The model village and its cottages

by William Alexander Harvey

INTRODUCTION.

In introducing the present work on “The Model Village and its Cottages,” it would be certainly out of place to discuss the housing problem; there is, nevertheless, an aspect of this question to which the attention of the reader should be briefly directed.

The housing problem is no longer one in which the poor in the congested districts of great towns are alone concerned. A far larger section of the people is affected,—a section which includes not only the labouring class, but also the skilled artisan, and even a class of the people still more prosperous. In the light of present sanitary and hygienic knowledge it is at last recognised that the housing conditions of the past will not suffice for the future. The difficulties besetting reform are necessarily very great, yet with the movement now afoot—not only in this country, but also on the Continent and in America—it is not unreasonable to expect that before long important changes will take place. Now that politicians and economists, as well as sanitarians, are identifying themselves with the movement, it is clear that if it is to result in lasting good, the attention of the builders of these new homes for the people must also be engaged; and the field that thus presents itself to the efforts of the architect is a large one.

No better testimony to this need can be afforded than by the typical latter-day artisan-suburb, and it is indeed in this very suburb that the housing problem confronts us in what threatens to be in the future one of its worst aspects. Desolate row upon row of ugly and cramped villas, ever multiplying to meet the demands of a quickly increasing population, where no open spaces are reserved, where trees and other natural beauties are sacrificed to the desire to crowd upon the land as many dwellings as possible, and where gardens cannot be said to exist—such are the suburbs which threaten to engulf our cities. That they do not adequately meet the needs of the people is beyond all question.

The remedy most frequently suggested is that the people should themselves undertake and develop housing schemes collectively through the municipalities. It is pointed out that, if nothing is done, the municipalities will before long have a slum problem on the outskirts of the town to deal with, and it is urged that they should have greater power over the development of land in the extra-urban districts. It is recommended, again, that the authorities should exercise the powers they already possess. The Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, in their Report to the Government of 1904, insisted most strongly, it will be remembered, on the necessity for preventing the creation of these new slums. “The local authorities in contiguous areas which are in process of urbanisation,” it declares, “should co-operate with a view to securing proper building regulations, in furtherance of which end the making of building bye-laws, to be approved by the Local Government Board, should be made compulsory on both urban and rural authorities; attention should also be given to the preservation of open spaces, with abundance of light and air. By the use of judicious foresight and prudence the growth of squalid slums may be arrested, and districts which hereafter become urbanised may have at least some of the attributes of an ideal garden city.”

In the case of municipalities undertaking the development of land, emphasis should be laid upon the advisability of securing the services of experts both for the laying out of the land and for the designing of the houses, and in order to obtain variety in the latter it is recommended that the designs should be the work of several architects.

At present, as is well known, the rows of houses in what has been called the artisan-suburb are usually the work of the speculating builder, who buys land at a cheap rate and builds to create ground rents, often selling the houses at a bare profit, or even under cost. As the maintenance of the property does not fall upon himself, it is not surprising that the class of building erected should be that generally known as “jerry-built.”

Apart from these and other schemes suggested is the work of the Garden City Association in their experiment at Hitchin, and also the experiments at Port Sunlight, Bournville, and elsewhere, which have all given such a practical impetus to the movement. An encouraging sign of the times, too, is the commendable effort of the Trustees of Eton College, who, to prevent the development of the typical artisan-suburb on their extensive land at Hampstead, have formed a Trust to buy 240 acres for building purposes, the division of the land and the plans of the houses being required to meet certain specified conditions. In many suburbs, owing to the few houses of high rental, the rates are extremely high, and a heavy percentage is absorbed by the schools. One of the objects of the Garden Suburb, as it is called, is the amalgamation of all classes in the same district, the artisan and the well-to-do living in reasonable proximity to one another. With the abolition of the unsightly row the æsthetic objection at least to such an arrangement is removed, for in the interesting disposition of houses of varying sizes lies one of the secrets of beautiful village building, as is testified in so many well known old villages. In the new suburb it is hoped to provide cottages for workpeople with gardens of one tenth of an acre.

But whether land is developed privately or by public bodies, it is essential, in order to secure real reform, that the needs, domestic and social, of the people for whom the houses are provided should be intimately understood. What will have to be provided are homes, and it should be clearly recognised what constitutes the home demanded by the large section of the community which the problem affects.

At the outset it may be noted that for half the year the occupants of these homes spend the hours of recreation out of doors, also that most of them prefer that opportunities for such recreation should be had within easy reach of the home itself. Though the public-houses and the numerous artificial pleasures provided in towns are sought by so many, the persistence of those who still cultivate the contracted and ill-favoured garden strip suggests a need of the greatest importance. This persistence, moreover, does not, it will be found, indicate a desire for exercise and fresh air alone, but a love for familiar surroundings. Among the lowest class this instinct may still be observed, and in court tenements it will be found that the doorstep takes the place of the garden strip. The fact is that the Englishman’s house is his castle, and though his castle be deprived of its “grounds,” the home instinct, so deeply rooted in the English character, will not be denied. Whether in the future this instinct should be fostered, or blunted as in the past, is a matter of elementary sociology. The inference, then, will be that the accommodation of the house is not the only matter with which we have to concern ourselves, but that the closest attention should also be devoted to the environment. Besides the provision of an ample garden, the environment itself must be healthy and pleasant. The influence of surroundings in exalting or depressing the mind, and thus affecting the life, is a matter not only for the theorist, but for the architect.

With the provision of a garden, the tenant himself may add to the beauty of his home, and at the same time enjoy fresh air and recreation. The cultivation of the soil is certainly the best antidote to the sedentary occupations of those working in large towns. A primitive instinct is indulged, the full value of which seems hardly yet to have been realised. Many believe, indeed, that with its encouragement the abuse of the social club and public-house will be materially lessened, and one of the greatest social evils of the time disappear. (The experience of Bournville certainly gives support to this conclusion, for nearly every householder there spends his leisure in gardening, and there is not a single licensed-house in the village.)

With regard to the house itself, so far as it contributes to a pleasant environment, it should be remembered that architectural beauty is not dependent upon the ornament introduced; on the contrary, the use of the latter rather tends to deprive the dwelling of its homeliness, and of this truth the jerry-built house, with its scroll-cut lintel and moulded brick string-course, affords only too frequent an illustration. The soul of beauty is harmony, which may co-exist with the veriest simplicity; and it is in the harmonious treatment of parts, and not in useless and sometimes costly decoration, that a dwelling gains that homely appearance which it should be our aim to realise.

The chief essentials in a home, then, are adequate accommodation—which must include a bath as a sine quâ non—a pleasing and harmonious appearance of exterior and environment, and the provision of an ample garden.

It is surely not a mere coincidence that at the present time, not only in England but in other countries, a movement is in progress side by side with that of housing reform which is of great significance—the revival in domestic architecture. At present this has manifested itself chiefly in recent examples of country houses and in residences of the larger cottage class. Though the influence has already revealed itself to some extent even in the smaller cottage-dwellings, and though many notable experiments have been made—most telling of all the splendid experiment at Garden City—it may be said that the effort on the part of the architect generally to satisfy the demands both of art and economy has yet to be made. The fact that it is cheaper to erect villas in long rows of a repeated and stereotyped design has doubtless largely discouraged such effort, but the prejudice of the artisan and others against the revival—for the revival was at first looked upon, perhaps, as an artistic craze—can scarcely now be regarded as an obstacle. If the needs of the people, as they have been conceived in the few preceding paragraphs, are to be satisfied, the two movements of housing reform and the revival in domestic architecture must certainly advance hand in hand. With adequate experiment it will probably be found, moreover, that the difficulty on the economic side has been exaggerated. On this account, in the examples of smaller cottage types here dealt with, attention has been specially paid to this aspect of the question, a pleasing appearance having been aimed at, with the employment of the least costly materials. An effort has also been made in a further stage to show how monotony may be avoided, even with a repetition of the same plan, by variety in combination and disposition.

Larger types of cottages are also included, and economy in design and cost of materials has here also been considered, as well as a pleasing effect aimed at. The plans given, with one exception, are of examples actually existing, so that what defects may be present can scarcely be disguised. The intention is that they should be regarded chiefly as suggestive, and it is frankly admitted that they are not only capable of modification, by which their cost may be reduced, but also of improvement. The work dealt with has been executed during the last ten years.

The method of including with the description of each cottage such notes and suggestions as have seemed worthy of mention, has been adopted as being more valuable than grouping these under separate heads, though a number of general observations on various features of cottage-building has also been added.

The photographs reproduced were taken by T. Lewis and by Harold Baker, both of Birmingham.

Note.—The cost is given of all cottages where the accommodation, materials, &c., are fully described, with the exception of one or two cases in which the cottages are owned privately. As most of the examples given have been built by the Bournville Village Trust, it should be noted that the figures stated include an addition to the net cost of 3¾ per cent. as builder’s profit.

PLATE II.
THE TRIANGLE.
BOURNVILLE.