Chimni Home Typology

The Chimni Home Typology breaks down the UK's 26 million homes into useful groups that help us explore the amazing variation in building type, style, and architectural period as we learn more about our own homes. The family formation of the population has also influenced accommodation requirements. The number of households tripled in Great Britain during the 20th century, partly a result of increasing population together with decreasing average household size. In the latter part of the century the change in household size was influenced by the increase in the numbers of people living on their own.

Between 1901 and 2008 the number of dwellings in England increased over three and a half times, from nearly 6.3 million to around 22.4 million. The rate of increase was smaller in the other UK countries. In Wales the number of dwellings increased three times from 433,000 to 1.3 million,while in Scotland the number of dwellings more than doubled from 986,000 to 2.5 million over the same period. In Northern Ireland the number of dwellings doubled from 354,000 in 1951 (the earliest data available) to 737,000 in 2008

1.0 Detached Houses

Chimni Typology Category 1.0 - A wide category of houses covering any home that doesn’t touch or share outside walls with another house or building. The category can includes every home type from the simplest cottage to the grandest Victorian villa.

Single story pre 1800.
Killowat House, Bath by Mollie Taylor
A 'Moderne' Suntrap house
High Cross House, Devon. One of the classic 'Moderne' houses.
The exquisite 'High & Over' in Amersham, Bucks.

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2.0 Semi-Detached Houses

Chimni Typology Category 2.0 - A semi-detached house, is a single family house built as one of a matching pair, joined in the middle and sharing a common central wall. Known in the UK as a ‘semi’ and as a ‘duplex’ in other parts of the world, these homes come in a wide variety of styles.

A striking detached Moderne house.
Killowat House, Bath by Mollie Taylor
A 'Moderne' Suntrap house
High Cross House, Devon. One of the classic 'Moderne' houses.
The exquisite 'High & Over' in Amersham, Bucks.

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3.0 Terraced Houses

Chimni Typology Category 3.0 - From the opening titles of Coronation Street to the Welsh Streets of Liverpool where Ringo Starr was born, the terraced Street is one of the most iconic images of British Housing. For Chimni a 'terraced house' is any home in a group of three or more houses, built in a row, with shared adjoining walls. Known also as ‘townhouses’ or ‘row houses’ this includes a wide range of homes from warmly familiar ‘Coronation Street’ style homes to the grand Georgian terraces gracing many UK cities