Houses in central London were generally detached residences with their doors facing the street. This had been contemplated after the Great Fire of London and was stipulated by the Building Act, which was not enacted until 1774.
Whether they were mansions or humble dwellings, these terraced houses followed a uniform structure and consistent regulatory standards, no matter how unremarkable or luxurious they were.
These houses differed from the apartments designed by Haussmann in Paris. They placed great emphasis on privacy, inevitably influencing Londoners' social habits. They held social gatherings and leisure activities at home. The Black family, for example, had a very fine dining room, and Sirius's parents generally did not dine out. Parisians, meanwhile, preferred going outdoors and gathering in cafés or restaurants.
World War II subjected London to bombing, and many houses had to be rebuilt. At that point, people faced a dilemma: should they restore the houses' original appearance, or create new designs?
In the end, people discovered that London's residents still wanted detached homes with front doors facing the street. Some believed modernist architecture could not withstand the test of time, while these Georgian and Victorian buildings were more beloved by residents. People also liked living and relaxing after work in terraced houses styled after those eras. Even when someone complained in the newspapers that "these streets look utterly bland, as though they came from the same mold," it did not matter.
To find the household one wished to visit among these nearly identical homes, one generally relied on house numbers. Yet to Europeans, thirteen was an unlucky number, so some streets skipped Number 13 altogether.
This, too, was connected to the Great Fire of London. After the fire, London's population plummeted, and much of its manufacturing declined with it. Workshops shut down and craftsmen left,