Mr. David Ames: Letchworth - the first garden city utopia

2. The Heritage Foundation is a self
funded charitable organisation
reinvesting for the long term benefit
of communities in Letchworth
Garden City.

3. We support, fund and promote activities
for Letchworth Garden City communities.

4. Ebenezer Howard
1850-1928

5. 1898
• Poor housing
• Over crowding
• High rents

8. What are Garden City Principles?
‘The advantages of the most energetic and
active town life, with all the beauty and
delight of the country, may be secured in
perfect combination’
Ebenezer Howard – A Utopian vision?

9. ‘the provision of hygienic conditions of life
for a considerable working population’
First Garden City Limited 1903

10. ‘whatever advantages the worker gains
through living and working under the more
wholesome conditions of the Garden City
are not at the cost of his independence’
C B Purdom 1913

11. Utopia Through Design?
• Spacious homes
• Clean air
• Access to food growing
• Walkable neighbourhoods
• Good quality working environments

12. Utopian Reality
Master plan – key significance
‘promises to call together a community
inspired with some ideal of what their city
should be…which will have in its life
something more worthy to be expressed in
its architecture than mere self-centred
independence and churlish disregard.’
Raymond Unwin

13. Barry Parker & Raymond Unwin

15. Workers Cottages

16. Occupation
Good quality, healthy homes
Parker’s Building Regulations
In many cases, dominated by lower middle
classes and not the low skilled labour they
were intended for.
Some issues of class based geography, was
an accidental implication of the master plan.

17. Employment

18. ‘improvement of health and efficiency
among people brought from London was
most remarkable.’
WH Smith & Son 1911

19. Hijacked by the Middle
Classes?
‘with magnetic force every fruit juice drinker,
nudist, sandal wearer, sex maniac, Quaker,
‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist and feminist in
England’.
George Orwell – Road to Wigan Pier 1936

21. ‘half a day only once a year when we can
meet as friends and throw off the veneer of
iciness is almost a mockery’
1909 Commentator

22. Post WWII
1950 – 70s
•Growth in housing – as
part of national housing
crisis
•CPO
•Fight to Save to legacy

23. Letchworth Today – A Utopia?

25. Garden City Principles
Community Ownership
Long term Stewardship
High quality design
Houses with gardens
Affordable homes
Allotments
Access to countryside
Green spaces
Local jobs
Local food sourcing
Transport
Recreation
Culture

26. Prosperity is shared
Environment
Social
Economic
Physical
Income
A self-funding charity
re-investing in the
Garden City.

27. Prosperity
is shared
Asset Value £128m
Total Income £10m
Property Income £7.8m

28. OUR CHARITABLE SERVICES
through our charitable services and grant giving

29. The Garden City owns itself
Governance
Board of Management (9)
Governors (30)
Nominated (10) Elected (6) General (14)

30. Conclusions
• Howard’s Garden City Principles can be
linked to a utopian approach, addressing
issues of the time
• The reality of Letchworth was that the
founding years were positive, but there
was a fear of the working class by the
middle classes
• Today, the core Garden City Principles
remain in Letchworth

31. david.ames@letchworth.com