Researching an old railway line in Halifax, UK, I found some aerial photos from the 30s, and noticed something odd about the houses which back on to the railway.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5MhNBRTd_ysQlhhX1pwOENnVm8/view?usp=drivesdk
There are tall poles with boards attached, seemingly corresponding with the house windows, but several feet from the wall. What on earth are they for?
The windows face east, so the boards could be some sort of sunshade, but they seem too small and too far from the windows to be effective.
They don't at all look like the backs of residential houses. The windows are too small, there seems to be only one back door and there are no back gardens. Do you know exactly where the building in the photograph was/is?