The model village and its cottages

by William Alexander Harvey

THE LAYING OUT OF A MODEL VILLAGE.

Let it be supposed that land has been bought to be laid out as a model village. Whether this has been done by a company, a municipal body, or by an individual, is not material to the present purpose. Assuming that the selection of the site has had careful consideration, and that it is suitable for the development of a village, what is the first step? Before turning a sod the clearest conception of the finished scheme must have been formed. A dozen cottages or so erected before considering the future of the whole project may involve endless trouble at a later stage. The initial proceeding, therefore, is to make the general plan as complete and final as possible before commencing actual operations. Up to the present it has been the difficulty of co-operation among landlords, perhaps unavoidable, either by the piecemeal acquisition of land or the fitful demand for building, which has been the cause of many of our towns and suburbs being the reverse of pleasing. A century or so ago, when domestic architecture was a traditionally living art, and building was conducted less hurriedly, a certain charm of effect was no doubt obtained by this accidental or fitful extension, though convenience was certainly not always considered; but in the present day we should avail ourselves of the opportunity which a large or co-operative scheme offers for a convenient and agreeable disposition of buildings.

Regard of Physical Features.—As the following suggestions do not refer to any specific example of land which is to be laid out as a model village, they can only be regarded as having general applicability. The treatment of particular land depends upon its peculiar physical features. Land in a gently undulating district, for instance, must be dealt with in quite a different manner from that in flat country. The natural features themselves must be the basis of any satisfactory treatment, and they are to be made the most of, not only with regard to their intrinsic beauty, but also any material advantages they may offer.

Advisory Architect.—If a village is being developed by an individual in a private capacity it is not improbable, indeed it is very natural, that he will expect the general operations to be carried out in accordance with his particular taste or fancy, which, however, may happen to be far from practical or artistic, and his scheme is likely to suffer accordingly. So too in the case of an estate developed by a governing body consisting of men who are not qualified for the task, the possibility of failure is equally great. The best course is to employ an advisory architect about whose qualifications there is no doubt, who should work in conjunction with the surveyor from the outset. It may be suggested, now that the movement is making considerable progress, that the Royal Institute of British Architects should be asked to suggest an architect in such cases. A greater variety, however, in the plan and design of the houses might perhaps be secured by employing more than one architect. A man’s ideas are liable to run in a groove; and even if variation is introduced in detail there is likely to be a similarity in general character. Moreover, where two or more architects are engaged, a healthy rivalry might result in the designing of houses which shall fulfil all the conditions of convenience, compactness, and economy. The respective work of the various architects might be confined to particular streets, but a regular system of variation should be avoided. Method should not be too obtrusive or the arrangement too mechanical. The advisory architect must be selected with judgment, for on him will devolve the working out of the general road-scheme, and this will demand more talent than the merely practical man possesses.

The caution already urged against doing anything on the estate without mature consideration expressly applies to the cutting of roads and the reservation of spaces. Given a map of our land, the fancy is not usually slow in disposing of it; and it is only with the progress of operations, when a number of unforeseen demands make themselves disagreeably formidable, that it is seen how wanton this ready fancy has been.

The Selection of Centres.—The first questions to be decided are the number and positions of the centres, for it is to and from these that the most convenient and accessible connections must be planned, and the centres themselves should be reserved as the sites of parks, principal buildings, shops and the like.

If the land is already entered by one or more turnpike roads which may not be diverted, these should guide the cutting of the new roads, and the chief centres of the village must be made as accessible as possible from them. If an existing road only approaches the land, and only one connection is deemed necessary, the connection should be constructed to suit the village as a whole, without partiality to any one extremity, always keeping the centres in view. It is nearly always better to work to the contour of the land, taking a gentle sweep in preference to a straight line.

The site of the chief centre, not forgetting to keep in view its general accessibility, should if possible be on the highest point of the village, such a position giving prominence over the whole, as well as a more imposing elevation and dignity to the principal buildings which are to be erected thereon. The nature of the buildings would depend altogether on the size of the scheme. In the case of a garden city they would possibly include council chambers, theatre, museum, library or other monumental buildings of a like character, and as large spaces as possible should be reserved around them for extensions and gardens. A great city, in which it has been decided to build a cathedral, has found itself before now in the dilemma of having no suitable site available, and the monument of beauty has had to make the best of beggarly and ugly neighbours. It is as well to profit by the errors of the past, and the utmost should therefore be done to save a garden city or model village from ever getting congested at its chief centre.

The other centres should be places of distinct interest, such as schools, railway station, or market-place, but secondary to the chief one.

Roads.—The buildings will not be sky-scrapers, and the roads, therefore, will not, in order that they may be ventilated, have to be set out in straight lines in order to be wind-swept, intersecting at unpleasing right angles like a gridiron. Though the main streets should be planned with some degree of straightness for the convenience of getting to and from important places, there is no reason why regularity should be sought after for its own sake; at the same time an unnecessary irregularity should be as much avoided. Where one straight road unavoidably meets another at right angles, it is a good plan to widen the point of intersection. This particularly applies to a road taking a hill straight—that is, at its shortest length. A pleasing perspective will be given by thus widening, and on the triangular space formed might be erected a fountain or monument, with or without a grass plot. As an alternative, if the ground is too valuable to be so disposed of, the road might be terminated by slightly curving it to the left or right, and the corner remaining used for building upon. In the residential portion of the village or garden city, roads running due east and west should be avoided if possible. When this precaution has been taken, much scheming to get the sun on the front as well as the back of the house will be spared. As is well known, a kitchen with a south aspect is unbearable in the heat of the summer. Where the road unavoidably runs east and west, the gardens of houses on the north side should occupy the front and not the back of the plot.

Trees should be planted in all roads, and the chief roads should be arranged on the boulevard plan, allowing the utmost freedom to the pedestrian. A few spaces might be reserved for shelters, and the site for a bandstand might be timely chosen. As much as possible should be done to give breadth to all thoroughfares, and to this end the building-line of the houses should be well back from the road—thirty feet at least—the ample front-garden giving a refreshing greenness to the prospect, besides a better perspective to the houses. The width of roads should be from forty to fifty feet, with paths of from eight to twelve feet, not less.

Minor open spaces, such as playgrounds for young children, are pleasant along the road side, but road-making is costly, and economy in all probability will have to be studied; back land, therefore, should be utilised for them at the bottom of garden plots.

Street Elevations.—In building a road of houses the expense would of course be considerable if to get variety a different plan and different details were employed for each house. Other methods must be adopted. In the case of twenty houses it would be well to get as many details, such as windows, doors, and door-frames, the same (or, at any rate, half of one kind and half of another), and monotony should be avoided by variation in the disposition of these features. An extensive elevation may also be made interesting by the treatment of a porch here, the addition of a bay window there, and the use of rough-cast somewhere else. An irregular building-line, where possible, is to be preferred. In a block of three cottages a pleasing effect is gained by projecting or recessing the middle one, or putting it with its long axis parallel with the road, and so forming a forecourt in front.

Service of Natural Advantages.—Whatever natural advantages the land may possess, such as woods, pools, or streams (where they are not included in a park), should border, or be seen from, the road—that is if they merit the expense of road-making. Few things are more picturesque than a stream at the roadside (as at Tissington in Derbyshire), especially if spanned here and there by small bridges (as at Bourton-on-the-Water), and by their presence the road will be widened from house front to house front. The water of a stream should never be utilised for a manufacturing purpose where it afterwards flows through the village, except for generating electric power or other clean uses. If there is an avenue of old trees it should be secured for one of the roads.

Shopping.—The chief shopping will be best placed just without and surrounding the main centre, and that of less importance round the minor centres.

Factories.—Supposing that the raison d’être of the village or garden city be one or more industries in which many of the inhabitants are employed, where, it will be asked, are the factories to be placed? Without a definite example of land, it is difficult to give a definite reply. Many things are essential to such sites—for instance, the adjacency of a stream, river, or railway—and if the manufacturer transfers his works to the country, he will rightly choose the most convenient and advantageous site for them that offers, and other arrangements will have to be made in concert with him. Nevertheless, the factory or factories should be as far as possible from the main centre, that is on the village or city outskirts. The preferable position would lie between the north-east and south-west, for the prevalent south-west wind will then carry away the smoke in summer, when the villagers indulge in outdoor life, while the north and easterly winds of winter will carry it over the village when they are indoors. Screens of trees should be planted between the village and the factories as soon as possible.

Plots for Houses.—As to the treatment of the plots for houses: should the road cut into the land it need not necessarily be levelled, but taken as it is; the gables will thus present a desirable variation of level, and the ridge line will be less monotonous. An endeavour should be made, however, always to get the plots not less than 18 ins. above the level of the crown of the road, otherwise the drainage will be troublesome and expensive.

As soon as the house is erected, it is well to set hedges of thorn or beech, both along the roadside and between the houses. Until these are grown, the ordinary iron hurdle, or light-railed wooden fence, might serve.

It is advisable to arrange the building plots so that the houses on either side of the road do not come exactly opposite each other; the houses should be so arranged as to face the open space opposite.

Gardens.—At Bournville the average garden-space allowed each house is 600 square yards, this being found to be about as much as the average man can well attend to. (This means there will be from eight to twelve cottages to the acre.) The laying out is done prior to the tenant’s occupation of the house. A description of the way the Bournville gardens are laid out is given, with a plan, on page 23.

When the houses are placed at the end of the plot remote from the road, any hard and fast lines in the style of the garden should be avoided: apple and other fruit-trees, or an occasional kitchen-garden, may be placed in a prominent position, for even the trim flower-garden might be varied with advantage. A preference has already been expressed for having the garden adjacent to the house rather than the allotment garden at a distance, but at the same time the latter plan may be sometimes forced upon us. Undoubtedly the rivalry that is encouraged among gardeners congregated together in allotment gardens is good and healthy, but the inconvenience to the household of the distance between home and garden would suggest the adoption of the former whenever it is possible, and even where there is an allotment there should still be a small plot adjacent to the house.

While endeavouring to get as much light and air space as possible in the village, it will frequently be found necessary to erect cottages in blocks of four, and sometimes of eight. In order to give adequate garden-space, even to small houses, and not in long thin strips, the frontage of the land will have to be broad; a rule should be made, therefore, of spreading the houses laterally by arranging the staircase of each house, not between the back and front rooms, but between the houses. This will bring the outside houses nearer to the extremity of the land, and will not only give each garden the desired straightness and breadth, but afford a greater breadth of view upon it from within.

In conclusion, it might be again stated that most of the remarks under this head—which are mainly arranged from notes taken or suggested during the planning and working out of the Bournville Estate—are broad and suggestive rather than insistent, and it is probable that the setting out of particular land will not admit of the adoption of many of the principles here laid down.

BRADBURY, AGNEW & CO., LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
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Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
[Pg 17]: ‘necessiting’ replaced by ‘necessitating’.