Letchworth Garden City
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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
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
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
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