Mad about mansions

According to the architect Norman Foster, more of us should take to living in apartments not only because it is a key way of preserving the planet's resources, but also because it is a convenient way to live.

It was the tower blocks of the 1960s that made apartment-living unfashionable. The high-rise swept away the glamour that throughout the 1930s had been associated with mansion flats. Until then, flats had been for the very poor or the very rich, and the accommodation had been dark, often cramped and with an inconvenient layout.

In the inter-war years, more than 56,000 flats were built in Greater London, and most of them are still in occupation. A new exhibition at the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA), examines the delights of flat-living and highlights many issues that are still relevant today.

Lesley Hoskins, the exhibition's curator, says: "Purpose-built flats for the middle classes were seen as the height of modernity; they were small yet convenient. With the most up- to- the- minute facilities and appliances, they offered their urban and suburban inhabitants a highly serviced, sophisticated way of life."

So important was the trend that in 1936 the humorist William Heath Robinson produced a book, How To Live in a Flat, in which his drawings drew attention to the ingenious use of space, the multi-functional modern furniture and the glamorous lifestyle offered by these small but perfectly formed apartments.

Convenience was a major selling point. After the First World War, it was hard to find domestic staff, and labour-saving devices from fridges to constant hot water were considered desirable luxuries.

Only the most expensive flats had room for live-in staff, but most blocks offered a range of services, such as porters, cleaning of communal areas and rubbish disposal, direct from the apartment.

Some, such as Lawn Road flats in Hampstead, compensated for their compact size by the range of services offered, from shoe-cleaning to delivery of meals. In others, there were shops, restaurants and communal lounges, as well as swimming pools and squash courts.

Traditional domestic layouts of separate rooms for living and eating were swept away, replaced by one reception room that catered for both. "Manufacturers developed new styles of furniture and fittings appropriate for the reduced areas and for the new dual-purpose rooms," says Hoskins.

Fitted furniture that used every inch of space, units that could be assembled in a variety of combinations and new multi-purpose furniture were the order of the day, from space-saving dining tables that folded into sideboards to clocks that served as heaters.