Letchworth Garden City

Letchworth Garden City

* once Howard wrote the book "Garden Cities of Tomorrow", it spurred him to create his first garden city - Letchworth

* 1903 - the first garden city to be created - at Letchworth in Hertfordshire

* Howard and his immediate associates were able to buy the estate at agricultural value

o extraordinarily difficult to attract capital for such a utopian venture

* a number of architects submitted master plans for the Letchworth estate, however the selected scheme was that of Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker

o they were influenced by the arts and crafts movement created by William Morris

* carefully zoned plan with industrial areas segregated from housing, parkland and central shopping areas

* community housing around quadrangles

* in 1905, the "cheap cottages exhibition" demonstrated that housing could be provided at a cost of Ј150 per dwelling - attracted over 60,000 people

* Letchworth flourished at this point - encouraging roads to be planted with individual species of trees and "Arbor days"(celebrating the bloom of a particular variety) were a feature of pre 1914 social life.

* Unwin and parker were setting new standards at Letchworth in the design and planning of low cost housing by 1905

o In later years, this idea was detached from the rest of the garden city idea

* the years 1904 to 1914 were a Golden Age for Letchworth

* Accounts made by early pioneers describe a 'new beginning' and a great feeling of