The Project Gutenberg eBook of Port Sunlight
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Title: Port Sunlight
Author: T. Raffles Davison
Release date: January 29, 2024 [eBook #72812]
Language: English
Original publication: London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1916
Credits: Bob Taylor, deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PORT SUNLIGHT ***
Transcriber’s Note
Italic text displayed as: _italic_
Bold text displayed as: =bold=
PORT SUNLIGHT
[Illustration: Person sitting under a tree with a church in the
background]
[Illustration:
PORT SUNLIGHT
A RECORD OF
ITS ARTISTIC & PICTORIAL ASPECT
BY T·RAFFLES DAVISON HON. A·R·I·B·A
LONDON
B·T·BATSFORD L^{TD} 94 HIGH HOLBORN
]
PREFACE.
Everyone has heard of Port Sunlight, but it is doubtful whether many
have formed a definite or just estimate of this unique example of
industrial housing. The following pages are an attempt to record its
best features and to show how far the ideal which inspired it has
succeeded. To those who have not seen it Port Sunlight is perhaps
regarded as one of many other similar places. It is in reality
something very different from all others, and especially does it stand
by itself in the motive which founded it, which has carried it out,
and which continues to administrate it. The breadth of vision which
has made Port Sunlight possible is perhaps a greater matter than the
village itself. This must inevitably have its effect, but the author
ventures to predict that the artistic aspect of the place, which
receives some permanent record herein, may also obtain full recognition
and emulation as time goes on.
Those who look for finality in any human accomplishment are doomed
to disappointment, but the measure of our success will surely be in
proportion to the quality of our aims. The last and best word we can
say about the village of Port Sunlight is that the aim of its founder
has been based on the belief that sympathy for the wants and well-being
of our fellow-men may find a large expression even in our business
dealings.
It is very delightful to contemplate the results of an undertaking
like Port Sunlight—a beneficent enterprise which no law could force
from any public body or private employer, and which no mere compiler
of accounts for capital and interest would dare to sanction. The ideal
which prompted it is the real thing that matters, and though it may
be maintained that the carrying out of it pays—and pays well—we may
still hold fast to the hope that both those who make such villages and
those who live in them will ever cherish some beliefs which are above
and beyond all that which is concerned with a mere monetary return.
How fortunate the workpeople who are enabled to live under such ideal
conditions!
This little book is entirely due to the desire of the author himself to
illustrate the results of an enterprise which he has closely followed
from its inception. The combination of the practical and the artistic
has been achieved in Port Sunlight with outstanding success, and in
these pages it is believed that this is fairly shown, though the
building record is not yet by any means complete.
It would be the merest affectation to leave out of these pages any
mention of the founder, Sir William Hesketh Lever, Bart., one of the
leaders of industrial enterprise in this country. Amongst the many
things he has done for the benefit of his fellow-countrymen there is
surely nothing we have more to thank him for than the homes which are
the subject of this book. To provide employment for thousands and then
to give them such homes to live in must be a good reward for a life’s
work to the man with an ideal.
My thanks are due to Mr. Herbert Batsford, the head of his firm, who
has not only superintended every detail connected with the production
but has added personal interest and advice due to his special sympathy
with the subject. To Mr. Alex. Paul, of the Editorial and Social
Department, Port Sunlight, I am indebted for much kind help.
The photographic views are largely from the studio of Mr. Geo. W.
Davies, New Ferry.
T. RAFFLES DAVISON.
LONDON,
_August, 1916_.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE vii
CONTENTS ix
LIST OF PLATES xi
LIST OF TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
THE IDEAL 1
THE FOUNDATION 5
THE RESULT 8
CHARACTERISTICS 10
THE PLAN 16
GENERAL SCHEME 20
TREE PLANTING 23
COTTAGE PLANS 25
THE ILLUSTRATIONS 31
LIST OF PLATES.
PLATE ARCHITECTS’ NAMES
1. Birdseye View of Port Sunlight.
2. The Diamond, looking towards Art
Gallery.
3. Greendale Road, looking towards Post
Office.
4. Westward View of Park Road, showing
Kitchen Cottages W. and S. Owen
5. View in Park Road towards the
Lyceum W. and S. Owen
6. South Side of Park Road.
7. Greendale Road and Co-Partners’
Club Annexe Grayson and Ould
8. New Chester Road Huon A. Matear
9. Cottages in Bath Street J. J. Talbot
10. The Dell.
11. Semi-Quad of Cottages, Queen
Mary’s Drive, The Diamond J. L. Simpson
12. Park Road. Bridge Cottage in
Foreground Douglas and Fordham
13. The Causeway, looking towards } Corner Cottage by
Christ Church } Grayson and Ould
14. Park Road Cottages. Lyceum in
distance W. and S. Owen
15. Greendale Road. Cottage Group in
foreground, reproducing Kenyon
Old Hall J. J. Talbot
16. Houses in Park Road. South Side W. and S. Owen
17. Lever Free Library, Greendale Road Maxwell and Tuke
18. A Bridge Street Group Grayson and Ould
19. Post Office Grayson and Ould
20. Group of Cottages in Greendale Road,
reproducing design of Kenyon
Old Hall J. J. Talbot
21. Bolton Road Parlour Houses W. and S. Owen
22. {Primrose Hill Cottages Jonathan Simpson
{Greendale Road Cottages Pain and Blease
23. {Greendale Road Cottages Grayson and Ould
{Cottage Porch, Connolly Road Huon A. Matear
24. The Bridge Inn Grayson and Ould
25. Co-Partners’ Club Hall Grayson and Ould
26. Open Air Swimming Bath W. and S. Owen
27. A Recessed Group in Cross Street Grayson and Ould
28. Cottage in Wood Street Douglas and Fordham
29. The Library Entrance of the Art
Gallery W. and S. Owen
30. S.E. View of Christ Church W. and S. Owen
31. View under Tower, Christ Church W. and S. Owen
32. Lady Lever Memorial Porch, Christ
Church W. and S. Owen
{W. and S. Owen
33. The Lady Lever Memorial {Sir W. Goscombe John,
{ R.A., Sculptor
LIST OF TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS.
NUMBER PAGE
1. The Lyceum 1
2. The Dell Bridge 2
3. Corniche Road before Reclaiming of Ravine 3
4. Pool Bank 3
5. Tennis Lawn 4
6. Christ Church from Bolton Road 4
7. Bolton Road, looking towards Bebington Church 5
8. Co-Partners’ Club and Bowling Green 6
9. Carved Oak and Decorative Plaster Work on Cottage
in Park Road South 7
10. Half-timber Cottages in Park Road 8
11. Employees’ Provident Stores and Collegium 9
12. Cottages in Corniche Road 10
13. An Angle Bay in Bridge Street 10
14. Some Park Road Houses 11
15. Cottages in New Chester Road 12
16. Group at angle of Lower Road and Central Road 13
17. A Recessed Group in Greendale Road 14
18. Cottages on semi-circular plan in Lower Road 14
19. First Cottages built at Port Sunlight 15
20. A Three-gabled Group in New Chester Road 15
21. A Picturesque Corner in Park Road South 16
22. Bebington Road Cottages 17
23. Cottages, Pool Bank 18
24. Cottages, Pool Bank 19
25. Hulme Hall 20
26. Gladstone Hall 21
27. Park Road by Poets’ Corner 22
28. Bridge Cottage 23
29. The Gymnasium 24
30. The Technical Institute 25
31. Wood Street Cottages 26
32. A Garden Corner 27
33. Plans of Kitchen Cottages 28
34. Plans of Parlour Cottages 29
35. Plans of Kitchen Cottages 30
36. The Bridge Inn 31
37. The Girls’ Club 32
38. An Example of Simple Treatment 35
39. A General Plan of the Village 36
[Illustration: PLATE 1.
BIRDSEYE VIEW OF PORT SUNLIGHT.]
[Illustration: DOUGLAS AND FORDHAM, Architects.
1. THE LYCEUM.]
_The Ideal._
The individual or community which has no ideal is to be pitied. For,
whatever may happen, there is always a better chance for those who
maintain a high ideal than for those who, without one, adventure
themselves against the chances and difficulties that surround us.
Nothing is more disheartening to the idealist and reformer than to
find not only thousands of individuals but whole communities without a
guiding star of faith and hope.
How fortunate is a place like Port Sunlight, when we compare its
history and possibilities with those of London! It is pleasant to
realise that what has become a problem of such a very serious kind in
London after so many years of haphazard and chance, is happily barred
out of the horizon in the definitely schemed plan of the garden city
or the model village. But it is one thing to have a scheme or an
ideal and another to have a good one. Moreover, as to whether it is
good or bad, or wholly or only partially good or bad, the scheme does
not always show until it has been some time in operation. In time the
awkward corners may be rounded off, or they may become more acute, but
the actual life of the community in any so-called model village or town
soon proves the value or the unimportance of those features which have
been part of the design.
[Illustration: DOUGLAS AND FORDHAM, Architects.
2. THE DELL BRIDGE.]
What most impresses itself on those who study the industrial village
of Port Sunlight is the fact that it is the definite outcome of a
genuine ideal. Whether its present state has surpassed the hopes of
its founder or has failed to realise them, we can at any rate see that
this was meant to be something better than what had been before, and
that no effort was to be wanting to secure this. We are sure that the
inconsequent charm and the haphazard picturesqueness of an old English
village were not the main objects in view, but that the aim was a
conveniently planned and healthy settlement laid out with all possible
artistic thought on sound business lines. Garden grounds, roads, and
open spaces were to be ample without being wasteful, houses were to
be picturesque but sensibly planned. Avenues were to be planted and
gardens laid out with needful limitations as to size and direction. The
individuality of separate gardens was to be subordinated to a definite
idea of communal amenity. Variety of plan was to be obtained only
within a certain economic range.
[Illustration: 3. CORNICHE ROAD BEFORE RECLAIMING OF RAVINE.]
[Illustration: 4. POOL BANK.]
It is surely often realised that many of our beautiful gardens could
not have been laid out in a complete and detailed scheme from the
beginning, but that a good deal of their success has been evolved from
a gradual development of possibilities. So also whilst the picturesque
charm of an old town or village may result from the chances and
changes of many years, we cannot expect that fully developed schemes
for new settlements can attain perfection at the outset. The constant
maintenance of an ideal in the life of a town or village is, therefore,
of the greatest import, and no niggardly spirit should stand in the way
of changes for which time alone may prove the need.
[Illustration: 5. TENNIS LAWN.]
The best conceived plans for the present time are not necessarily
the best for the future, and an insistent look out for possible
improvements is the only safeguard for the future even where the most
careful design and thought have been devoted to the beginnings of such
a successful enterprise as that which is here recorded.
[Illustration: 6. CHRIST CHURCH FROM BOLTON ROAD.]
[Illustration: 7. BOLTON ROAD LOOKING TOWARDS BEBINGTON CHURCH.]
_The Foundation._
The life of a village or town must be created of enduring materials
and based on some sort of sound business principles. It is the very
essence of the village of Port Sunlight that it is claimed to be a
sound business enterprise. Though much more than half a million pounds
of capital spent on land and buildings has been left out of count for
interest, it is still maintained that all outlays have in the main
been justified by sound business principles. That the well-being and
comfort of their workpeople is a valuable business asset is no new
belief with employers of labour. The belief has been acted upon for
many years past, but its application has made rapid strides in more
recent times. It is probable, however, that there is not another place
where this belief has been so very completely demonstrated as at Port
Sunlight. The inhabitants of this fortunate village appear to have been
saved every needless risk, and have even escaped the snare of mere
profit-sharing, in favour of prosperity-sharing and copartnership.
It will be of interest here to quote from a Paper by the founder, Sir
W. H. Lever, on prosperity-sharing, in November, 1900. “The truest
and highest form of enlightened self-interest requires that we pay
the fullest regard to the interest and welfare of those around us,
whose well-being we must bind up with our own, and with whom we must
share our prosperity. We cannot live in comfort with others if we do
not share our comforts with them. If we wish men to be honest towards
ourselves, we must be honest with them. If we wish men to help us to
achieve prosperity, they must feel assured that we will share that
prosperity with them. If capital and management think of nothing but
their own narrowest, selfish self-interest, without a thought for
labour, care nothing for the comfort or welfare of labour, care nothing
whether labour is well or ill-housed, whether labour is provided with
opportunity for reasonable and proper recreation and relief from toil
or not, then capital and management are blind to their own highest
interest.... Also the converse of the above is equally true.... If
labour adopts the spirit of enlightened and intelligent self-interest,
and if capital and management do the same, if each recognise the
principle that by looking after the interests of the other they
are taking the surest means to achieve their own self-interest,
business will be healthier, happiness in business will be greater,
the prosperity of the business of the whole country will be assured,
and the bogey of foreign competition will be laid once and for all. I
venture to submit that prosperity-sharing on the basis of enlightened
self-interest will secure this.”
[Illustration: GRAYSON AND OULD, Architects.
8. CO-PARTNERS’ CLUB AND BOWLING GREEN.]
[Illustration: 9. CARVED OAK AND DECORATIVE PLASTER WORK ON COTTAGE IN
PARK ROAD SOUTH.
W. OWEN, Architect.]
It is the aim which lies behind such words as these which is of real
importance, and makes possible the creation of beautiful homes and
pleasant surroundings. We may be quite sure that this is the one vital
factor in all our efforts, and no excuse need be offered for the
reiteration of this point in the pages of this book. We should all live
for some sort of ideals, and in proportion as these are right and good,
so shall we find the measure of our success.
[Illustration: W. & S. OWEN, Architects.
10. HALF-TIMBER COTTAGES IN PARK ROAD.]
_The Result._
It is only by comparing the conditions at Port Sunlight with those of
other residential areas that the full measure of their value can be
ascertained. In some respects the outsider is perhaps a better judge
of the success of such a village than are the residents, who come to
take a good deal for granted. Thus the visitor who now for the first
time goes to Port Sunlight and realises the extent and quality of the
work done is naturally much impressed by the variety and interest
which the whole village affords, whilst those who are in constant
residence may not realise it so keenly. It is hardly possible that
those who live in the many charming cottages which have sprung up in
this country in recent years, or who have lived a long time in some of
the best of our old English cottages, can take that delight in their
appearance which the detached observer feels. It is quite possible
that wide staring panes of glass and sash windows and treeless streets
have as many admirers amongst the average public as are found for the
quaint latticed windows and leafy avenues of Port Sunlight. But the
air of detachment which inevitably goes with the outside observer of
new places is an element of some moment in arriving at an estimate of
results. It is obvious that the estimation of a place like this may
be based upon practical issues chiefly, or from the purely artistic
standpoint, or again, from a point of view which includes both. The
main concern of this book is to emphasise the artistic and picturesque
qualities of the village whilst not overlooking the fact that artistic
values should not be obtained by the sacrifice of practical needs.
This could be the only possible point of view which would give final
satisfaction to the business man. It is maintained that no undertaking
in the world which has been based on purely artistic desires and which
has had no basis of practical value has been of any lasting value. The
whole foundation of Port Sunlight is believed to consist of practical
values and sound business principles.
[Illustration: 11. EMPLOYEES’ PROVIDENT STORES AND COLLEGIUM.
DOUGLAS AND FORDHAM, Architects.]
[Illustration: 12. COTTAGES IN CORNICHE ROAD.
GRAYSON AND OULD, Architects.]
[Illustration: 13. AN ANGLE BAY IN BRIDGE STREET.
W. & S. OWEN, Architects.]
_Characteristics._
One thing which is at once obvious from the general scheme is the
adoption of open spaces, communal gardens, and allotments in preference
to the spaces which are devoted to individual gardens surrounding each
cottage in so many other places. There is something to be said for and
against this. The general amenity of the village gains by the Port
Sunlight method, whilst the special charm of individual gardens which
enthusiastic efforts produce is naturally lacking. In this way we get
less value of contrasts, and lose something of that spirit of emulation
which spurs the individual to special effort. Of one thing, however,
there can be no doubt. The absence of the many dividing lines of fences
between each cottage frontage produces a breadth of effect along the
lines of roadways which is in itself very pleasing. From the point of
view of the town-planner who looks for the collective result this is,
of course, very satisfactory.
[Illustration: 14. SOME PARK ROAD HOUSES.
DOUGLAS AND FORDHAM, Architects.]
[Illustration: 15. COTTAGES IN NEW CHESTER ROAD.
W. OWEN, Architect.]
Another thing which will be noticed in the illustrations is the
elevation of many of the houses above the level of the roadway. This
gives a much wider and pleasanter outlook from the windows of the
cottages, besides producing a much better effect in the buildings from
the roadway than when they are placed on the same level. The sloping
green banks leading up to terraced paths in front of the cottages are a
distinctive feature of the village. (See Pl. 4.)
It has been maintained that without a good deal of monotony you cannot
get very fine architectural results, and it must be admitted that many
examples go to prove it. There is a large surface of monotony in the
Pyramids; there is a marvellous monotony of detail in the Houses of
Parliament; there is a boundless monotony in the house fronts in Gower
Street, yet all these have been admired. So this line of argument might
have suggested the continued employment of only one architect, or at
least only one type of design, for the cottages at Port Sunlight. The
great variety of designs in the cottages, which has proved one of
the attractions of the place, has, however, in some sense at least,
justified itself. Even the flamboyant Gothic dormers and the stepped
Belgian gables have a reacting influence on some of their neighbours,
though we might consider the latter rather unpractical on the one
hand, or the former too pretentious on the other. Moreover, whilst
we wonder at the generosity of view which could bestow some of these
solid oak-framed structures with their wealth of carving and enriched
plaster panellings on the working classes of an industrial village,
we cannot but feel grateful to the hand that gave them, though we
ourselves may never be able to afford such luxuries of the building
art for ourselves. May we not accept these as symbols of some kindly
gratitude with which a profitable company decorates the homes of
its industrial population? Honestly, we cannot regret these _bonnes
bouches_ in the building scheme, though they bravely put out of sight
the counting-house and the rates of interest! These are really very
welcome ebullitions from that solid undercurrent of practical economy
which has placed the whole concern on a sound business footing.
[Illustration: 16. GROUP AT ANGLE OF LOWER ROAD AND CENTRAL ROAD.
J. L. SIMPSON, Architect.]
[Illustration: 17. A RECESSED GROUP IN GREENDALE ROAD.
ERNEST GEORGE AND YEATES, Architects.]
[Illustration: 18. COTTAGES ON SEMI-CIRCULAR PLAN IN LOWER ROAD.
C. H. REILLY, Architect.]
[Illustration: 19. FIRST COTTAGES BUILT AT PORT SUNLIGHT.
_Awarded Grand Prix, Brussels Exhibition, 1910, for their reproduction
there._
W. OWEN, Architect.]
[Illustration: 20. A THREE-GABLED GROUP IN NEW CHESTER ROAD.
GRAYSON AND OULD, Architects.]
This element of variety which is so marked in the design of the
cottages at Port Sunlight has been obtained without much departure
from the genuine English type. Even where a Dutch or Belgian character
appears it is carried out with something of the breadth and simplicity
which one associates with purely English work. There is very little, if
anything, that could be called freakish or odd. The stepped gables or
the flamboyant dormers which vary the treatment are not unacceptable as
variants. As to the use of oak framing with plaster panels—the familiar
Old English style—no one can deny its charm or fail to wish there were
even more of it. Nothing is so picturesque and nothing so cheerful of
aspect as the black and white work which forms so frequent a feature in
the earlier buildings erected. One only regrets that it is difficult to
justify it from a strictly commercial point of view, especially if it
is executed in a sound and substantial manner. Whether the half-timber
work is used for the whole building, or only partially in connection
with the fine red sandstone of the district, or with bricks or
flint-work, it has an undeniable and enduring charm, and we owe much of
our pleasure in the whole appearance of Port Sunlight to the liberal
views of the founder, who did not permit his vision of a beautiful
village to be obscured by the clouds of philistinism! You cannot, of
course, pretend that such gables as those shown in our illustrations
are necessary to cottage building. Nor is it surely possible for even
a Port Sunlight to be entirely built in such a way; but the pleasure
produced by such character of work is, after all, common property, and
is a valuable item in regard to the whole scheme.
[Illustration: 21. A PICTURESQUE CORNER IN PARK ROAD SOUTH.
W. & S. OWEN, Architects.]
_The Plan._
The general plan of Port Sunlight shows now an inhabited area nearly a
mile long by nearly half that wide, bounded on the longer sides by the
new Chester Road (on the east) and the main railway lines to London,
and Greendale Road (on the west). (See No. 39.) There is enough
variety of level to avoid the monotony of an entirely flat area, and
one piece of natural dell, well grown over with trees and shrubs, forms
a delightful feature near the Works end of the village. Goods from the
Works are loaded, on the one side, into railway wagons, and on the
other into barges on the Bromborough Pool, from which they emerge into
the River Mersey. From this pool there used to be gutters or ravines,
up which the muddy tidal water flowed right up into where the village
now stands, but these have all been cut off from the tide and, with the
exception of the dell above referred to, filled up.
[Illustration: 22. BEBINGTON ROAD COTTAGES.
W. & S. OWEN, Architects.]
One very notable innovation on the common practice of estate
development is the fronting of houses towards the railway instead
of the long lines of unlovely backs which usually exhibit all
their unhappy privacies to the railway passengers. Though one long
thoroughfare—the Greendale Road—runs alongside the railway embankment
for the greater part of a mile, one cannot feel it to be other than
one of the pleasantest roads on the estate. One of the illustrations
indicates the excellent result here obtained.
[Illustration: 23. COTTAGES, POOL BANK.
WILSON AND TALBOT, Architects.]
Every intelligent student of town-planning knows that you cannot rule
out a number of rectangular plots arranged on axial lines without
due consideration of varying levels and a proper expression of local
features. Moreover, the planning of many right-angled plots is not in
itself a very desirable aim. But at Port Sunlight it was possible to
create some rectangular spaces with the Art Gallery and the Church
on their axial lines in such a way as to make a striking and orderly
scheme as a central feature in the estate. There are numbers of winding
or diagonal roads which give variety and interest and afford pleasant
lines of perspective to the groups of houses.
[Illustration: 24. COTTAGES, POOL BANK.
DOUGLAS AND MINSHALL, Architects.]
In an especial way one might claim that the best results in the
planning of a new village will be obtained through bearing in mind
the classical saying, “_Ars est celare artem_.” In such a scheme we do
not wish to be confronted with buildings of ponderous dignity or a big
display of formal lines and _places_. Anything approaching ostentation
or display is surely out of place, and what we want is something
expressing the simplicity and unobtrusiveness which is the tradition
handed down to us through the charm of the old English village. This is
best attained by variety in direction of roads and shapes of houses by
forming unexpected corners, recessed spaces, and winding vistas.
[Illustration: 25. HULME HALL.
W. & S. OWEN, Architects.]
_General Scheme._
Port Sunlight village (founded in 1888), apart from the Works, covers
222 acres, on which the houses may approach 2,000 for a population of
10,000. The tenancies of the houses are limited to employés of the
Works. Already over 1,000 houses have been built or are in process of
building, and the length of broad roadways exceeds five miles. The
first block of cottages built in 1888-1889 was reproduced at the
Brussels Exhibition of 1910, and was awarded the Grand Prix. It is
intended to limit the number of cottages to ten per acre, and it is
hoped to keep below that maximum.
[Illustration: 26. GLADSTONE HALL.
W. & S. OWEN, Architects.]
The general width of the roadways is 40 feet, giving 24 feet to the
road, and 8 feet for each footpath; but there are roads 48 feet wide,
including footpaths. The paths are flagged along the central portion
only.
In a progressive world, and especially in such a progressive part of it
as Port Sunlight, one cannot hope to give a record which will for long
represent existing facts. The arrangements which have been made for
the benefit of the inhabitants of this village have necessarily been
altered or modified. At the present time the buildings for general use
include Christ Church (No. 6 and Pls. 31-33), an admirable Late Gothic
building in a central position, the Schools, which accommodate about
1,600 children, a Lyceum, a Cottage Hospital, a Gymnasium (No. 29), an
open-air Swimming Bath (Pl. 26), Post Office (Pl. 19), a Village Inn
(No. 36 and Pl. 24), Village Stores, a Fire Station, the Auditorium, to
seat 3,000, the Collegium (No. 11), the Gladstone Hall (No. 26), the
Hulme Hall (No. 25), Co-Partners’ Club with billiard rooms and bowling
green (No. 8), a Village Fountain, and, finally, the Hulme Art Gallery
(Pl. 29), which is destined to hold the Public Library as well as fine
collections of Pictures, Pottery, and Furniture.
[Illustration: 27. PARK ROAD BY POETS’ CORNER.]
Port Sunlight has been an object of attraction to visitors for years,
and this is not only due to the interest and variety of its cottage
houses, and as a model for town planners the world over, but to the
whole-hearted endeavour to meet all the practical and social needs
of everyday life which is expressed in its various public buildings.
But another source of great and enduring attraction lies in its Art
Gallery. Here it outdistances every other village of the kind, for this
Art Gallery holds no fortuitous collection of odd things, but carefully
chosen examples of fine art got together by expert knowledge. The
pictures, china, furniture, etc., would alone bring many visitors to
study such a superb and finely-housed collection of works of art.
[Illustration: 28. BRIDGE COTTAGE.
DOUGLAS AND FORDHAM, Architects.]
_Tree Planting._
We are apt to forget that a newly created village or town does not reap
all its benefits at once. Not only as regards the results of growth
in trees and shrubs, the development of gardens, and the mellowing
influences of time and tone, but also in relation to all the amenities
of social life, we must wait for those influences which can only come
in a gradual process. The subject of trees alone, of the best method
to deal with living growth, is not finished with for some time, if
ever. Some of the avenues at Port Sunlight are charming now, and show
an admirable balance of effect between trees and buildings. Down the
avenue of poplars one of our sketches (Pl. 3) shows how delightfully
the Club and the Library peep out, and how well the vista leads up
to the Post Office beyond—so in some of the winding roads the effect
even in summer is just right. But trees keep growing, and unless the
houses are to suffer they will have to be cut down and some removed
entirely. Then, again, the Diamond (Pl. 2) (which in spite of its name
is a great oblong open space), bordered by groups of cottages and
bounded at one end by the new Art Gallery, will very well bear all
the height the trees will ever reach. This is a very fine open space,
and borders of big trees will help, and never belittle it. Possibly
the secret of successful planting amongst cottage houses is to have
plenty of slow-growing evergreens, and forest trees only at intervals.
It is quite certain that if the garden spaces at Port Sunlight were
punctuated with decoratively placed evergreens, and inclosed by
living borders of box or yew, the result would be both pleasing and
long-lasting. The open spaces now secured should make for ever pleasant
oases amongst the long lines of houses, and even if all the tree
avenues had to go, there would still be left much to excite the envy of
those who have to live in our dirty old towns.
[Illustration: 29. THE GYMNASIUM.
W. & S. OWEN, Architects.]
One of our sketches shows the avenue which leads to Christ Church
from Greendale Road (Pl. 13). It is obvious that the sturdy breadth
and dignity of the church will never lose anything, however lofty
the avenue becomes. Unfortunately we cannot afford the space in the
thoroughfares for the trees so that they will not be a trouble to the
buildings some day. The only possible way would be to plant them down
the centre of the roads, so keeping the traffic in the two opposite
directions in its right place. This is a counsel of perfection, but it
has been done where wide road spaces were practicable.
[Illustration: 30. THE TECHNICAL INSTITUTE.
J. J. TALBOT, Architect.]
It will be noted that at either side of the Diamond the land round and
between the houses is bordered by a low wall through which steps lead
up to the pathways. The effect is very pleasing and might be repeated
in other cases with advantage.
[Illustration: 31. WOOD STREET COTTAGES.]
_Cottage Plans._
An evidence of the careful economic spirit which has guided the
whole enterprise may be found in the plans of the buildings at Port
Sunlight. There are here no freaks or features created simply for
picturesque effect, nor any serious attempt to give the occupants
something they do not want. It will probably be a long time before
any great reform in cottage planning can be maintained in face of the
varying views of the tenants. Thus the rooms must be big enough, but
they must not be so large as to cause needless work. The better class
cottages _must_ have parlours, and only those who cannot afford them
will go without. Plaster walls seem to be almost always preferred to
those lined with boarding, white-washed bricks, or any other healthy
or artistic departure from the modern British type. Thus we find
that the compact and economic plans in the village are what give
the most universal satisfaction. But in the scheme of the planning
the juxtaposition of the cottages has been dealt with in a free and
varied manner, so that we find rows of houses, or =L=-shaped blocks,
or semi-quads, or curved frontages, or semi-splayed quads. A census
of opinion would probably be all in favour of straight rows, and have
been dead against the judicious variety which gives so much interest
to the place. Theoretically, one would perhaps like those who live
in cottages to give up the fetish of the parlour and have one really
ample living-room instead. But the inherent yearning for privacy is an
English characteristic which closes the door of domestic affairs from
the casual visitor. Moreover, the sin of affectation creeps into all
our buildings, and thus the cottage apes the little villa, the little
villa apes the large one, the large one apes the mansion, and the
mansion apes the palace.
[Illustration: 32. A GARDEN CORNER.]
The cottage reformer would of course say that the cottage tenant would
be far happier and healthier as a rule without a parlour, for then he
would have a fine living-room which might be free of all incumbrances
and free of draughts. But it has to be taken for granted that most who
can afford parlours prefer to have them; therefore the plans are of two
types, the kitchen cottage and the parlour cottage. Our illustrations
show how these are planned, and it is not of little interest to see how
varied may be the exterior treatment as developed from these plans.
[Illustration: J. J. TALBOT ARCHITECT
33. KITCHEN COTTAGES.]
Some of the plans which have been found successful we give
illustrations of. These (Nos. 33-35) are carefully schemed. There is a
bath in each and three bedrooms, each with a fireplace. The W.C.’s are
entered from outside. The parlour cottage plan is also given. It shows
what a fine living-room might be obtained in a scheme which eliminated
the parlour. It is obvious that the question of cost is more or less
elusive. The original cost of the smaller cottages was £200, and of
the parlour cottages £330 to £350, but this has risen now to £330 for
cottages and £550 for parlour houses. At the present time the gross
rentals of the kitchen cottages average now 6_s._ 3_d._ each, whilst
for the parlour cottages the rent would be 7_s._ 6_d._, excluding rates
and taxes.[1]
In any estimate of the value of Port Sunlight as a housing scheme it
must always be remembered, as Mr. W. L. George has pointed out, that
it is an experiment rather in _ideal_ than in _cheap_ housing. This
question of ideal was the first point referred to in this record. That
it has been largely realised and entirely justified is something for
which its founder must feel profoundly glad. All sorts of economies
and precautions might have been adopted which have been boldly and
generously set aside. The ideal was always kept in view, and if it ever
disappears it will be only after the disappearance of the original
founder himself! It is a pleasant task to gather together in this
little book the evidence of belief that a more real partnership between
capitalist and workpeople would work a lasting good. That good is not
to be measured in a notation of gold, nor even amongst those who live
and thrive under the immediate benefits of Port Sunlight. Its influence
goes round the world like the beneficent rays which are symbolised in
its own expressive title.
[Illustration: 34. PARLOUR COTTAGES.]
[Illustration: 35. KITCHEN COTTAGES.]
Many of those who scan these pages will never see Port Sunlight itself,
and so will not realise how much better is the reality than the printed
page. In judging the results it must never be forgotten that the
saving grace of common sense has been a constant guide in its ultimate
development and expression. No one could pretend that these thousand
cottages form the finest possible aggregate of architectural skill in
individual design or co-ordinated effect. Here and there one finds
perhaps an exaggeration of simplicity on the one hand or of richness
on the other; in some cases the restraint may be a little obvious or
the picturesqueness a little overstrained, but the balance of effect
is that of a well-ordered and varied interest. To realise the value of
Port Sunlight as an industrial village one has only to compare it with
other enterprises. The architect can read clearly enough from it many
lessons in design, a few of what to avoid perhaps, but many that he may
emulate. The social reformer sees an object lesson in the value of a
pleasant and well-planned community of houses in which individuality
is left ample freedom of expression. The projector of industrial
enterprise realises the mutual benefits of good and attractive housing.
Little, if anything, in this country can be compared to it in its
general measure of success. This success should act as a stimulus to an
ever-widening effort to make the improved conditions of daily life one
of the definite aims of industrial enterprise generally.
[Illustration: 36. THE BRIDGE INN.
GRAYSON AND OULD, Architects.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] These are prosperity-sharing rents (see remarks as to interest on
capital written off, p. 5).
[Illustration: 37. THE GIRLS’ CLUB.
J. L. SIMPSON, Architect.]
_The Illustrations._
The full-page Plates 3 to 27 give an idea of the road views and the
relation of the houses to them, with their perspective effects in
straight or winding lines of frontage, with quadrangular recesses as
in Pls. 11 and 20, or where the =L=-shaped blocks of cottages leave
a good open space as in Pl. 9. The sturdy tower of Christ Church is
a telling feature at the end of the Causeway (see Pl. 13), and the
picturesque pavilion roof with its clever tiling makes a telling
feature at the junction of the Causeway with Greendale Road. It is
hard to imagine anything more delightful in the early spring or autumn
than the Greendale Road where it approaches the post office, with the
peeps of the buildings through the tall poplars. The view towards the
post office in both directions (Pls. 3 and 7) are equally pleasing.
Nothing shows better the good qualities of an Old English half-timber
building than such a setting. There is hardly anything in the village
which comes back on one with such recurring charm as the row of five
gables in the Park Road cottages shown in Pls. 5 and 14. In Pl. 5 we
see something of the delightful result of the continuous sloping banks
from the road up to the cottage, and a certain picturesque irregularity
where the old hawthorn bushes which formerly existed have been left at
intervals. This vertical timber framing has a simple breadth of effect
which is well shown in Pls. 4, 5, and 14. It would be difficult to do
justice to Greendale Road with its continuous line of 97 cottages,
which form a picture of great variety and interest as viewed from the
passing trains, and give us a long perspective of trees and houses,
broken at the point of view of our sketch (Pl. 15) by the half-timber
group of cottages which is an exact replica of the design of Kenyon Old
Hall. This delightful group is also shown in Pl. 20. There is nothing
more satisfactory in proportion and colour than the recessed group
of cottages which fronts the Diamond in the Queen Mary’s Drive. The
yellow-grey stone slates, the red brick chimneys, the white rough cast,
dark boarding, and robust half-timber work in the flanking gables, make
up a picture of colour and texture which is most satisfactory (Pl.
2). The cottages here have the advantage of a raised terrace bounded
by a stone wall. One of the nearest approaches to the charm of an old
English village is probably the L-shaped group of cottages in Bath
Street (see Pl. 9). A photograph of the Dell has been taken to show one
of the natural features which has been turned to so good an account
in the village (see Pl. 10). The cottages looking over the roadways
surrounding the Dell have delightful outlooks over here. Our view was
taken in the winter, so as to show something of the bridge and houses.
The stone bridge at the end of the Dell is an excellent architectural
feature (see Nos. 1 and 2), and groups with remarkably good result
below the Lyceum buildings.
No illustrative account of Port Sunlight could be considered complete
without some reference to Christ Church, which is a central and
interesting feature. Its solidly built red stone walls and stone slated
roof, and its finely appointed interior with a wealth of enriched oak
timber work, commands one’s attention whether as architect or layman.
It speaks of strength and endurance and a sincere love and study of
our traditional English Gothic. Its value is sufficiently apparent
both from the social and the artistic point of view. In one respect,
however, this church may claim a special distinction, for at its
western end has been erected a richly detailed narthex, with a vaulted
roof, forming a shrine for a beautiful sculptured memorial to the late
Lady Lever. Both in idea and execution, this forms a striking and
touching memorial to a gracious lady whose kindliness of heart endeared
her to all. Children were her special friends, and this is reflected
in the two charming figures of children at one end of the sarcophagus.
Sir Goscombe John, the sculptor, has never been more successful than in
this tenderly and gracefully modelled reclining figure of Lady Lever.
This vaulted porch, with its richly carved bosses (on one of which are
painted the arms of Sir William), largely enhances the value of the
memorial sarcophagus itself, which is one of the most satisfactory of
recent years. The illustration of the interior (see Pl. 33) is from a
large drawing exhibited by the architect at the Royal Academy in 1916.
Our illustrations, in a general way, represent what may be taken to be
the best examples of design in the village. They do not, of course,
show all the best. In Pl. 28 we have a very good example of the
quality of detail which lifts the work at Port Sunlight so far above
the level of the ordinary speculative cottage building. Here we find
carved oak beams and posts and brackets and barges, and an excellent
piece of modelled plaster work in the gable. When it is remembered
that this is no isolated example, we see how unusually liberal has
been the hand that directed the outlay. Corners like the picturesque
grouping of chimneys in No. 28, or the carved oak and modelled plaster
in the corner gable (No. 9), would not have existed in an industrial
village had not the founder been imbued with a keen appreciation of
architectural values. One would present a sketch proposal for such
a type of cottages with some trepidation to the average building
owner! One of the noticeable bits of rich detail is to be found in the
Flamboyant and Gothic dormers in Pl. 27. We have in No. 32 a delightful
corner of half-timber building with a sweet little garden foreground.
The old Cheshire type of half-timber work is tellingly expressed in the
corner houses in Park Road (Pl. 16). Other especially effective corners
are seen in Nos. 11 and 27. A contrast between Queen Anne brick gables
and the half-timber house is effectively shown in No. 21. Contrasting
again with the richness of carved oak and modelled plaster in the
more elaborate buildings, we come across delightfully simple designs,
such as Nos. 15 and 17, which may some day very well pass for ancient
buildings.
Amongst the conspicuously successful of recent groups is that of the
parlour houses in Bolton Road (Pl. 21), which has the advantage of a
good setting on the front of a circular _place_. This only needs a
terrace wall and some formal planting to make it one of the pictures
of the village. What an enticing prospect opens up in the possibilities
of formal evergreen planting amongst all these cottage homes!
It is with some feeling of regret that more sketches have not been
given showing examples of interesting ornamental detail which lift
the quality of these cottage homes so much above the ordinary level
of industrial homes. But the limits of the volume place an inevitable
check on one’s desires. If the author has been able to convey to his
readers a tithe of the pleasure he has felt in the subject of this
little book he will be amply rewarded.
[Illustration: 38. AN EXAMPLE OF SIMPLE TREATMENT.]
Enough has perhaps been said in appreciation of some points which mark
out the qualities of Port Sunlight. Much more might be written, but for
the rest we leave the illustrations to tell their own tale. We have
shown nothing of the great auditorium which seats 3,000 people, or of
the detailed appointments of the new Art Gallery, but we have a sketch
of the splendid open air swimming pool and our birds-eye view of the
Diamond gives some notion of the pleasant grouping of the homes amongst
pleasant open spaces and tree-lined avenues. A great deal of what we do
not show is left in reserve for those who can find opportunity to go
and see for themselves what this wonderful scheme of industrial housing
can teach.
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE VILLAGE OF PORT SUNLIGHT 1914.
39. A GENERAL PLAN OF THE VILLAGE.]
[Illustration: PLATE 2.
THE DIAMOND, LOOKING TOWARDS ART GALLERY.]
[Illustration: PLATE 3.
GREENDALE ROAD, LOOKING TOWARDS POST OFFICE.
POST OFFICE.
LEVER FREE LIBRARY.]
[Illustration: PLATE 4.
WESTWARD VIEW OF PARK ROAD, SHOWING KITCHEN COTTAGES.]
[Illustration: PLATE 5.
VIEW IN PARK ROAD TOWARDS THE LYCEUM.]
[Illustration: PLATE 6.
SOUTH SIDE OF PARK ROAD.]
[Illustration: PLATE 7.
GREENDALE ROAD AND CO-PARTNERS’ CLUB ANNEXE.]
[Illustration: PLATE 8.
NEW CHESTER ROAD.]
[Illustration: PLATE 9.
COTTAGES IN BATH STREET.]
[Illustration: PLATE 10.
THE DELL.]
[Illustration: PLATE 11.
SEMI-QUAD OF COTTAGES, QUEEN MARY’S DRIVE, THE DIAMOND.]
[Illustration: PLATE 12.
PARK ROAD. BRIDGE COTTAGE IN FOREGROUND.]
[Illustration: PLATE 13.
THE CAUSEWAY, LOOKING TOWARDS CHRIST CHURCH.]
[Illustration: PLATE 14.
PARK ROAD COTTAGES. LYCEUM IN DISTANCE.]
[Illustration: PLATE 15.
GREENDALE ROAD. COTTAGE GROUP IN FOREGROUND, REPRODUCING KENYON OLD
HALL.]
[Illustration: PLATE 16.
HOUSES IN PARK ROAD. SOUTH SIDE.]
[Illustration: PLATE 17.
LEVER FREE LIBRARY, GREENDALE ROAD.]
[Illustration: PLATE 18.
A BRIDGE STREET GROUP.]
[Illustration: PLATE 19.
POST OFFICE.]
[Illustration: PLATE 20.
GROUP OF COTTAGES IN GREENDALE ROAD, REPRODUCING DESIGN OF KENYON OLD
HALL.]
[Illustration: PLATE 21.
BOLTON ROAD PARLOUR HOUSES.]
[Illustration: PLATE 22.
PRIMROSE HILL COTTAGES.
GREENDALE ROAD COTTAGES.]
[Illustration: PLATE 23.
GREENDALE ROAD COTTAGES.
COTTAGE PORCH, CONNOLLY ROAD.]
[Illustration: PLATE 24.
THE BRIDGE INN.]
[Illustration: PLATE 25.
CO-PARTNERS’ CLUB HALL.]
[Illustration: PLATE 26.
OPEN AIR SWIMMING BATH.]
[Illustration: PLATE 27.
A RECESSED GROUP IN CROSS STREET.]
[Illustration: PLATE 28.
COTTAGE IN WOOD STREET.]
[Illustration: PLATE 29.]
THE LIBRARY ENTRANCE OF THE ART GALLERY.
[Illustration: PLATE 30.]
S.E. VIEW OF CHRIST CHURCH.
[Illustration: PLATE 31.]
VIEW UNDER TOWER, CHRIST CHURCH.
[Illustration: PLATE 32.]
LADY LEVER MEMORIAL PORCH, CHRIST CHURCH.
[Illustration: PLATE 33.]
THE LADY LEVER MEMORIAL.
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