The Beginnings
of Pannaway Manor
Built 1941 by Defense Homes Corp. In the
opening years of World War II, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
expanded its submarine construction to employ 11,000 workers,
about twice as many as during World War I. Nationwide, more than
9 million Americans relocated to work in the defense industry,
and government help was needed to provide workers two million
new housing units. Defense workers "answered the call of
their country to help win the battle of production," and
their new homes were "built to cope with the greatest voluntary
migration of free men and women in the history of the world."
The country responded with faith in the sanctity of the single
family home as "the second fine of defense." American
Home magazine proclaimed that the "Strength of its workers
stems from the homes they Eve in" and "even as we arm
for war, we are building for peace." Although the federal
government financed about one-third of all defense housing projects,
they would be sold to private owners after the war emergency
to relieve the federal government of landlord responsibilities.
Pannaway Manor, a neighborhood of 159
single-family homes built by Defense Homes Corp., was one of
three large-scale defense housing projects built in the Portsmouth
area. Defense Homes was one of many federal agencies involved
with worker housing during World War II, and Pannaway Manor was
one of
the first permanent construction projects completed as the contractors
used new on-site small power tools. In March 1941, 37 acres of
farmland along Sherburne Road were sold to Defense Homes and
ground was broken in April. Initial plans for 122 homes quickly
grew to 159. By May, 106 defense workers applied to rent at Pannaway,
by October 360 were on the waiting list, and the first residents
moved in by Christmas 1941. Rents ranged from $40 to $55 a month.
Pannaway Manor benefited from its construction early in the war.
Later defense projects, including the small Holly Lane neighborhood
built just north of Pannaway, were affected by construction material
shortages and time constraints. In the projects that followed,
houses often were built on concrete slabs and made greater use
of prefabrication and new synthetic materials such as plywood
and wall board.
The design of Pannaway homes relied on
small house designs and philosophies codified by the architectural
profession and the Federal Housing Administration in the 1930s.
FHA economic policies to stimulate building during the Depression
widely popularized the "small house" - homes less than
1000 square feet in size. Small houses were most often designed
in the colonial revival style, called capes or neo-colonials,
but were just as easily given an international style exterior.
In 1936 and 1937, the editors of Architectural Forum published
two books of small house designs; Royal Barry Wills published
Homes for Good Living in 1940 and Better Homes for Budgeteers
in 1941. These houses were most often one story, with an expandable
second floor, four to six rooms and direct circulation between
rooms. The designers of Pannaway Manor borrowed heavily from
such models. Three floor plans were used; the exteriors differed
by the use of clapboarding or cedar shingles and a gable or hip
roof. Exterior colonial revival details included shutters, contrasting
trim, pilasters and a small pediment framing the entry and a
plain cornice. Inside, plaster walls were painted with textured
paint and oak flooring was laid. Panelled doors and 6/6 window
sash throughout the house and dark woodwork and hard-wood cabinets
in the kitchen completed the picture. Electric refrigerators
and stoves and porcelain sinks were installed in the kitchens.
The baths were tiled, with a boxed-in tub and shower. The units
had fall cement basements and were insulated and heated with
oil furnaces. Second floors were left unfinished.
The smallest unit, about 640 square feet,
contained 4 rooms: a living room, kitchen, bath and two bedrooms.
The center entry was flanked by a single window on either side.
These four-room homes were concentrated on Colonial Drive, the
street that circles the perimeter of Pannaway. The next largest
unit, approximately 680 square feet, had 4 1/2 rooms: an additional
dining alcove was separated from the kitchen by swinging, half-length
double doors. The block containing the two bedrooms was set back
from the facade by about two feet, and a one-car garage was attached
to the house by a breezeway. Only 13 of these homes were built,
all but two on corner lots. The remaining units were 5 1/2 room
homes, containing a living room, dining alcove, three bedrooms,
bath and kitchen. The entry was located to the left or right
of a group of three windows, and square footage measured just
more than 700 feet.
In the fifty years since their construction,
many Pannaway houses have been remodeled into ranch-style floor
plans. As built, only the 4 1/2 room floor plans in Pannaway
divide neatly into the three zones of the typical ranch house
- sleeping, living, and garage or work space. The 4- and 5 1/2
room floor plans did not incorporate a garage or work space,
and a bedroom intruded into the living space. A vast majority
of owners have added a garage, attached by a breezeway or additional
room, usually an enlarged kitchen or den. In most 5-room room
units, the third bedroom, next to the kitchen, is now used as
a dining room, with a doorway cut between the two rooms. The
sense of closure between the kitchen, eating and living spaces
often is opened up by the removal of doors between these areas.
With the addition of garages, driveways and more access from
the kitchen to the rest of the house, the importance of the front
entry has shifted to the side door into the kitchen.
The exteriors have likewise changed. Most
of the houses are now sided with vinyl or aluminum siding, which
covers the original colonial trim. Many small-paned windows have
been replaced with double -Insulated two-fight windows or bowed
picture windows and shed dormers increase second floor living
space.
The 159 homes in Pannaway Manor line winding
streets, a design by the Federal Housing Administration, Land
Planning Division. The government's twenty-year protective deed
convenants, which excluded "persons of color" from
occupying the units, also mandated minimum lot sizes and a set
back of 25 feet from the street. The rhythm of the street layout
has not changed, the streets have not been widened, and all 159
original units remain. Cut off by the later construction of Interstate
95 to its cast and Pease Air Force Base to its north and west,
no through roads have interrupted the original pattern of the
neighborhood.
Sources:
The Architectural Forum, The Book of Small
Houses. NY- Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1936 and 1937.
John DeCourcey, 'World War 11 History
of Pannaway Manor," mss at Portsmouth Public Library, nd.
Federal Housing Administration, Planning
Neighborhoods for Small Houses, Technical Bulletin, Washington:
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936.
National Housing Agency, Third Annual
Report. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1945.
National Housing Agency, War Housing in
the US. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.
Portsmouth Planning Board, First Annual
Report, 1941, Portsmouth City Hall.
Pannaway
Manor Plan Drawing
Pannaway
Housing Photos
Pannaway
House Floor Plans
Those who would like to
contribute to the history should email their comments to Tom Cocchiaro.
