Old houses with bomb shelters

[Warden]

Did anyone else see this in todays paper?

http://t.co/6aEyAT7

What can I say? If you want to know more call Subterranean Secrets Edna http://t.co/ymQfw2n

 

[_Nightwing]

"Roger, I want a divorce."​

​

Haahaha

 

[AtomicEraTom]

We had a house in Menomonee Falls, built in 1968. It had a bomb shelter off the basement. The shelter was a joke, really. Just part of the basement that had no house over the top of it. Mom kept her doll collection in there.

 

[DanielJones]

Did anyone else see this in todays paper?

http://t.co/6aEyAT7

What can I say? If you want to know more call Subterranean Secrets Edna http://t.co/ymQfw2n

Sort of reminds me of the images of folks using the subway as an air-raid shelter in WWII

And designated Air-Raid shelters.

Cheers!

 

[bil_maxx]

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

O yes. I have seen several home improvement shows where the new owners go to renovate the house, pull up the floor and there is a hidden trap door that leads down into a secret set of rooms under the house, fully outfitted as a bomb shelter. This seems to have been very prevalent in the US in houses built in the 50s and 60s.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

O yes. I have seen several home improvement shows where the new owners go to renovate the house, pull up the floor and there is a hidden trap door that leads down into a secret set of rooms under the house, fully outfitted as a bomb shelter. This seems to have been very prevalent in the US in houses built in the 50s and 60s.

That's a fun discovery!

 

[Feraud]

There are apartment buildings in NY still carrying the fallout shelter sign. I believe the shelters were converted into apartments.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

In Columbus, our City Hall and Middle School both had those fallout shelter signs on them. All that the shelter was, was the basement.

 

[Atticus Finch]

My childhood friend's dad built a bomb shelter in their back yard. I'm guessing that was in the late 1950s because it was already finished when Fred and I were in kindergarten together (1960-1961). It’s design was similar to the drawing posted by Julian, except that it was above ground. Beaufort is right on the coast, and the water table there is too high to build underground structures. I remember it was square and was made of white concrete block and had a steel door. It also had a dirt roof...I'm not sure why. Inside were bunk beds and shelves to store food, but I don't recall seeing a bathroom. And there was a hand-cranked air filter in one corner.

Later, a lot of folks in Beaufort made fun of the bomb shelter and called it "Leslie's White Elephant". Fred's dad was a little OTT about most things in life, and when people found out he a bomb shelter in his yard, he became the target of much ribbing. In all fairness to Leslie, Beaufort is located very close to two large military installations, Cherry Point and Camp Lejeune. It would not have been unreasonable for him to have feared nuclear attack back when he built his shelter.

At some point, after Leslie’s death, Fred's family sold the house and the shelter was torn down by the new owner. The house is still there, directly behind the old Beaufort Post Office, but all traces of the White Elephant…and the ’50s nuclear paranoia that built it…are long gone.

AF

 

[fortworthgal]

Our neighborhood was mostly built in the 1950s - there's a Lustron home in the neighborhood adjacent to ours. We don't have a shelter, but I'll have to ask around! Would be very cool if someone did.

There's a home in Dallas with a shelter here, lots of cool pics:
http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/home/homeshel.html

I grew up near this building that housed a fallout shelter, and apparently still has a lot of the original supply items:
http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/cdmuseum2/commun/weatherford/index.html

And I have run across CD fallout shelter supplies at a couple of garage sales I've gone to - namely the giant barrels of water. Bizarre.

 

[Matt_the_chap]

My uncle, who lives in Sheffield (UK), lives in a row of terraces. They all have a sort-of bomb shelter that runs between all the houses which is essentially a cavern hollowed out beneath the houses with trap doors into the cellars of each so that families could escape if their house was flattened.

Most people seem to have used the cellars to hide in in Sheffield, I've not seen a single remnant of an Anderson shelter there.

 

[W-D Forties]

Having spoken to many people who went through the Blitz in Liverpool, most told me they didn't have an Anderson (many living in back to backs with no garden). They spent the raids under the stairs.

Slightly off topic, but I'm always tickled by the ex-nuclear bunkers that are now open to the public - there's few things stranger than passing road signs pointing to the 'Secret Nuclear Bunker'.

 

[Matt_the_chap]

I always find those signs hilarious too. There's one of said nuclear bunkers under the town hall about ten miles away from me where the mayor and local administration were going to hide in case of attack. It's used for meetings and to store records now which must be quite eerie for the honourable councillors.

 

[bil_maxx]

That's a fun discovery!

No kidding. What a lot of fun you could have had as a child in your special "club". Haha.

 

[Warden]

Came home with a WW2 Morrison air raid shelter today.

Edna was not impressed but when she was out I put it up, do you think she will notice it?

Children love it. To see an image click here

I'll be honest it is a little larger than I expected

 

[W-D Forties]

Yikes! It looks like a primitive 'baby cage' for naughtly little ones, is that what you are going to use it for? Where did you get it by the way, Id've thought they must be very rare. Most people would have been glad to get rid of the post-war and I don't think they would have had many alternative uses, unlike Andersons.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of those would make an excellent rabbit hutch, if one was inclined to raise rabbits.