Evans, Beamish’s Director, said: “We’re extremely excited to be offering people this unique chance for their home to become part of history, being recreated at Beamish. Our 1950s Town will tell the stories of the North East’s communities during an important decade of change. What better way to do this than by recreating the real homes of real people, to be shared with more than half a million visitors each year?”