Queen Mary shows interest in a Nissen hut, 1917 (c)

Photograph, World War One (1914-1918), 1917 (c).

A Nissen hut was a prefabricated structure made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated steel. It was named after its inventor, Major Peter Norman Nissen of the 29th Field Company, Royal Engineers. Cheap and easy to mass-produce, Nissen huts were also portable. A hut could be packed in a standard Army wagon and erected by six men in four hours.

From an album of 76 official photographs, 1916-1917.