The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-14
GARDEN CITIES
IN ENGLAND
Fifty Years Work to Realize q Dream
How Londoners Can Live in
COmfOrt-Possibflitie In
Til. Country
CIV. Tompleton Johnson.)

/
This Ccuufry
CIV. Tompleton Johnson.)
Exclusive Service The Survey Press
Bureau.)
The damp climate of Great Britain.
which permits luxurfant plant life
even in deep shade, and the influence
| exerted by hundreds Of years Of con-
slant contact with the gardens Of the
! grcat landed estates, have led to the
evolution of the garden city in Eng
! land
The Garden City, as we know IL to-
day, was instituted about thirty years
ago, as housing adjunct for a great
industrial enterprise. In 1887 the firm
| of Lever Bros, soap manufacturers,
bought some land between Birken-
head and Liverpool OF which to build
homes for their employees. The first
houses constructed were too costly TO
| be profitable and of late years the
expense of maintaining roads and
parks has risen so that on an invest
nent of s1,0G0,0O0 there is no profit
after the payment Of fixed charges.
but Mr.. Lever believes In carrying On
| the enterprise because employees Iiv-
! ing in community which promotes
| good health are more intelligent and
efficient
| Fifty years ago young man walk
ed the streets of Birmingham, Eng
land, on Saturday afternoons looking
| at the squalid workingmen's houses
and the dirty unkempt yards. 'Ts IL
| any wonder" he said to himself, That
with such Generalization living condi-
tons, the workmen instead Of coming
| home, spend their wages drinking at
| the saloons" The man was George
| Cadbury, now one of the proprietors
| m "a
and the town of BournvflIe, four
| miles from Birmingham, is the result
| of his efforts to secure good living
conditions for any one who might de-
| sire an attractive home in a district
| SO designed that there La plenty Of
room and fresh air for all the inhsbi-
/ tants. Only forty per cent. OF the
houses at Bournville are rented by
| employees Of Messers. Cadbury Co. Mr..
Cadbury having wisely decided that
there should be no obligation on the
past Of his employees to live in Bourn-
vile and also that the colony might
| be open to any one.
The houses in BournvilIe are attrsc-
tive brick structures with gardens IN
front and behind. The Village Trust
offers prizes for the best kept garden
and for the finest fruit and veseta-
bles. With this incentive, the gar
dens are always neatly cultivated, and
raised reduces the rent of every fam
lily in Bournville nearly half a dollar
a week. There are tennis and foot
ball fields, a swimming pool, and
gymnasium. The death rate in
Bournvflle is five per thousand, while
in Birmingham, only four miles away,
1t is fifteen.
The Bournvil1e boys Of twelve are
three inches bigger around the chest
than their city neighbors in Birmins-
ham. The enterprise was made over
in 1900 by George Cadbury to a per-
petual trust. which viii carry out his
ideas. The undertaking is on a strict
~ business basis, the net profits Of
about four per cent. being devoted TO
the building of more houses.
A dreamer looked into the future,
and curious as 1t may seem, his dream
came true, for Ebenezer Howard,
whose Garden Cities of Tomorrow
opened the eyes of the public to the
possibilities Of town development, has
lived to see realized most Of the es-
sential ideas Of his enterprise in the
Model Cities of Letchworth, about
thirty-five miles north of London
In 1902 a tract of $500 acres at 500
per acre was bought by the First Gar
den City, Limited, 1000 acres being
designed to house a population OF
about 10000 people. The remaining
$500 acres are devoted to an agricul-
tural belt which encircles the town
and which shall remain invfolate- A
limit Of twelve houses to the acre has
been esta blished and a conscious ef-
fort has been made to provide nous
ing facilities, for all sorts and condi-
lions of men, the rents ranging from
five and six dollars a month up to
forty or fifty.
A part of the property lying close
to the railroad but screened by a hill
q nd hal nf ho haarT
for factory enterprises. Already more
than twenty different enterprises have
left London, and found il to their
financial benefit to operate their works
on cheap land where the homes Of
the operatives may be within walking
distance Of their work
The directors have wisely held the
most attractive portion of the land
for future civic center. The popu-
Iation Of Letchworth is now 1000, and
the idea is to use small temporary
municipal buildings until the city ap-
600.
The most attractive London suburb,
Hampstead Garden, which IL only
twenty minutes from the heart OF
London, was developed by the Hamp-
stead Garden Suburb Trust which foE
$4,000 per acre bought from Elton Col
lege 240 acres of rolling country bord-
ing upon the property is upon pre-
conceived plan designed by Barry
Parker and Raymond Unwin. The
land Is not sold but lots are rented
for 999 years. Three very successful
Copartnership Societies have built
homes, all Of which must be approved
by the architects so that the harmony
of the treatment may not be disturbed.
Only eight houses are permitted to the
acre so that there are ample gardens
and open spaces. The informal treat
ment of the streets, and the placing
of buildings sometimes In groups Of
twos and threes have produced very
charming street pictures.
Within few years Germany has
learned the lesson of Letchworth,
Bournville, Hampstead and Harbourne.
Garden cities are springing up in many
localities. What are we doing in the
United States? Next to nothing. AZ
Hampstead they have realized that by
making tenants their own landlords,
the holders of property will not wish
to wiring out of the land the last cent
of profit
There is land within the limits Of
most of our great American Cities
which could be developed on similar
lines. Are we going to stand still
and watch twenty-five, fifty, seventy
five or more houses to the acre, with
out so much as breathing space, sweep