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Title: The model village and its cottages: Bournville
Author: W. Alexander Harvey
Release date: May 4, 2024 [eBook #73532]
Language: English
Original publication: London: B. T. Batsford, 1906
Credits: deaurider, A Marshall 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 THE MODEL VILLAGE AND ITS COTTAGES: BOURNVILLE ***
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
THE MODEL VILLAGE
AND ITS COTTAGES:
BOURNVILLE.
[Illustration: PLATE I. BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES BOURNVILLE.]
THE MODEL VILLAGE
AND ITS COTTAGES:
BOURNVILLE
ILLUSTRATED BY
FIFTY-SEVEN PLATES OF PLANS, VIEWS, AND DETAILS
BY
W. ALEXANDER HARVEY
Architect.
LONDON
B. T. BATSFORD, 94, HIGH HOLBORN
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1906
DEDICATED TO
MR. & MRS. GEORGE CADBURY.
PREFACE.
In February, 1904, I was invited to read a paper on the subject of
Cottage Homes before the London Architectural Association, when I
took as the basis of my remarks the work executed from my designs
at the Bournville Village. In adapting myself to the limits of
such a paper, I found that, while much which was treated suffered
considerably through inevitable compression, a great deal that I
wished also to include had to be omitted. This suggested to me
the idea, now realised in book form, of treating the subject more
comprehensively, giving plans and views of actual examples of
cottages, with measurements and costs, and amplifying and adding to
my former notes and observations.
Even with the larger scope of a book, it is still felt that much has
been left undone and unsaid, and it is frankly admitted that one man
dealing with his own work can scarcely pretend to do full justice to
the broad subject under notice; nevertheless, it is hoped that the
plans and views of Bournville cottages, accompanied by descriptions
and notes, may at least prove of value as suggestions for those
interested in a matter now claiming very wide attention—that of the
building of cottages which may fitly be called _homes_.
I am indebted to the Bournville Village Trust for their courtesy in
allowing me to publish plans and particulars of the Estate cottages,
as well as to the private owners of the few other cottages dealt with
in these pages. I must also acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. T. B.
Rogers for his valuable assistance in the production of the book.
W. ALEXANDER HARVEY.
5, BENNETT’S HILL,
BIRMINGHAM.
_December, 1905._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION.—The housing problem of the future—the
artisan-suburb. Remedies already suggested—municipalisation,
etc. Experiments. The Home: its necessities and
requirements—environment—fresh air—the garden—Beauty. The
revival in domestic architecture and its application to
cottage building. General 1
THE BOURNVILLE VILLAGE.—Its origin and its founder’s motive.
The Bournville Village Trust. First and subsequent projects.
A National scheme. Rents. Inhabitants. Buildings. Open spaces,
etc. The village schools. Bournville’s claims 9
COTTAGES AT £135, WITH NOTES ON THE ECONOMIC BUILDING OF SMALL
COTTAGES. Simplicity and regularity of planning. Arrangement
of outbuildings. Height of rooms. Ornament. The true test of
economy. Foundations. Stock articles. General 16
THE LAYING OUT OF GARDENS.—A Bournville garden. Paths. Bedding.
Flowers. Fruit trees, etc. 23
BLOCKS, PAIRS & SINGLE COTTAGES.—Examples of Bournville
cottages, with description, accommodation, materials, etc.
Variations of the same plan. The long sloping roof, the large
living room, and other features 25
GENERAL NOTES.—The bath—the sunk bath—the “Cabinet”
bath—Cornes’ bath. The ingle nook. Chimneys.
Windows—casement and sash. Bricks. Roof covering. Wall
spaces—rough-cast—whitewash—half-timber, etc. 51
THE LAYING OUT OF A MODEL VILLAGE.—Regard of physical features.
Advisory architect. The selection of centres. Roads. Street
elevations. Service of natural advantages. Shopping. Factories.
Plots of houses. Gardens. 61
LIST OF PLATES.
NOTE.—WHERE SEVERAL PLATES FOLLOW EACH OTHER, THE PAGE WHICH THE
FIRST FACES IS REPEATED FOR EACH IN THIS LIST.
PLATE PAGE
I.—(FRONTISPIECE.) FOUR COTTAGES, THORN ROAD
II.—THE TRIANGLE 9
III.—SHOPS, MARY VALE ROAD 10
IV.—LINDEN ROAD 10
V.—THE OLD FARM INN 10
VI.—SYCAMORE ROAD 12
VII.—THE SCHOOLS (PERSPECTIVE SKETCH) 12
VIII.—CARVED STONE PANELS, THE SCHOOLS 12
IX.—RUSKIN HALL 14
X.—BOURNVILLE MEETING HOUSE 14
XI.—BOURNVILLE MEETING HOUSE (INTERIOR) 14
XII.—COTTAGES IN BLOCKS OF EIGHT (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 16
XIII.—COTTAGES IN BLOCKS OF EIGHT (PERSPECTIVE SKETCH) 16
XIV.—BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 25
XV.—BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES (VIEW) 26
XVI.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 28
XVII.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (VIEW) 28
XVIII.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 28
XIX.—THREE PAIRS OF COTTAGES (VIEW) 28
XX.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 30
XXI.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (VIEW) 32
XXII.—BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES (VIEW) 32
XXIII.—BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES (VIEW) 32
XXIV.—BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES (VIEW) 32
XXV.—BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES (VIEW) 32
XXVI.—BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES (DETAIL VIEW) 32
XXVII.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 33
XXVIII.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 34
XXIX.—BLOCK OF THREE COTTAGES (PLAN) 36
XXX.—BLOCK OF THREE COTTAGES (PERSPECTIVE SKETCH) 36
XXXI.—PAIR OF COTTAGES: SHALLOW SITE (VIEW) 38
XXXII.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (VIEW) 38
XXXIII.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (VIEW) 38
XXXIV.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 40
XXXV.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (VIEW) 40
XXXVI.—SINGLE COTTAGE (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 42
XXXVII.—SINGLE COTTAGE (VIEW) 42
XXXVIII.—SINGLE COTTAGE (VIEW) 42
XXXIX.—SINGLE COTTAGE (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 44
XL.—SINGLE COTTAGE (VIEW) 44
XLI.—STAIRCASE OF SINGLE COTTAGE 44
XLII.—DINING ROOM OF SINGLE COTTAGE 44
XLIII.—SINGLE COTTAGE (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 46
XLIV.—SINGLE COTTAGE (VIEW) 46
XLV.—PAIR OF THREE-STOREY COTTAGES (GROUND AND BEDROOM PLAN) 48
XLVI.—PAIR OF THREE-STOREY COTTAGES (ELEVATION AND ATTIC PLAN) 48
XLVII.—PAIR OF THREE-STOREY COTTAGES (VIEW) 48
XLVIII.—PAIR OF THREE-STOREY COTTAGES (VIEW) 48
XLIX.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (PLAN AND ELEVATION) 50
L.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (VIEW) 50
LI.—COTTAGE INGLE 50
LII.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (DETAIL VIEW) 50
LIII.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (VIEW) 50
LIV.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (VIEW OF BACK) 50
LV.—PAIR OF COTTAGES (PORCH) 50
LVI.—SINGLE COTTAGE (VIEW) 50
LVII.—SINGLE COTTAGE (PORCH) 50
OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS.
GARDEN PLAN 23
BLOCK OF THREE COTTAGES (ELEVATION) 27
BLOCK OF THREE COTTAGES (ELEVATION) 35
THE “CABINET” BATH 51
CORNES’ PATENT BATH 52
SMALL COTTAGE INGLE (ELEVATION AND PLAN) 54
THE MODEL VILLAGE: BOURNVILLE
INTRODUCTION.
In introducing the present work on “The Model Village and its
Cottages,” it would be certainly out of place to discuss the housing
problem; there is, nevertheless, an aspect of this question to which
the attention of the reader should be briefly directed.
The housing problem is no longer one in which the poor in the
congested districts of great towns are alone concerned. A far larger
section of the people is affected,—a section which includes not
only the labouring class, but also the skilled artisan, and even a
class of the people still more prosperous. In the light of present
sanitary and hygienic knowledge it is at last recognised that the
housing conditions of the past will not suffice for the future. The
difficulties besetting reform are necessarily very great, yet with
the movement now afoot—not only in this country, but also on the
Continent and in America—it is not unreasonable to expect that before
long important changes will take place. Now that politicians and
economists, as well as sanitarians, are identifying themselves with
the movement, it is clear that if it is to result in lasting good,
the attention of the _builders_ of these new homes for the people
must also be engaged; and the field that thus presents itself to the
efforts of the architect is a large one.
No better testimony to this need can be afforded than by the typical
latter-day artisan-suburb, and it is indeed in this very suburb that
the housing problem confronts us in what threatens to be in the
future one of its worst aspects. Desolate row upon row of ugly and
cramped villas, ever multiplying to meet the demands of a quickly
increasing population, where no open spaces are reserved, where trees
and other natural beauties are sacrificed to the desire to crowd upon
the land as many dwellings as possible, and where gardens cannot
be said to exist—such are the suburbs which threaten to engulf our
cities. That they do not adequately meet the needs of the people is
beyond all question.
The remedy most frequently suggested is that the people should
themselves undertake and develop housing schemes collectively
through the municipalities. It is pointed out that, if nothing is
done, the municipalities will before long have a slum problem on the
outskirts of the town to deal with, and it is urged that they should
have greater power over the development of land in the extra-urban
districts. It is recommended, again, that the authorities should
exercise the powers they already possess. The Inter-Departmental
Committee on Physical Deterioration, in their Report to the
Government of 1904, insisted most strongly, it will be remembered,
on the necessity for preventing the creation of these new slums.
“The local authorities in contiguous areas which are in process
of urbanisation,” it declares, “should co-operate with a view to
securing proper building regulations, in furtherance of which end the
making of building bye-laws, to be approved by the Local Government
Board, should be made compulsory on both urban and rural authorities;
attention should also be given to the preservation of open spaces,
with abundance of light and air. By the use of judicious foresight
and prudence the growth of squalid slums may be arrested, and
districts which hereafter become urbanised may have at least some of
the attributes of an ideal garden city.”
In the case of municipalities undertaking the development of land,
emphasis should be laid upon the advisability of securing the
services of experts both for the laying out of the land and for the
designing of the houses, and in order to obtain variety in the latter
it is recommended that the designs should be the work of several
architects.
At present, as is well known, the rows of houses in what has been
called the artisan-suburb are usually the work of the speculating
builder, who buys land at a cheap rate and builds to create ground
rents, often selling the houses at a bare profit, or even under cost.
As the maintenance of the property does not fall upon himself, it
is not surprising that the class of building erected should be that
generally known as “jerry-built.”
Apart from these and other schemes suggested is the work of the
Garden City Association in their experiment at Hitchin, and also the
experiments at Port Sunlight, Bournville, and elsewhere, which have
all given such a practical impetus to the movement. An encouraging
sign of the times, too, is the commendable effort of the Trustees
of Eton College, who, to prevent the development of the typical
artisan-suburb on their extensive land at Hampstead, have formed a
Trust to buy 240 acres for building purposes, the division of the
land and the plans of the houses being required to meet certain
specified conditions. In many suburbs, owing to the few houses of
high rental, the rates are extremely high, and a heavy percentage
is absorbed by the schools. One of the objects of the Garden
Suburb, as it is called, is the amalgamation of all classes in the
same district, the artisan and the well-to-do living in reasonable
proximity to one another. With the abolition of the unsightly row
the æsthetic objection at least to such an arrangement is removed,
for in the interesting disposition of houses of varying sizes lies
one of the secrets of beautiful village building, as is testified in
so many well known old villages. In the new suburb it is hoped to
provide cottages for workpeople with gardens of one tenth of an acre.
But whether land is developed privately or by public bodies, it is
essential, in order to secure real reform, that the needs, domestic
and social, of the people for whom the houses are provided should be
intimately understood. What will have to be provided are _homes_, and
it should be clearly recognised what constitutes the _home_ demanded
by the large section of the community which the problem affects.
At the outset it may be noted that for half the year the occupants
of these homes spend the hours of recreation out of doors, also
that most of them prefer that opportunities for such recreation
should be had within easy reach of the home itself. Though the
public-houses and the numerous artificial pleasures provided in towns
are sought by so many, the persistence of those who still cultivate
the contracted and ill-favoured garden strip suggests a need of
the greatest importance. This persistence, moreover, does not, it
will be found, indicate a desire for exercise and fresh air alone,
but a love for familiar surroundings. Among the lowest class this
instinct may still be observed, and in court tenements it will be
found that the doorstep takes the place of the garden strip. The fact
is that the Englishman’s house is his castle, and though his castle
be deprived of its “grounds,” the home instinct, so deeply rooted
in the English character, will not be denied. Whether in the future
this instinct should be fostered, or blunted as in the past, is a
matter of elementary sociology. The inference, then, will be that
the accommodation of the house is not the only matter with which
we have to concern ourselves, but that the closest attention should
also be devoted to the environment. Besides the provision of an ample
garden, the environment itself must be healthy and pleasant. The
influence of surroundings in exalting or depressing the mind, and
thus affecting the life, is a matter not only for the theorist, but
for the architect.
With the provision of a garden, the tenant himself may add to
the beauty of his home, and at the same time enjoy fresh air and
recreation. The cultivation of the soil is certainly the best
antidote to the sedentary occupations of those working in large
towns. A primitive instinct is indulged, the full value of which
seems hardly yet to have been realised. Many believe, indeed, that
with its encouragement the abuse of the social club and public-house
will be materially lessened, and one of the greatest social evils of
the time disappear. (The experience of Bournville certainly gives
support to this conclusion, for nearly every householder there spends
his leisure in gardening, and there is not a single licensed-house in
the village.)
With regard to the house itself, so far as it contributes to a
pleasant environment, it should be remembered that architectural
beauty is not dependent upon the ornament introduced; on the
contrary, the use of the latter rather tends to deprive the dwelling
of its homeliness, and of this truth the jerry-built house, with its
scroll-cut lintel and moulded brick string-course, affords only too
frequent an illustration. The soul of beauty is harmony, which may
co-exist with the veriest simplicity; and it is in the harmonious
treatment of parts, and not in useless and sometimes costly
decoration, that a dwelling gains that homely appearance which it
should be our aim to realise.
The chief essentials in a home, then, are adequate accommodation—which
must include a bath as a _sine quâ non_—a pleasing and harmonious
appearance of exterior and environment, and the provision of an ample
garden.
It is surely not a mere coincidence that at the present time,
not only in England but in other countries, a movement is in
progress side by side with that of housing reform which is of great
significance—the revival in domestic architecture. At present this
has manifested itself chiefly in recent examples of country houses
and in residences of the larger cottage class. Though the influence
has already revealed itself to some extent even in the smaller
cottage-dwellings, and though many notable experiments have been
made—most telling of all the splendid experiment at Garden City—it
may be said that the effort on the part of the architect generally
to satisfy the demands both of art and economy has yet to be made.
The fact that it is cheaper to erect villas in long rows of a
repeated and stereotyped design has doubtless largely discouraged
such effort, but the prejudice of the artisan and others against the
revival—for the revival was at first looked upon, perhaps, as an
artistic craze—can scarcely now be regarded as an obstacle. If the
needs of the people, as they have been conceived in the few preceding
paragraphs, are to be satisfied, the two movements of housing
reform and the revival in domestic architecture must certainly
advance hand in hand. With adequate experiment it will probably be
found, moreover, that the difficulty on the economic side has been
exaggerated. On this account, in the examples of smaller cottage
types here dealt with, attention has been specially paid to this
aspect of the question, a pleasing appearance having been aimed at,
with the employment of the least costly materials. An effort has also
been made in a further stage to show how monotony may be avoided,
even with a repetition of the same plan, by variety in combination
and disposition.
Larger types of cottages are also included, and economy in design
and cost of materials has here also been considered, as well as a
pleasing effect aimed at. The plans given, with one exception, are of
examples actually existing, so that what defects may be present can
scarcely be disguised. The intention is that they should be regarded
chiefly as suggestive, and it is frankly admitted that they are not
only capable of modification, by which their cost may be reduced, but
also of improvement. The work dealt with has been executed during the
last ten years.
The method of including with the description of each cottage such
notes and suggestions as have seemed worthy of mention, has been
adopted as being more valuable than grouping these under separate
heads, though a number of general observations on various features of
cottage-building has also been added.
The photographs reproduced were taken by T. Lewis and by Harold
Baker, both of Birmingham.
NOTE.—The cost is given of all cottages where the accommodation,
materials, &c., are fully described, with the exception of one or
two cases in which the cottages are owned privately. As most of the
examples given have been built by the Bournville Village Trust, it
should be noted that the figures stated include an addition to the
net cost of 3¾ per cent. as builder’s profit.
[Illustration: PLATE II. THE TRIANGLE. BOURNVILLE.]
THE BOURNVILLE VILLAGE.
Although many articles have already appeared from time to time in
newspaper and periodical respecting the Bournville Village, the
following account of its founding and development will doubtless be
of interest to the reader:—
In 1879 Messrs. Cadbury Brothers removed their works from Birmingham
to the present site at Bournville, and twenty-four cottages were
erected there for their workmen. This really formed the nucleus out
of which in recent years the village has developed. It was in 1895
that Mr. George Cadbury, the senior member of the present firm,
commenced the work of building a model village. One of the objects
of the scheme was that of “alleviating the evils which arise from
the insanitary and insufficient housing accommodation supplied to
large numbers of the working classes, and of securing to workers
in factories some of the advantages of outdoor village life, with
opportunities for the natural and healthful occupation of cultivating
the soil.” A simple and interesting statement of the motive behind
the experiment was made by Mr. Cadbury himself at the Garden City
Conference, held at Bournville in 1901. An intimate knowledge of the
lives of Birmingham working-men, gained by an experience of some
forty years, had shown him that the greatest drawback to their moral
and physical progress was the lack of any healthful occupation for
their leisure. Although many men took up carpentry and other crafts,
such hobbies, he said, had proved insufficiently recreative, and in
most cases the men soon tired of them. Realising this, he began to
think of new means. His conclusion was that the only practical thing
was to bring the factory worker out on to the land, that he might
pursue the most natural and healthful of all recreations, that of
gardening. It was impossible for working men to be healthy and have
healthy children, when after being confined all day in factories they
spent their evenings in an institute, club room, or public house. If
it were necessary for their health, as it undoubtedly was, that they
should get fresh air, it was equally to the advantage of their moral
life that they should be brought into contact with Nature. There was
an advantage, too, in bringing the working-man on to the land, for,
instead of his losing money in the amusements usually sought in the
towns, he saved it in his garden produce—a great consideration where
the poorer class of workman was concerned. The average yield per
garden in the 1901 tests at Bournville, after making allowance for
all outgoings, proved to be 1_s._ 11_d._ each per week. Mr. Cadbury
also thought that the increased consumption of fresh vegetable food,
instead of animal food, was further desirable. It was touching, he
thought, to see the interest and pleasure taken by town families when
on coming into the country they saw seeds germinate and vegetables
grown for the first time. Nor was the advantage of leaving the
town for the country restricted to the workmen. Mr. Cadbury showed
that the greater facilities there for obtaining land were also of
advantage to the manufacturer whose business was increasing.
The Bournville idea was at first regarded as an impracticable
one, even apart from the economic side of the question, but the
realisation of the scheme has proved otherwise. The average garden
space allotted to the Bournville cottages is 600 square yards,
this being as much as most men can conveniently cultivate,
and, almost without exception, the Bournville tenants are the most
enthusiastic gardeners—a statement no one surely will traverse who
has paid a visit to the village in the summer.
[Illustration: PLATE III. SHOPS, BOURNVILLE.]
[Illustration: PLATE IV. LINDEN ROAD, BOURNVILLE.]
[Illustration: PLATE V. THE OLD FARM INN, BOURNVILLE.]
While it was the first aim of the founder to provide dwellings for
the factory worker which should have adequate accommodation and large
gardens, it was not intended that at Bournville provision should be
made alone for the poorer working class. It might be pointed out that
one of the most prominent ideals in the scheme of the Garden Suburb
Trust, already referred to, is “that all classes may live in kindly
neighbourliness,” and the amalgamation of the factory-worker and the
brain-worker in the same district is catered for as being expressly
desirable. At Bournville there has always been a demand for houses
both on the part of the skilled artisan and others, and this demand
has been provided for from the first. Rents in the village range from
_4s._ _6d._ a week, rates not included, to _12s._ a week; and there
are also a few houses of a still larger class at higher rentals. Nor
are the houses let to Messrs. Cadbury’s own workpeople exclusively,
as the following figures will show—figures based on a private census
taken during 1901, and here quoted from a booklet issued by the
Village Trust:—
PROPORTION OF HOUSEHOLDERS WORKING IN—
Bournville 41·2 per cent.
Villages within a mile
of Bournville 18·6 „
Birmingham 40·2 „
OCCUPATIONS OF HOUSEHOLDERS—
Employed at indoor
work in factories 50·7 per cent.
Clerks and travellers 13·3 „
Mechanics, carpenters,
bricklayers, and
various occupations
not admitting of exact
classification 36·0 „
The village is four miles from Birmingham, and is easily accessible
by cycle, rail, or electric car. The last come within easy distance
of the village, workmen’s fares being _2d._ return.
Under the founder’s first scheme the land was let upon leases of
999 years, subject to a ground rent varying from _½d._ to _1d._ per
yard (600 square yards at _½d._ and _1d._ = £1 _5s._ and £2 _10s._
respectively). Arrangements were made to find capital on mortgages
granted at the rate of Three per cent. to those who paid less than
half the cost of the house and Two and a-half per cent. to those who
paid more. Although a stipulation was made that no one person should
be allowed to build more than four houses, it was found necessary
to revise the arrangement in order to prevent speculation. In 1900,
therefore, the estate was handed over to a Trust on behalf of the
nation, the whole income to be directed to solving the housing
problem. The houses now built are let to tenants at moderate weekly
rentals, which include the annual ground rent, equal to about _1d._
per yard (according to its value), and which should yield Four per
cent. net. The revenue of house and ground rents is employed, after
provision has been made for the maintenance and repair of present
property, in the development of the village itself, and in the laying
out and development of other villages elsewhere, the Trust being
empowered under the deed of foundation to acquire land in any part of
Great Britain. Subsequently to the formation of the Trust, additional
land adjacent to Bournville has been added to the founder’s gift, and
included in the village, which now extends over 458 acres. Already
upwards of 100 acres of land have been laid out for building. There
are now about 450 houses in the hands of the Trust, which number,
added to the 143 sold under the first scheme, makes a total of
nearly 600. With the income of the Trust, building is being steadily
proceeded with, and there is a continual demand for houses.
[Illustration: PLATE VI. SYCAMORE ROAD, BOURNVILLE.]
[Illustration: PLATE VII. THE SCHOOLS, BOURNVILLE SEE PAGE 13.]
[Illustration: PLATE VIII. CARVED STONE PANELS FOR SCHOOLS.]
The Trustees have power to make arrangements with railways and
other companies for cheap means of transit. They may lease,
underlet, or sell land, or develop it and prepare it for
building, give land, or erect buildings for places of worship,
hospitals, schools, technical institutes, libraries, gymnasiums,
laundries, baths, &c. Occupying a central position in the village are
already the Bournville Meeting House (see Plates X. and XI.), the
Ruskin Hall, an institute founded in 1903, and including library,
reading-room, lecture hall, class rooms (see Plate IX.), and the
schools described later. Ample open spaces have been reserved in
various parts of the village. These include the Village Green; The
Triangle (a plot of land with lawn, flower beds, and shrubbery,
intersected by public paths—see Plate II.); Camp Wood (an undulating
woodland, thick with old forest-trees); children’s playgrounds and
lawns, with swings, bars, &c.; allotment gardens; youths’ and girls’
gardens (consisting of a number of small plots rented and cultivated
by boys and girls, in connection with which gardening classes are
held), &c. A large area of land, through which flows the Bourn
stream, has also been reserved for laying out as a public park.
Adjacent to the Estate, though not part of it, are two extensive and
well-wooded recreation grounds belonging to Messrs. Cadbury, which
are put at the disposal of their men and women employees; those for
the former including open-air swimming baths, which may be used
during stipulated hours by the tenants of the Estate houses. These
recreation grounds separate the works buildings from the village
itself, and in the event of the factory ceasing to exist, the Trust
deed provides that they be handed over to the District Council for
use as a public park. Nearly all the old trees and woodland on the
Estate have been preserved, and new trees planted in many parts.
The schools (see Plate VII.) are the gift to the village of Mr. and
Mrs. George Cadbury. They accommodate 540 children (270 boys and 270
girls), and are constructed on the central-hall plan. There are six
class-rooms for fifty children each, and six for forty each, and the
dimensions of the large hall are 84 ft. by 32 ft. The land falls from
North to South, and advantage has been taken of the basement afforded
to provide for accommodation for classes in cookery, laundry, manual
instruction, and various branches of handicraft. The buildings stand
in grounds two and a-half acres in extent, adjoining which is the
Park, the children thus having access in all to about ten acres. The
tower rises to a height of about 60 ft., and has been utilised for a
library, laboratory, &c. An extensive view of the surrounding country
is obtained from the top, and a map, incised in stone, with compass
and locating apparatus, is provided for instructing the children
in local geography. Everything is being done in the designing of
details—carved and painted panels, &c.—to make the building itself
a permanent means of educating the children; the subjects chosen
include historical scenes, truthfully depicted as regards dress,
customs, architecture, &c., while in the bosses and voussoirs are
represented English flowers and foliage, conventionally treated. The
carving is executed by Mr. Benjamin Creswick, of Birmingham.
In the designing of the building every effort has been made to embody
the latest improvements and the result of the most broad-minded and
enlightened study of education.
Gardens are provided for the instruction of the children in
gardening, vegetable growing, &c.
The low death-rate at Bournville during 1904 of 6·9 per thousand,
compared with 19 per thousand in Birmingham, is some indication of
the healthiness of the village. The figures are taken from the report
of the district medical officer of health.
[Illustration: PLATE IX. RUSKIN HALL, BOURNVILLE.]
[Illustration: PLATE X. MEETING HOUSE, BOURNVILLE.]
[Illustration: PLATE XI. MEETING HOUSE, BOURNVILLE.]
It is not proposed to deal here with the economics of model village
or garden city schemes generally. Though the movement is still
very young, it is already advancing from the problematical stage.
Its progress is being watched with the keenest interest by many who
realise that of all courses the most impracticable in the long run is
that which allows the slum-suburb to spring up unchecked.
If it be asked, with regard to the problem of the housing of the
people, what is Bournville’s contribution towards its solution, it
would be stating its claims at the lowest to say that it stands as
an example of what the village of the future may be, a village of
healthy homes amid pleasant surroundings, where fresh air is abundant
and beauty present, and where are secured to its people by an
administration co-operative in nature numerous benefits which under
present conditions are denied them elsewhere.
COTTAGES AT £135, WITH NOTES ON THE ECONOMIC BUILDING OF SMALL
COTTAGES.
PLATES XII AND XIII.
COTTAGES IN BLOCKS OF EIGHT, AT £135.
[Illustration: FRONT ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XII. COTTAGES IN BLOCKS OF EIGHT. SEE PAGE 16.]
Plate XII gives the plan, with elevation, of a block of eight
cottages, the accommodation of which is the least, and the dimensions
the lowest, that should be provided for homes with one living room.
The accommodation is as follows:—
GROUND FLOOR.
Living Room, 12 ft. 4 in. × 13 ft. Kitchen, 8 ft. × 12 ft. 6 ins.
(with “Cabinet” Bath, and boiler with patent steam exhaust). Larder
under stairs.
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom, 9 ft. 2 ins. × 13 ft., and recess. Second Bedroom, 8
ft. 4 ins. × 11 ft. 2 ins. Third Bedroom, 7 ft. 6 ins. × 8 ft.
Total cost, £135 per cottage.
Laying out of garden, £7 10_s._ extra.
Cubical contents, 64,800 ft. at 4_d._ per foot cube = £1,080 per
block, or £135 per cottage.
There has been considerable discussion of late with regard to the
building of cheap cottages suitable for labourers and the poorer
artisans, both in the country and elsewhere. Experiments have been
made in which the building materials employed have been other than
brick, the object being a reduction in cost. The bye-laws which do
not at present sanction the erection of cottages in some of these
materials will, it is hoped, before long be altered. Meanwhile,
what is wanted in most districts is the cheap dwelling in brick.
[Illustration: PLATE XIII. BLOCK OF EIGHT COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 16.]
The example here given is of a similar plan to one from which
a number of cottages in blocks of _four_ have been erected at
Bournville. Owing to a decision on the part of the Village Trust
not to build in blocks of more than four, the plans here given
have never been carried out at Bournville, but in view of the
danger there is of under-estimating the cost of such cottages,
and the importance of avoiding inaccuracies, estimates have been
obtained for their erection under similar conditions. Economy
of construction has been the main object in the design, without
sacrificing that pleasant environment, privacy and homeliness
of appearance which are, as already indicated, essential to the
cottage home.
The cost of erecting in blocks of four only is necessarily
increased, and the lowest estimate for those at Bournville is £160
per cottage, the particular estimate being, however, for a block of
four on “made up” ground, necessitating deep footings, the cottages
including the sunk bath, which is more costly than the “Cabinet”
patent.
The plan might be simplified, if desired, by omitting the division
wall between the living room and scullery, thus making one large
room. The boiler, sink, and bath might then be planned in a small
recess which could be screened off by a curtain when not in use.
SIMPLICITY AND REGULARITY OF PLANNING.—The roof runs uninterruptedly
from end to end, by which unnecessary roof complications are avoided;
the chimneys have been grouped together to diminish trimming and
flashing, always costly items, and have been brought to the highest
point in the roof to prevent smoky flues, consequent upon down
draughts; and the building throughout is of a very inexpensive
character. Further, the eaves run uninterruptedly, for the windows
are not allowed to complicate the spouting and roofing by breaking
through the roof, the wall-plate nevertheless being kept at a fairly
low level. In all cottages of this class, compactness and regularity
should be always aimed at in planning, and the wall lines—set out at
right angles—should be as long and unbroken as possible.
ARRANGEMENT OF OUTBUILDINGS.—The W.C.’s, here isolated, are in
the Bournville blocks of four planned under the main roof, which
arrangement is for many reasons preferable. As many as possible of
the outbuildings should, in the case of small cottages, be arranged
under the main roof. Often, where the outbuildings of these rows
of cottages are extensive, one or more of the houses suffers
through the projecting eaves of the other, and there is a narrow
outlook upon a cramped yard. The better view of the garden obtained
from the back rooms by the avoidance of this is an important
consideration. The kitchen, in small property, is as much used as
the living room, and the value of the restful glimpse of green to
the housewife should not be ignored. (The isolation of the W.C.
in the example under notice does not obstruct the light.) In the
case of a corner site it is preferable to close in the yard at the
back of the house, so that the week’s wash may not be exposed to
the public view. It may be advanced, however, that such a domestic
display is not really unsightly, but gives a pleasant human
interest to the surroundings. Such an opinion, nevertheless, will
probably not find general acceptance.
HEIGHTS OF ROOMS.—The height of the building will also be reduced
to the lowest limit. The heights of 8 ft. 3 ins. for the ground
floor, and 8 ft. for the chamber floor, are quite adequate for the
average cottage, so long as sufficient ventilation is provided.
There is some difficulty in getting the artisan to recognise this,
for a lofty and often draughty and cold room seems to have an
unaccountable attraction for him. As, however, floor space is the
essential, the reduction of heights is in every way a legitimate
means of economising the brickwork; moreover, the scale of the
building is at the same time rendered more pleasing. With the
height reduced, it will be necessary to introduce the casement
window, as the sash kind requires a loftier elevation. This,
however, will be no detriment, as the former is more agreeable and
appropriate to the cottage home.
EXTRA BEDROOM ACCOMMODATION.—If in any of the smaller types of
cottages dealt with it is thought desirable to provide a fourth
bedroom, or if larger bedrooms are required, an attic might be
provided by slightly lifting the roof (where this is necessary),
and the first floor might then be divided into two rooms or not,
according to the requirements. Staircases, however, are expensive,
and it is well for the sake of economy to provide bedrooms on the
first floor. Where roof space is available this may be used for
lumber, when the trap by which it is reached should be placed
in the least important bedroom. The ceiling, however, should be
slightly strengthened, and the bearing should not be too great.
ORNAMENT.—The sound principle that beauty should be based on
utility is often violated, even in the building of small cottages
and villas, in order to gratify a vulgar taste for shoddy and
meaningless display. Although the architect may not be entirely
to blame for submitting to this preference, it is none the less
certain that if he avail himself of such opportunities as occur to
introduce a purer taste, the public will in time respond, while
such efforts on his part will be always heartily approved by his
fellow architects. The difficulty of inducing builders to stock
ornament that is really good is merely one of demand. The public
taste may after all be found to be more amenable than is commonly
represented. A readiness on the part of the Bournville tenants to
catch the spirit of homely simplicity suggested in the design of
the houses has shown itself in the manner in which they furnish
their homes, as, for instance, in their use of suitable curtains
for the casement windows.
If it be decided that a row of cottages should have ornament, this
should not be too small or crowded, and should be introduced in the
right place—in the case of tight cottages, say in the third and the
sixth, the unadorned ones serving as a foil. An excess of ornament
should be avoided, especially if the aim is economy, and what there
is should be broad and simple, for such, happily, is increasingly
in favour in preference to the incongruous and florid stock carving
of the jerry builder, which, bad as it is, must yet cost something.
If money is to be spent, let preference be given first of all to
the quality of the material used, and then to the extra elaboration
of such material, such as rough-cast, parquetry, colour decoration,
etc.
While the appearance of the elevation of the blocks of eight
cottages here given is improved by the introduction over the doors
of hoods with wrought-iron stays, the erection of two large posts
with a horizontal cross-piece as a support for honeysuckle or
climbing rose is not only cheaper, but is in the circumstances
a more suitable way of adorning what is of necessity a plain
elevation. The steps before the doorway should then be cut short,
without returns, to enable the plant to be set as near as possible
to the posts. The two steps are a necessity in order to secure good
ventilation beneath the floors, where boarded floors are used.
THE TRUE TEST OF ECONOMY.—Many jerry-built houses are the work of
the speculating builder, who immediately on their completion sells
them to one who buys to sell again. He secures himself, but with
such inferior property someone must in the end suffer considerable
loss. To say that a house has been built on economic lines because
the cost of erection has been the lowest possible is to mislead,
for the true test of economy is that which will take into account
the cost of repairs at the end of ten years, and its then value.
In designing cottages for an estate or garden city, the architect
will therefore realise the importance of building dwellings that
shall be lasting. He will perceive that to take the low cost of
the jerry-built house as a standard will only lead him ultimately
into endless trouble and expense. He will not, to save a trifling
initial cost, incur a heavier one later on, for in this case the
ownership of the house does not change, and maintenance is not a
thing that can be shirked.
FOUNDATIONS.—He will therefore see that there is a bed of concrete
over the whole site, that his floors are well ventilated by
allowing a good space between the under-side of ground floor joists
and ground work, that the damp course is effectual, and also that
plenty of air-bricks are inserted to ensure through ventilation,
thus providing against the growth of dry-rot and all the expense it
entails.
As the tenants of the cottages will doubtless be amateur gardeners
who will probably add manure to the soil each year, the damp course
is likely to get covered over; it is therefore essential that this
should be at least six inches above the ground when the cottages
are built.
STOCK ARTICLES.—Economy may always be exercised by using what are
_worthy_ stock articles of building, and in the case of a model
village, where large orders will be given, the architect should
make it his business to introduce new lines—moulds, doors, grates,
mantels, etc.—the quality of which is first well proved. Stock
sizes of building materials should be selected, and the planning
should be adapted to them to avoid waste. For instance, joists
should always be of such sizes as will prevent waste in the cutting
of timbers. Joists are stocked in a definite number of foot
lengths. Rooms of 12 ft. 4 ins. width, with 4 ins. bearing allowed
at each end, will require joists of 13 ft. lengths, in which case
there is no waste; on the other hand, rooms with 12 ft. 6 ins.
width, with the same bearing, will require 14 ft. joist lengths,
in which case 10 ins. in timber and the labour in cutting will be
wasted, which the extra 2 ins. gained does not warrant; 12 ft.
4 ins., 13 ft. 4 ins., 14 ft. 4 ins., and so on, are therefore
preferable dimensions. Again, if the size of the joists be 9 ins.
× 3 ins., 27 ins. cube is obtained, which is not stronger than
11 ins. × 2 ins., giving 22 ins. cube. If the latter be chosen,
therefore, 5 ins. cube are saved. True, the house will be raised in
height, but not sufficiently to appreciably increase the cost. This
is only one instance of how selection of material may be profitably
studied.
GENERAL.—In the example given the staircase runs between the
houses, and gives them a good wide frontage, bringing the outer
houses nearer to the extremity of the land, and enabling a more
convenient division of the gardens. It will be noticed that the
bath in these small cottages is the “Cabinet” patent, which is
strongly recommended on account of its being easily shut up and
stowed away (see page 51). The interior fittings are of the
simplest and most inexpensive kind, such a thing as the ingle nook,
however pleasing and comfortable, being reserved for a better class
of cottage. Ample cupboard room, nevertheless, is provided, and it
should be noted that such conveniences as cloak rails, cup-rails
and hooks, picture rails, etc., are fixed in all the cottages
dealt with. Small gas cookers or grills should be included in all
cottages, whether large or small. White’s patent steam exhaust
should also be fitted in all cottages.
THE LAYING OUT OF GARDENS.
The garden, a feature of such importance in the model village, or
garden city, should have no less care and attention in the planning
than the house itself. The accompanying plan is one frequently
adopted at Bournville where the aspect is suitable. The arrangement
is modified in the case of the smallest cottages by the reduction
or omission of turf. The bedding, with the various trees and shrubs
supplied, is indicated on the plan.
[Illustration: GARDEN PLAN.]
With the large garden-space allotted, the paths should be broad
and, generally speaking, planned in straight lines, the width being
not less than 3 ft.—even 4 ft. not being too wide. At Bournville
they are made of 6 ins. of ashes and 3 ins. of gravel. Where there
is turf the path should run at one extremity of the garden plot,
giving the full width remaining for as spacious a lawn as possible.
At the bottom of the lawn it might be turned to the left or right,
as the case may be, as far as the centre, and carried down through
the kitchen garden so that the fruit trees and vegetables may be
easily accessible on either hand. With a south aspect, however, it
is advisable to still continue the path down one side, the shadow
of the adjacent hedge thus being cast not on the beds but on the
path itself. It should be borne in mind that in laying out the beds
all peas and beans, raspberry canes, etc., are best planted north
and south in order that the whole length of the rows may get the
sun. The tendency is for amateur gardeners to favour winding paths,
by which space is lost, besides the arrangement being inconvenient.
The curved line is rarely in harmony with the setting of the
cottage, and curves, if introduced, should be gained rather in the
planting of trees or flowers, curves in colour being more pleasing.
The number of trees, etc., provided in each of the Bournville
gardens is:—eight apple and pear trees, assorted according to the
nature of the soil, which, in addition to bearing fruit, form a
desirable screen between houses which are back to back; twelve
gooseberry bushes, one Victoria plum, six creepers for the house,
including Gloire de Dijon and William Allen Richardson roses,
wistaria, honeysuckle, clematis, ivy in a number of varieties,
_Ampelopsis veitchii_, white and yellow jasmine, etc., according
to the aspect, as well as one or two forest trees, so placed as to
frame the building. Hedges of thorn divide the houses, and form
road boundaries. The choice of trees and creepers is determined not
only by the suitability of soil or aspect, but also by the general
effect gained.
BLOCKS, PAIRS, AND SINGLE COTTAGES.
PLATES XIV. AND XV.
BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XIV. BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 25.]
In the ascending scale we now come to a block of four, containing
houses of two classes. The cost of each is approximately the same,
and the advantages are about equal. The outside houses have a side
entrance with lobby and outer porch, thereby making the front room
quite private, while in the inside ones the front door opens into
the room, which has, however, the advantage of being more spacious.
USE OF THE INGLE NOOK IN SMALL COTTAGES.—The introduction of
an ingle nook in this latter secures to it a greater degree of
comfort, and privacy from the road is also gained by the extension
of the screen. Complete privacy may be secured by attaching a rod
from the screen to the outside wall and dropping a curtain. The
ingle is lighted by borrowed light from the half-glass door, the
light passing through the glazed wooden screen. In this case the
ingle nook may be said to be the natural outcome of the plan. The
staircase in these inside houses is at the side of the ingle, and
affords space beneath for a cupboard, which is reached from the
kitchen. The staircase in the outside houses is approached near the
window of the living room, and admits of space in like manner for a
larder, which is entered from the lobby.
VENTILATION.—It will be seen that the larder, in the case of the
two middle houses, is arranged _within_ the house, between the
coals and the living room. Larders, wherever possible, should have
an outside window, but in this case ventilation is very easily
obtained in the following manner:—An inlet of a 9-in. pipe enters
the larder on the floor level from air bricks in the front wall,
while in the coals at the back a concrete division is inserted at
a height of 5 ft. 6 ins. or 5 ft. 9 ins. (the ground floor of the
house from floor to ceiling being in this instance 8 ft. 6 ins.).
Through a fanlight above the outside door of coals not only is
light obtained, but, by means of a cord and pulley worked from the
larder, through ventilation also, while there is no danger of the
invasion of coal dust.
In both houses there is little space wasted. In the outside ones
the living rooms are entered immediately from the lobby, and the
bedrooms immediately from a small landing, while there is a useful
closet over the stairs, entered from the front bedroom.
The projection in this block gives variety to the street, and is
the natural outcome of the requirements of the houses. The type is
self-contained, and privacy is secured to the householders by the
introduction of the side entrance to the outside houses, and by the
arrangement of the doorways to the middle ones at the remote ends.
MATERIALS.—Brindled bricks, hand-made tiles, and casement windows
of wood are here used, and the brickwork of the kitchen is pointed
for whitewashing, with a 4-ft. dado of paint. In these smaller
cottages it is advisable to employ papers for interior wall
decoration in preference to colour-wash, the latter being very soon
soiled where there are children. Picture rails should be used in
all cottages, if only to save the plaster.
ACCOMMODATION.—The accommodation of the respective houses is as
follows:—
GROUND FLOOR.
OUTSIDE HOUSES. INSIDE HOUSES.
Living Room 12 ft. 4 ins. × 13 ft. 15 ft. × 16 ft. 4 ins.
Kitchen 10 ft. 6 ins. × 11 ft. 11 ft. × 11 ft. 3 ins.
Tools, W.C., and Coals.
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom 12 ft. 4 ins. × 13 ft. 13 ft. 3 ins. × 15 ft.
Second Bedroom 8 ft. × 11 ft. 6 ft. 3 ins.
× 14 ft. 2 ins.
Third Bedroom 7 ft. 6 ins. × 7 ft. 10 ins. 7 ft. 9 ins.
× 8 ft. 4 ins.
Linen Closet.
[Illustration: PLATE XV. BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 25.]
Total cost, including all extras and builder’s profit, £872 per
block, or £218 per cottage. Laying out of gardens, £10 per cottage.
Cubical contents, 48,295 ft. at 4⅓_d._ per foot cube, £872, or £218
per cottage.*
[Illustration: FRONT ELEVATION BLOCK OF THREE COTTAGES.]
The elevation shown in the accompanying illustration is of a block
of three cottages, the two outside ones of which are similar to
those shown on the foregoing plan. This is an example of how the
same plan may be repeated with varied effect, or where there is not
sufficient land for four.
* _NOTE._—As most of the examples given have been built by the
Bournville Village Trust, it should be noted that the figures
stated include in all cases an addition to the net cost of 3¾% as
builder’s profit.
Where there is any marked difference in the price per foot cube
not accounted for by more complicated planning, or by the better
quality of materials, this is due, not only to the fluctuation
of building prices during the last few years, but also to the
variation in the cost of building at different periods of the year.
The extras include fencing, garden gates, etc.
PLATES XVI. AND XVII.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XVI. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 28.]
VARIATION OF FORMER PLAN.—The plan shown in Plate XVI. and
illustrated in Plate XVII., is of a pair similar to the _outside_
cottages of Plate XIV. This again shows how it is possible to play
on the same plan in the building of a village, and so gain the
desirable variety of elevation. The roof is hipped and covered with
pantiles. A bay window is introduced in both the storeys, with
rough-cast between. A rainwater cistern to store all roof water
is placed over the coals, which projects from the main block. A
greater privacy is obtained by this slight projection, without
interfering with the light at the back. The chimneys are grouped
together in the centre, there being only one stack to both the
houses, which is carried to the highest point of the roof.
[Illustration: PLATE XVII. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 28.]
Total cost of cottages built to this plan, including all extras,
£230 per cottage.
Laying out of gardens, £10 per cottage.
Cubical contents, 22,000 ft. at 5_d._ per foot cube, £460, or £230
per cottage.
PLATE XVIII.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XVIII. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 28.]
The plan and elevation shown on this plate are of an alternative
arrangement to the last. The houses have an entrance at the front
and an extended larder, owing to the staircases ascending from the
lobby. The fireplaces are arranged in the corners of the rooms.
PLATE XIX.
[Illustration: PLATE XIX. SEE PAGE 28.]
The view here given shows three pairs of cottages built to the plan
shown on Plate XVI., and illustrates how a variety of elevation may
be gained by adding bays, dormers, etc., and by using differing
materials.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XX.
PLATE XX.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
VARIATION OF FORMER PLAN.—This plate shows the development and
variation of the _inside_ houses of the block of four shown on
Plate XIV., with a superior arrangement of larder, and with
projecting coals. The long sloping roof has been hipped back to
give a pleasing line, especially in perspective.
THE LONG SLOPING ROOF.—The long sloping roof, a feature frequently
introduced at Bournville, has several advantages. If it were not
employed, and the front walls were carried up level with the
ceiling line of the bedroom, the proportions of the elevation would
not be so happy, while an additional expense would be incurred
by the extra brickwork. Such a height, moreover, would be wholly
unnecessary. In the case of cottages with the long sloping roof
the height of bedrooms to the point of intersection of roof and
wall need only be 5 ft. 6 ins. Ample ventilation is obtained by
the simple insertion of a 9 in. by 7 in. air-brick on the outside
wall, and a Sheringham ventilator or Tobin tube within, about 5 ft.
6 ins. from the floor, the cost of the latter being about 3_s._,
and of the former a little more. The long sloping roof can rarely
be treated tastefully without boldly projecting the eaves. The
projection gives a verandah in front of the house which affords
a pleasant shelter. Wooden posts may be used as supports, and by
training climbing plants up them, and allowing them to festoon,
a really delightful summer bower may be formed. As the roof is
broad, pantiles may be used with safety so far as good taste is
concerned: bold roof, bold covering. By omitting the gutters at
the dormer eaves a pleasing effect is gained, and gutters are
quite unnecessary with an eaves projection. The cheeks of the
dormers should be dressed with lead. The cottages in question are
whitewashed, and have a tarred plinth of about 2 ft. to prevent the
unsightliness of mud splashes.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XX. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 30.]
THE LARGE LIVING ROOM.—In view of the gain to health of one
spacious living room over the parlour plan, a number of these
cottages has been built in varying design at Bournville, and
no difficulty has been found in letting them. There has been,
however, considerable discussion with regard to their convenience
to the artisan in other districts where they have been introduced.
Although cottages in the past had no third room, there having
been, as here, one large comfortable room (often with the ingle
nook) and a small kitchen at the back—all the accommodation
really required—yet at the present time many artisans are not
content without the useless parlour, which they appear to think
adds dignity to the house, but which is used by them chiefly as
a store-room for gim-cracks. There is, perhaps, a reasonable
objection to a single large living room on the part of a particular
class who let the front room to a lodger. Nevertheless, for a model
village or a garden city it is strongly recommended that the plan
should be adopted freely, and the preference for the useless front
room in small cottages discouraged.
Total cost of the example given, including all extras, £268 per
cottage.
Laying out of gardens, £10 each.
Cubical contents, 28,587 ft., at _4½d._ per foot cube, £536, or
£268 per cottage.
Instances of the last two types of cottages dealt with appear in
the view given on Plate IV.
PLATE XXI.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
[Illustration: PLATE XXI. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 32.]
The smaller cottage shown here is planned on similar lines to the
foregoing, but with the additional accommodation of an attic,
and bay windows to the two storeys. This is an instance of how a
smaller cottage may be joined to a larger one in treating a corner
site, the larger one on the corner giving importance to each road.
PLATES XXII., XXIII., I. (FRONTISPIECE), XXIV., XXV., AND XXVI.
BLOCKS OF FOUR.
[Illustration: PLATE XXII. BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 32.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXIII. BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 32.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXIV. BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 32.]
These plates show examples of cottages in blocks of four rather
larger in size than the last type, and treated in different
materials.
Plate XXVI. shows the details of the cottages on Plate XXV.
[Illustration: PLATE XXV. BLOCK OF FOUR COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 32.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI. DETAIL VIEW. SEE PAGE 32.]
PLATE XXVII.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XXVII. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 33.]
Plate XXVII. gives the plan and elevation of a pair of cottages
also having similar accommodation to those with the long sloping
roofs shown on Plate XX. The cost, however, is here considerably
reduced by each house having a side entrance, and by the omission
of the ingle nook, verandah and bay, while the living room, though
smaller, is not a passage room. By approaching the stairs from the
lobby, not only is more privacy secured, but the space beneath
is made available in the kitchen for a “Cabinet” bath, which is
so placed as to occupy it when in use instead of projecting into
the kitchen. The planning is simple and square, which, with the
omission of bays and the introduction of plain casements, all helps
to reduce the cost.
The accommodation is:—
GROUND FLOOR.
Living Room, 12 ft. 4 ins. × 16 ft. Kitchen, 10 ft. 3 ins. × 11
ft. 6 ins. Lobby. Larder, W.C. and Coals.
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom, 12 ft. 4 ins. × 16 ft. Second Bedroom, 7 ft. 8
ins. × 11 ft. 6 ins. Third Bedroom, 8 ft. × 8 ft. 3 ins. Linen
Closet.
Total cost, including all extras, £250 per cottage.
Laying out of gardens, £10 each.
Cubical contents, 24,000 ft., at _5d._ per foot cube, £500, or
£250 per cottage.
PLATE XXVIII.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XXVIII. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 34.]
This plate shows the plan and elevation of a pair of cottages
having the parlour in addition to the living room and scullery.
The living room, which should always be the larger, is here the
full width of the house. The measurements are:—
GROUND FLOOR.
Living Room, 11 ft. 5 ins. × 16 ft. 6 ins. Parlour, 11 ft. 4
ins. × 13 ft. 3 ins. Scullery, Outside Larder, W.C. and Coals.
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom, 11 ft. 4 ins. × 13 ft. 3 ins. Second Bedroom, 8
ft. 6 ins. × 11 ft. 5 ins. Third Bedroom, 7 ft. 8 ins. × 8 ft.
6 ins. Linen Closet.
Total cost, including all extras, £230 per cottage. Cubical
contents, 33,918 ft. at _3¼d._ per ft. cube. £460, or £230 each.
(Built in 1899.)
The stairs in this instance descend to the entrance lobby, but
they may be planned the other way about in order to avoid the
necessity of traversing the parlour to get to the bedrooms, and
to insure children crying upstairs being heard in the living room
or the scullery. This, however, would necessitate the cutting
of 3 ft. off the large front bedroom, while the respective
spaces for the larder and the lobby below would be reversed, the
position of the former being undesirable.
Ordinary roofing tiles and common bricks have been used. The
living room is boarded, and the scullery quarried.
It might be pointed out that there is but little scope for
variety of plan in these smaller cottages. The variations must
be obtained in the treatment of elevations. As already stated,
to build cheaply the main point is to get the walls as long and
straight as possible.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
BLOCK OF THREE COTTAGES.]
PLATES XXIX. AND XXX.
BLOCK OF THREE COTTAGES.
[Illustration:
GROUND PLAN
BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XXIX. BLOCK OF THREE COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 35.]
Plate XXIX. and the accompanying scale-drawing give the plan and
elevation of a block of three cottages, a sketch of which appears
in Plate XXX. The inner one occupies an exact third of the land,
and is double fronted. By putting the inner one with its axis
to the front, an equal garden-space is given to all the houses
without incurring a re-division of the land.
[Illustration: PLATE XXX. BLOCK OF THREE COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 35.]
The inner and left-hand houses have practically the same
accommodation, but the right-hand has several advantages: there
is a wider hall, the living room is not a passage room, while the
kitchen is reached from the hall, and the wash-house is entered
from the yard.
Accommodation of _left-hand_ and _inner_ houses.
GROUND FLOOR.
Parlour, 11 ft. 4 ins. × 15 ft. 3 ins. Living Room, 10 ft. ×
14 ft. 6 ins. and bay. Scullery, 10 ft. × 6 ft. and recess for
Bath. Coals, Tools, and W.C.
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom, 11 ft. 4 ins. × 15 ft. 3 ins. Second Bedroom,
7 ft. 6 ins. × 14 ft. 6 ins., and bay. Third Bedroom, 7 ft.
5 ins. × 11 ft. 6 ins. Fourth Bedroom, 9 ft. 6 ins. × 6 ft.
(middle house only). Linen Closet.
Cost of left-hand and inner houses, including all extras, £293
per cottage. (Built in 1904.)
The right-hand house, owing to the extra conveniences, works out
at rather more.
In the middle house the recess between the range and small window
makes a very convenient space for a writing table, especially if
curtains are dropped from a rod to screen it off, its proximity
to the range making it a warm and cosy retreat in winter. There
is a bay window to the living room of the outside houses.
Two of the houses in this block are fitted with Cornes’ Patent
Combined Scullery-Bath-Range and Boiler, described on page 52,
and the third with the “Cabinet” bath.
The elevation, with the forecourt formed by the projection of
the two outside houses, may be made very pleasing. From the
perspective it will be seen that the inner house is covered with
rough-cast, making an agreeable contrast with the outer ones of
plain brickwork. Rough-cast, while fairly economical, is very
effective, and helps to brighten the forecourt. The projection of
the outer houses affords a break, the abruptness of which does
not attract attention, but which gives an opportunity of stopping
the rough-cast, which would otherwise have to be carried round to
the back of the whole block.
It is not advisable to introduce a variety of colour upon
exteriors. Colour is best disposed in masses—that is, it should
be treated broadly, not distributed in isolated portions, or in
sharply contrasting tints. (See page 59.)
The roof of this block is of green slates of varying sizes,
diminishing towards the ridge.
Aspect in the placing of the house is here studied as well as
the site. The axis runs south-west and north-east, and the
front commands a pleasing perspective of one of the principal
Bournville roads, and an admirable view of the Lickey Hills in
the distance.
DESCRIPTIONS OF PLATES XXXI.-XXXIII.
PLATE XXXI.
PAIR OF COTTAGES (SHALLOW SITE).
[Illustration: PLATE XXXI. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 38.]
The view shown in this plate illustrates the treatment of a
shallow corner site, the block being a pair of semi-detached,
double-fronted cottages. The plan is similar to the middle house
of the foregoing block.
PLATE XXXII.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
[Illustration: PLATE XXXII. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 38.]
A pair of cottages also planned on the same lines as the middle
house shown in Plate XXIX. and the foregoing shallow-site pair,
but placed at right angles instead of lengthwise, and occupying a
corner position.
PLATE XXXIII.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
[Illustration: PLATE XXXIII. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 38.]
An example of a pair of cottages treated in the Dutch
style.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES XXXIV. AND XXXV.
PLATE XXXIV.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XXXIV. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 40.]
The accommodation of the pair of cottages shown in this plate is
as follows:—
GROUND FLOOR.
Parlour, 11 ft. 4 ins. × 13 ft. 6 ins., and bay. Living room,
11 ft. 6 ins. × 14 ft. 5 ins. (French Windows). Kitchen, 10 ft.
8 ins. × 12 ft. 3 ins. Larder. Porch, Hall, and Clock Space
under stairs. Tools, W.C., and Coals (Enclosed yard).
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom, 11 ft. 4 ins. × 13 ft. 6 ins. Second Bedroom, 11
ft. 6 ins. × 14 ft. 5 ins. Third Bedroom, 8 ft. 6 ins. × 10 ft.
8 ins. Bath Room (hot and cold water).
Height of rooms: Ground floor, 8 ft. 9 ins.; first floor, 8 ft. 6
ins.
Total cost, including all extras, £375 per cottage.
Laying out of gardens, £12 10_s._ each.
Cubical contents, 34,285 ft., at 5¼_d._ per foot cube = £375 per
cottage. (Built in 1903.)
MATERIALS.—Whitewashed common bricks are here used. Whitewash is
cheap and may be used very effectively, especially where there
are trees in the background. The roofs and dormers are hipped,
and covered with Welsh green slates and blue half-round ridges;
the chimney pots are buff-colour.
SILLS.—The sills, as in many of the other houses, are formed
of calf-nosed bricks set on edge in cement, with two courses
of tiles beneath, which form a drip under the sill, and with a
backing of slate in cement. By bringing the window-frame forward
to reduce the size of the top of the sill, damp and the driving
in of rain are prevented. This makes an inexpensive sill, and
adds to the homely appearance of the cottage.
INTERIOR WALL DECORATION.—The interior wall decoration is Duresco
throughout. Plain ingrain paper, of which there is a number of
very cheap kinds now on the market, might be used with a frieze.
A good effect is obtained by bringing down the white from the
ceiling as far as the picture rail, which gives light to the room
and improves its proportions.
The exterior woodwork is painted a Verona green.
FIREPLACES.—Fireplaces suitable for this or any of the six-roomed
cottages are as follows:—
Front Room: interior grate, slabbed surrounds, tiled hearth,
and white wood chimney piece. Living Room: iron tiled
mantel-sham. Kitchen: 3 ft. range with white tiled coves and
York stone shelf and trusses. Front Bedroom: 30 in. mantel-sham
and tiled hearth. Back Bedrooms: 24 in. mantel-sham and tiled
hearth.
The total cost of the whole should not amount to more than £12.
The scullery is lengthened by a projection in the nature of a
bay. The outbuildings, which are carried to right and left of the
pair, give privacy to the garden near to the houses.
PLATE XXXV.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
This plate illustrates one of several different treatments of the
last plan.
[Illustration: PLATE XXXV. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 41.]
PLATES XXXVI., XXXVII., AND XXXVIII.
SINGLE COTTAGE.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION SIDE ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XXXVI. SINGLE COTTAGE. SEE PAGE 42.]
Plate XXXVI. gives the plan of a single cottage occupying a
corner site. It contains:—
GROUND FLOOR.
Drawing Room, 12 ft. 6 ins. × 13 ft. 6 ins., and bay. Dining
Room, 13 ft. × 13 ft., and bay (French casements). Kitchen, 10
ft. × 11 ft. Scullery, 8 ft. × 10 ft. Larder. Porch and Hall,
with Cloak Space under stairs. Coals, Tools, and W.C.
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom, 13 ft. 6 ins. × 15 ft. 9 ins. Second Bedroom,
11 ft. 6 ins. × 13 ft. Third Bedroom, 10 ft. × 13 ft. Dressing
Room. Cupboards. Bathroom, with W.C. and Lavatory (hot and cold
water).
As will be seen, there is very little space wasted in the
planning of the rooms.
The whole of the exterior is rough-cast. The front bedroom is
enlarged and projects over the ground floor, giving a pleasant
shade to the lower portion of the elevation, while the roof is
continued over one side and carried down to form the porch. The
gable is of half-timber framing.
The roof is covered with Hartshill hand-made tiles, which, while
richly toning and colouring, have admirably stood the test of
several years’ hard weather, and have proved much more durable
than the pressed tile used for some of the other cottages at
Bournville.
The plan of the cottage might be simplified by gabling back and
front, the roof thus covering the whole building, and having no
valleys. The bedroom accommodation could be then increased by the
addition of attics.
Two views of the actual example appear in Plates XXXVII. and
XXXVIII.
[Illustration: PLATE XXXVII. SINGLE COTTAGE. SEE PAGE 42.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXVIII. SINGLE COTTAGE. SEE PAGE 42.]
DESCRIPTIONS OF PLATES XXXIX.-XLII.
PLATES XXXIX., XL., XLI., AND XLII.
SINGLE COTTAGE.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
BACK ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XXXIX. SINGLE COTTAGE. SEE PAGE 44.]
Another single cottage has accommodation as follows:—
GROUND FLOOR.
Living Room, including roomy alcove, 13 ft. 5 ins. × 15 ft. 6
ins. Kitchen, 10 ft. × 13 ft. 5 ins. Scullery, Larder, Tools,
W.C., Coals, and Enclosed Yard.
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom, 13 ft. 5 ins. × 15 ft. 6 ins. Second Bedroom, 10
ft. × 13 ft. 5 ins. Third Bedroom, 9 ft. 6 ins. × 9 ft. 6 ins.
Bathroom (hot and cold water) and W.C.
Spacious Attic (shown by dotted lines) and Boxrooms.
Total cost, in 1903, £540.
Cubical contents, 19,938 ft., at 6½_d._ per ft. cube, £540.
By hanging a curtain, the alcove shown in the plan may be made
private for writing or studying, if required. It may also be used
for meals; and if a door communicates with the hall, the table
may be laid by the maid unseen by the visitor, and the curtains
afterwards drawn apart. Thus one of the disadvantages urged
against the larger-sized houses with one large living room may be
overcome.
MATERIALS.—The cottage is built of whitewashed common bricks,
with tarred plinth, the roof being covered with Peake’s dark
brindled hand-made roofing tiles. It is without decoration, apart
from what is afforded by the semicircular hood over the front
door, the wrought-iron brackets supporting the gutters, and at
the back a semicircular arch to give importance to the living
room. There are shutters to all the ground floor windows, which
are made to bolt from within.
The view shown in Plate XL. is of the back.
[Illustration: PLATE XL. SINGLE COTTAGE BACK. SEE PAGE 44.]
Plates XLI. and XLII. show the staircase and dining room
respectively.
[Illustration: PLATE XLI. STAIRCASE OF SINGLE COTTAGE. SEE PAGE 44.]
[Illustration: PLATE XLII. DINING ROOM—SINGLE COTTAGE. SEE PAGE 44.]
DESCRIPTIONS OF PLATES XLIII. AND XLIV.
PLATES XLIII. AND XLIV.
SINGLE COTTAGE.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION BACK ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XLIII. SINGLE COTTAGE. SEE PAGE 46.]
Plates XLIII. and XLIV. show the plan and view respectively of
another type of single cottage, with the following accommodation:—
GROUND FLOOR.
Dining Room, 13 ft. × 19 ft., and small alcove. Drawing Room,
13 ft. × 16 ft. 6 ins., and bay. Kitchen, 9 ft. 6 ins. × 15 ft.
Scullery, 8 ft. 6 ins. × 9 ft. 4 ins. Larder, Coals, Ashes,
W.C., and Enclosed Yard.
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom, 13 ft. × 13 ft. 4 ins. Second Bedroom, 12 ft.
× 13 ft., and large bay. Third Bedroom, 9 ft. 6 ins. × 12 ft.
Fourth Bedroom, 8 ft. 6 ins. × 13 ft. 4 ins. Bathroom, with
Lavatory and W.C. Large Attic, extending over almost the whole
of the four rooms.
Total cost, in 1904, £640. Cubical contents, 25,077 ft. at 6⅛_d._
per ft. cube = £640.
[Illustration: PLATE XLIV. SINGLE COTTAGE. SEE PAGE 46.]
By the arrangement of the stairs it will be noticed that
additional space is secured to the dining room, forming a
pleasant arched alcove.
MATERIALS.—The materials used are brindled bricks, Peake’s
hand-made roofing tiles, hips and ridges covered with half-round
ridge-tiles, 6 in. half-round spouts with ornamental stays,
projecting hood of timber, covered with lead and supported by
two wrought-iron stays, red tall-boy chimney pots, doors painted
Suffield green, window sashes and frames ivory white, and eaves,
gutters and down-spouts lead colour.
PLATES XLV., XLVI., AND XLVII.
PAIR OF THREE-STOREY COTTAGES.
[Illustration:
BEDROOM PLAN
GROUND PLAN
PLATE XLV. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 47.]
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
ATTIC PLAN
PLATE XLVI. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 47.]
Plates XLV. and XLVI. give plans, and Plate XLVII. the view of a
pair of three-storey cottages of about the same accommodation,
the left-hand having the following:—
GROUND FLOOR.
Dining Room, 11 ft. 6 ins. × 18 ft., with French window.
Drawing Room, 12 ft. 6 ins. × 15 ft., with deep bay. Small
Sitting Room, 7 ft. × 11 ft. 2 ins. Working Kitchen, 11 ft. 2
in. × 12 ft. 6 ins. Larder and China Pantry, Porch and Hall.
W.C., Coals, Tools, and Enclosed Yard.
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom, 12 ft. 6 ins. × 15 ft., and deep bay. Second
Bedroom, 11 ft. 6 ins. × 16 ft. Third Bedroom, 10 ft. 6 ins. ×
11 ft. 2 ins., with oriel. Bathroom, with Lavatory, W.C. Two
Attics and Large Box Room.
[Illustration: PLATE XLVII. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 47.]
The accommodation in the two houses differs owing to the aspect.
If the two plans were identical, a considerable portion of the
right-hand garden would be shut off from the south, and the
larder would not face the north. Stress has already been laid on
the necessity of considering aspect.
The left-hand is a corner house, and the projecting out-houses
answer the double purpose of screening the garden from the road
and protecting the house from the north wind.
In the adjoining house there is no small sitting room, but an
extra attic. The outbuildings are attached to the main building,
and do not project into the garden; the principal room is thus
left open to the south.
MATERIALS.—The houses are built of common bricks whitewashed,
with a tarred plinth. There are half-timber porches, and the
spaces between the bays and under the dormers are covered with
rough-cast and decorated with parquetry. The rainwater head
in front is picked out in vermillion, the introduction of a
very little bright colour giving a pleasant jewel-like effect.
Peake’s hand-made tiles, of dark colour, are used for the roofs,
with half-round ridging, and ornamental iron stays support the
gutters, which are of 6 in. half-round iron.
A pair of houses erected to a similar plan to that of the
right-hand house in 1904 cost £610 each. The cost of the examples
given work out more owing to the fall in the land, which
necessitates very deep footings, and also to the plans differing
in order to suit aspect and site.
PLATE XLVIII.
PAIR OF THREE-STOREY COTTAGES.
[Illustration: PLATE XLVIII. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 48.]
Plate XLVIII. gives the view of a pair of houses similar to the
last, but somewhat reduced in size, and the treatment varied.
Brindled bricks are used for the ground floor, and rough-cast for
the upper storeys.
PLATES XLIX., L., LI., LII., LIII., LIV., AND LV.
TWO PAIRS OF COTTAGES.
These plates illustrate two pairs of cottages of two storeys
each, almost identical in plan, but differently treated.
[Illustration:
FRONT ELEVATION
GROUND PLAN BEDROOM PLAN
PLATE XLIX. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 49.]
[Illustration: PLATE L. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 49.]
The accommodation of the pair shown in Plates XLIX. and L. is:—
GROUND FLOOR.
Dining Room, 13 ft. 6 in. × 16 ft. and bay. Drawing Room, 13
ft. 6 ins. × 16 ft. 3 ins., including ingle and bay window.
Kitchen, 10 ft. 6 ins. × 12 ft. Hall, with storm doors, 12 ft.
6 ins. × 10 ft. Scullery, Larder, W.C., Coals, and Tool House.
Frontage, 15 yds.
BEDROOM FLOOR.
First Bedroom, 12 ft. × 16 ft. 3 ins., and bay. Second Bedroom,
12 ft. 4 ins. × 13 ft. 6 in. Third Bedroom, 10 ft. × 10 ft. 2
ins. Fourth Bedroom, 9 ft. × 13 ft. 6 ins. Boxroom, 8 ft. × 10
ft. Bathroom, with Lavatory, and W.C.
The dining room is lighted by a small east window and a west bay
window, the latter being covered by the roof of the verandah,
which terminates in the bay window of the drawing room. Although
the kitchen is a small one, it has the advantage of not being a
passage room, the door from the hall to the kitchen and that from
the kitchen to the scullery being arranged beside one another in
the same wall. In these houses the windows have wooden frames and
wrought-iron casements.
The principal rooms occupy the full width of the back, and the
hall is therefore extended to admit of the doors of the two rooms
being conveniently placed.
INGLE NOOK.—The ingle which results from this arrangement has a
beam with a shelf above continuing the line of the architrave,
and the ceiling of the ingle is only 6 ft. 6 in. high. There is a
small light on one side.
[Illustration: PLATE LI. COTTAGE INGLE. SEE PAGE 49.]
[Illustration: PLATE LII. DETAIL VIEW. SEE PAGE 49.]
The ingle nook is shown on Plate LI., and a view of the oriel on
Plate LII.
[Illustration: PLATE LIII. PAIR OF COTTAGES. SEE PAGE 50.]
[Illustration: PLATE LIV. PAIR OF COTTAGES—BACK. SEE PAGE 50.]
The pair of cottages shown in Plates LIII. and LIV. have outer
porches, whereby the size of the hall is reduced. A separate view
of one of them is given on Plate LV.
[Illustration: PLATE LV. PORCH. SEE PAGE 50.]
In this example, as in the former also, the outlook at the
back of the house is to be preferred to that in the front, and
as should always be done when the aspect is favourable, the
principal rooms are placed at the back. There is in this instance
a west prospect, with a delightful view of undulating woodland
and distant hills. The forecourt affords a pleasant outlook from
within the house. The lowness of the eaves has the effect of
giving the pair a very homely and cottage-like appearance. The
height of the bedrooms in the former example is 8 ft. 3 in.
PLATES LVI. AND LVII.
SINGLE COTTAGE.
[Illustration: PLATE LVI. SINGLE COTTAGE. SEE PAGE 50.]
Plate LVI. gives a single cottage of a plan similar to the last,
with enlarged accommodation and somewhat different treatment,
namely:—
Rough-cast from ground, with tarred plinth; oriel window to first
floor, with the introduction of a little colour in parquetry,
which is also applied round the small window over the entrance,
and a half-timber porch glazed with leaded lights, having
coloured centres of rich glass. The cloak space is here converted
into a china pantry.
A separate view of the porch is shown on Plate LVII.
[Illustration: PLATE LVII. PORCH OF SINGLE COTTAGE. SEE PAGE 50.]
GENERAL NOTES.
[Illustration: THE PATENT ADJUSTABLE CABINET BATH.]
THE BATH.—The bath, without which no house is nowadays regarded
as complete, should be supplied in all cottages, however small.
At Bournville, wherever there is no bathroom, the bath is placed
in the kitchen, this room being considered the most suitable: hot
water is here at hand, and, as there is usually a fire in winter,
it is both more convenient and comfortable than in one of the
bedrooms, where the space can be ill-spared, especially where
there are children. Even in the kitchens of these small cottages
there is necessarily none too much space, and various devices
have been employed to prevent the bath being an inconvenience
when not in use. One way of disposing of it is to sink it into
the floor near the hearth, the boarded covering serving as a
standing or draining board when the bath is in use. Another way,
where there is a little more room to spare, is to fix it on the
usual floor level, and make its cover serve as a settle or table.
The introduction of the Patent Adjustable Cabinet Bath, however,
is better than either of these methods. In this arrangement the
bath is hinged at the bottom of one end in order that it may be
easily lowered from and raised back into the cabinet, where in
its vertical position it is no inconvenience when not in use. In
the hinge a waste pipe is introduced. With this bath not only is
there a gain of space, but the bath may be used with a saving
of time and labour, and without fear of deluging the floor.
Above the cupboard in which the bath is kept are convenient
shelves. The cost of the bath and cabinet is about £3 5_s._ The
illustration on the last page shows a bath of this kind fitted in
one of the Bournville cottages.
[Illustration: CORNES’ PATENT BATH.]
Another patent bath used at Bournville in cottages of larger size
but not sufficiently large to admit of a bathroom is Cornes’
Combined Scullery-Bath-Range and Boiler. The patent utilises to
the fullest extent the heat of the kitchen, so that, in addition
to the economy of space, there is a further economy of fuel to
the householder. The heating and cooking range forms a great part
of the division between the kitchen and scullery-bathroom, the
flue being coursed over the head of the bath. In the centre of
the range is the grate, with an oven on one side and on the other
a twelve-gallon boiler, in which water is kept hot for domestic
purposes. Boiling water can be obtained by raking down live fuel
into a small secondary grate under the boiler through a small
hole made for the purpose. If desired, clothes can be boiled in
the boiler and access to it from the scullery may be gained by
opening a curved door. Owing to its open construction there is
no risk of explosion. Further developments have been made in the
way of providing a folding door in front of the range, which
will shut off the boiler from the kitchen when necessary. The
scullery-bathroom, which contains about 36 superficial feet,
is fitted with a full-sized iron enamelled bath, supplied with
hot water through a pipe from the range boiler and with cold
water from the cistern, or through a shower-bath sprinkler fixed
overhead, so that this latter luxury can be enjoyed by simply
turning the tap. The introduction of White’s Patent Steam Exhaust
effectually prevents the steam from permeating the other rooms of
the house. An illustration is here given showing Cornes’ patent
fitted up.
THE INGLE NOOK.—Like many old-time features which have been
revived during the last few years, the ingle nook has perhaps
been a little overdone. The ingle is intended to serve as a cosy
retreat in a spacious room, and it should not be introduced in a
room the size of which is insufficient to warrant its existence.
On this account it is usually undesirable to provide ingle nooks
in cottages, except in those with the large living-rooms.
Comfort should always be the object in view in the construction
of the ingle, but in many modern examples this is sacrificed to
over elaboration and that straining for effect which shows that
it was designed for ornament and not for use. No doubt an effect
is sometimes gained, but the usefulness of the ingle is so far
sacrificed that not infrequently one of most inviting appearance
will be found to possess inadequate seating accommodation even
for a single person.
[Illustration:
ELEVATION PLAN
SMALL COTTAGE INGLE.]
The ingle, to be comfortable and useful, should not be less
than 10 ft. 6 ins. in width by 4 ft. 6 ins. in depth. If it is
smaller lengthways the heat from the fire will be too great,
while if less deep there will be insufficient accommodation at
the sides for two persons without projecting the seats into the
room, which can only be satisfactorily done, perhaps, when the
side of the ingle is in line with that of the room. A reasonable
height is 6 ft. 6 ins. A pleasing way of treating a cottage
ingle is to introduce a step up of about 3 ins., with an oak
curb, and to tile or quarry the whole recess, as illustrated by
the accompanying drawing. This ingle, which is provided in the
pair of cottages with the large living-rooms dealt with earlier
(Plate XX.), is constructed as follows:-¾ in. match-boarding is
nailed to studding, which has stout angle-posts to support the
beam above; along the side of the latter a 7-in. by 1-in. shelf
is carried by small wooden brackets; and the wood seats are of
1¼ ins. in thickness by 1 ft. 4 ins. from back to front, at a
height of 1 ft. 3 ins. or less from the floor. The introduction
of the ingle here is advantageous because some privacy is thus
afforded in a room which is entered directly from the road. The
match-boarding in this case is continued, and forms a framework
for the tile-surround of the grate, giving an appearance of unity
to the nook, while the simplicity of the material is pleasing and
restful. The insertion of a mantelpiece different in character
should be avoided. Some interest may be given to the centre of
the fireplace by inlaying a little ebony in simple forms.
For drawing-rooms of larger houses the back of the nook might be
panelled, the seat upholstered, and the panels filled in with
tapestry. White wood looks well, and the fireplace might be
built up with glazed brickettes. The ways of treating the more
expensive ingles are so numerous, however, that it would be of
little use making definite suggestions.
The ingle nook of one of the larger cottages is illustrated on
Plate LI.
CHIMNEYS.—The economy of grouping chimneys, and the desirability
of carrying them to the highest point of the roof to avoid
down-draughts, has already been mentioned. Generally speaking,
for cottages, the simpler the chimneys are the better, and they
should all be of hard burnt bricks, and the top courses built in
cement. Diagonal chimneys are pleasing, but expensive, and on
an estate should only be used occasionally. The Dutch chimneys,
built up with corners of brick and covered with stone slabs or
12-in. drain pipes, as frequently seen in Holland and Belgium,
are picturesque (see Plate XXII.), but care has to be exercised
in their construction. Though they are often regarded as being
liable to smoke, it may be pointed out that in many cases their
employment is the only remedy for a smoky flue. Outside chimneys,
it will be borne in mind, are always expensive. Chimney pots do
not improve the appearance, but sometimes they are a necessity.
In these cases the simple or plain tall-boys are recommended, and
the colour—whether of soft red or buff—should be chosen to suit
the design and colouring of the cottage. As a variation of these
there are the beehive pots, the main idea of which is to keep
down the height.
WINDOWS.—The casement window is cheaper than the sash window,
and if beauty of effect is also to be considered its adoption is
further desirable. Its simplicity and homeliness of appearance
render it extremely fitting for the cottage. The old difficulty
of cleaning may now be obviated by a very simple device
introduced at Bournville, that of causing the window to open
upon a pivot in the centre, inwardly as well as outwardly, which
admits of the outside of the fixed pane being easily reached by
the hand.
The sash window, while objectionable in the form frequently used,
may yet be made suitable for cottages; but it should be divided,
and the proportions very carefully studied, say 9-in. by 11-in.
panes, and the bars not less than 1 in. in thickness. It should
be brought forward, showing the full width of the boxing. The
sash window, however, necessitates an additional height to rooms.
BRICKS.—As regards bricks, it is well as far as possible to avoid
those which are mechanically made (the pressed stock-brick)
and to use the hand-made bricks from local yards. The brindled
Staffordshire bricks are largely used at Bournville; they are
very suitable for cottage building where the position is not too
exposed. A pleasing variety of colour is introduced at a low
cost, the tint being a bright cherry red blended with blue and
purple, the blue being quite different from the dead blue-black
of the vitreous brick. For inside work the common red wire-cuts
are suitable.
It is a mistake to suppose that a good effect cannot be obtained
by the use of the cheaper makes of bricks, a remark which also
applies in the case of the London stock-bricks, so long as they
are not uniformly selected; a good effect may be gained, for
instance, by using a few of the darker ones indiscriminately with
the cream-coloured ones. The splash of dark colour caused by the
black ones coming together is by no means undesirable. A good
example of an effective use of these bricks is to be seen at
Brewer’s Estate, London.
ROOF COVERING.—The materials to be employed in roofing depend
upon the style of cottage, and also upon the locality. The
Bangor slates are cheap, and may be an excellent covering as
regards durability; but unfortunately, in the class of cottages
here dealt with, it is rarely possible to get so good an effect
with them as with other kinds. They may be used, however, in
the whitewashed cottage, so long as the smaller sizes are
selected. Hand-made roofing tiles, and thick Welsh green and
rustic Precelly slates may be recommended, as also the Peake’s &
Hartshill hand-made tiles.
Pantiles are cheap, but should only be employed on unbroken
roofs having few valleys, where it is less difficult to keep out
the wet. The roof should be steep, the angle in no case being
less than 45 degrees. Before covering, care should be taken to
ascertain whether they are of good manufacture, and whether they
are porous or not. There are sometimes pantiles of an indifferent
quality on the market; and, if this precaution is not taken,
a roof may have to be stripped and re-tiled. Where they have
been used and have afterwards been found to be bad they may be
tarred, as are wood coverings in Norway and Sweden. It is always
essential that the services of a practised layer of pantiles
should be secured.
Gables should have damp courses under the coping to shield them
from frost and wet.
Roof ridging should have careful attention, and it is wiser to
suppress rather than to sharpen, the better to obtain that rustic
appearance suitable to a cottage. Many fantastic ridges, with
vulgar finials, are employed in the building of small suburban
villas, of a more or less sharp-pointed character, and of a
depth out of proportion to the roof, which gives an unpleasant
harshness to the general appearance. With the principle in view
that the sky-line should be softened as much as possible, the
brindled hand-made half-rounds should be used. With green slates,
ridges of blue are the most suitable, as the colours harmonise.
Experience will probably show that the red and buff ridges will
not stand the weather so well as other kinds.
WALL SPACES: ROUGH-CAST—WHITEWASH—HALF-TIMBER.—However strong
may be the temptation to introduce a variety of colour upon
exteriors, it is advisable with cottages of the class dealt with
to refrain from so doing. It is best to get the colour in masses,
treated broadly—say, each house, as far as wall surfaces and
roof are concerned, of one colour; for where the cottages stand
close together, or even where they are semi-detached, sufficient
contrast or relief is afforded by contiguous cottages treated
differently, and in the case of a village a much better general
effect is thus gained. On the other hand a good effect may be
gained by giving a block of houses one tone throughout, matching
the colour of the roof. The result is quiet and unobtrusive, and
one which is very desirable in the cottage, where the features
are necessarily brought close together. The tarred plinth,
however, should always be used with rough-cast.
Half-timber should be used sparingly. While the bye-laws insist
on a 9-in. wall being at the back, an unwarranted present and
future expense is incurred by its use; and an effect equally
as good, moreover, may be obtained with rough-cast, weather
boarding, or whitewash. Half-timber one lives to regret, for the
weather tells sadly upon it, and it demands constant repair.
A small cottage with an equal distribution of equal-sized windows
is far from desirable. In a pair of cottages where there are four
equal rooms facing the road, four equal windows would at first
sight seem unavoidable, although such an arrangement would be
fatal to the elevation. It is better to put a secondary light
to the rooms at the extremities, getting additional light from
the side, and thus by contrast giving greater importance to
the larger windows in the centre, or even to omit the smaller
windows, if adequate light can be obtained without them. The
blank space might then be used for the training up of climbing
plants. A certain number of windows is indispensable in a
cottage, but, without stinting light, the aim should rather be to
repress any superfluity. By the means suggested the view from the
interior is sometimes agreeably varied.
Other features are dealt with in the descriptions of the various
cottages to which they have particular reference.
THE LAYING OUT OF A MODEL VILLAGE.
Let it be supposed that land has been bought to be laid out
as a model village. Whether this has been done by a company,
a municipal body, or by an individual, is not material to the
present purpose. Assuming that the selection of the site has
had careful consideration, and that it is suitable for the
development of a village, what is the first step? Before turning
a sod the clearest conception of the finished scheme must have
been formed. A dozen cottages or so erected before considering
the future of the whole project may involve endless trouble at a
later stage. The initial proceeding, therefore, is to make the
general plan as complete and final as possible before commencing
actual operations. Up to the present it has been the difficulty
of co-operation among landlords, perhaps unavoidable, either
by the piecemeal acquisition of land or the fitful demand for
building, which has been the cause of many of our towns and
suburbs being the reverse of pleasing. A century or so ago,
when domestic architecture was a traditionally living art, and
building was conducted less hurriedly, a certain charm of effect
was no doubt obtained by this accidental or fitful extension,
though convenience was certainly not always considered; but in
the present day we should avail ourselves of the opportunity
which a large or co-operative scheme offers for a convenient and
agreeable disposition of buildings.
REGARD OF PHYSICAL FEATURES.—As the following suggestions do not
refer to any specific example of land which is to be laid out as
a model village, they can only be regarded as having general
applicability. The treatment of particular land depends upon its
peculiar physical features. Land in a gently undulating district,
for instance, must be dealt with in quite a different manner from
that in flat country. The natural features themselves must be the
basis of any satisfactory treatment, and they are to be made the
most of, not only with regard to their intrinsic beauty, but also
any material advantages they may offer.
ADVISORY ARCHITECT.—If a village is being developed by an
individual in a private capacity it is not improbable, indeed it
is very natural, that he will expect the general operations to
be carried out in accordance with his particular taste or fancy,
which, however, may happen to be far from practical or artistic,
and his scheme is likely to suffer accordingly. So too in the
case of an estate developed by a governing body consisting of men
who are not qualified for the task, the possibility of failure is
equally great. The best course is to employ an advisory architect
about whose qualifications there is no doubt, who should work
in conjunction with the surveyor from the outset. It may be
suggested, now that the movement is making considerable progress,
that the Royal Institute of British Architects should be asked to
suggest an architect in such cases. A greater variety, however,
in the plan and design of the houses might perhaps be secured
by employing more than one architect. A man’s ideas are liable
to run in a groove; and even if variation is introduced in
detail there is likely to be a similarity in general character.
Moreover, where two or more architects are engaged, a healthy
rivalry might result in the designing of houses which shall
fulfil all the conditions of convenience, compactness, and
economy. The respective work of the various architects might be
confined to particular streets, but a regular system of variation
should be avoided. Method should not be too obtrusive or the
arrangement too mechanical. The advisory architect must be
selected with judgment, for on him will devolve the working out
of the general road-scheme, and this will demand more talent than
the merely practical man possesses.
The caution already urged against doing anything on the estate
without mature consideration expressly applies to the cutting of
roads and the reservation of spaces. Given a map of our land, the
fancy is not usually slow in disposing of it; and it is only with
the progress of operations, when a number of unforeseen demands
make themselves disagreeably formidable, that it is seen how
wanton this ready fancy has been.
THE SELECTION OF CENTRES.—The first questions to be decided are
the number and positions of the centres, for it is to and from
these that the most convenient and accessible connections must
be planned, and the centres themselves should be reserved as the
sites of parks, principal buildings, shops and the like.
If the land is already entered by one or more turnpike roads
which may not be diverted, these should guide the cutting of the
new roads, and the chief centres of the village must be made
as accessible as possible from them. If an existing road only
approaches the land, and only one connection is deemed necessary,
the connection should be constructed to suit the village as a
whole, without partiality to any one extremity, always keeping
the centres in view. It is nearly always better to work to the
contour of the land, taking a gentle sweep in preference to a
straight line.
The site of the chief centre, not forgetting to keep in view its
general accessibility, should if possible be on the highest point
of the village, such a position giving prominence over the whole,
as well as a more imposing elevation and dignity to the principal
buildings which are to be erected thereon. The nature of the
buildings would depend altogether on the size of the scheme. In
the case of a garden city they would possibly include council
chambers, theatre, museum, library or other monumental buildings
of a like character, and as large spaces as possible should be
reserved around them for extensions and gardens. A great city, in
which it has been decided to build a cathedral, has found itself
before now in the dilemma of having no suitable site available,
and the monument of beauty has had to make the best of beggarly
and ugly neighbours. It is as well to profit by the errors of the
past, and the utmost should therefore be done to save a garden
city or model village from ever getting congested at its chief
centre.
The other centres should be places of distinct interest, such as
schools, railway station, or market-place, but secondary to the
chief one.
ROADS.—The buildings will not be sky-scrapers, and the roads,
therefore, will not, in order that they may be ventilated, have
to be set out in straight lines in order to be wind-swept,
intersecting at unpleasing right angles like a gridiron.
Though the main streets should be planned with some degree
of straightness for the convenience of getting to and from
important places, there is no reason why regularity should be
sought after for its own sake; at the same time an unnecessary
irregularity should be as much avoided. Where one straight road
unavoidably meets another at right angles, it is a good plan to
widen the point of intersection. This particularly applies to a
road taking a hill straight—that is, at its shortest length. A
pleasing perspective will be given by thus widening, and on the
triangular space formed might be erected a fountain or monument,
with or without a grass plot. As an alternative, if the ground is
too valuable to be so disposed of, the road might be terminated
by slightly curving it to the left or right, and the corner
remaining used for building upon. In the residential portion
of the village or garden city, roads running due east and west
should be avoided if possible. When this precaution has been
taken, much scheming to get the sun on the front as well as the
back of the house will be spared. As is well known, a kitchen
with a south aspect is unbearable in the heat of the summer.
Where the road unavoidably runs east and west, the gardens of
houses on the north side should occupy the front and not the back
of the plot.
Trees should be planted in all roads, and the chief roads should
be arranged on the boulevard plan, allowing the utmost freedom
to the pedestrian. A few spaces might be reserved for shelters,
and the site for a bandstand might be timely chosen. As much as
possible should be done to give breadth to all thoroughfares,
and to this end the building-line of the houses should be well
back from the road—thirty feet at least—the ample front-garden
giving a refreshing greenness to the prospect, besides a better
perspective to the houses. The width of roads should be from
forty to fifty feet, with paths of from eight to twelve feet, not
less.
Minor open spaces, such as playgrounds for young children, are
pleasant along the road side, but road-making is costly, and
economy in all probability will have to be studied; back land,
therefore, should be utilised for them at the bottom of garden
plots.
STREET ELEVATIONS.—In building a road of houses the expense would
of course be considerable if to get variety a different plan and
different details were employed for each house. Other methods
must be adopted. In the case of twenty houses it would be well
to get as many details, such as windows, doors, and door-frames,
the same (or, at any rate, half of one kind and half of another),
and monotony should be avoided by variation in the disposition
of these features. An extensive elevation may also be made
interesting by the treatment of a porch here, the addition of a
bay window there, and the use of rough-cast somewhere else. An
irregular building-line, where possible, is to be preferred.
In a block of three cottages a pleasing effect is gained by
projecting or recessing the middle one, or putting it with its
long axis parallel with the road, and so forming a forecourt in
front.
SERVICE OF NATURAL ADVANTAGES.—Whatever natural advantages the
land may possess, such as woods, pools, or streams (where they
are not included in a park), should border, or be seen from,
the road—that is if they merit the expense of road-making. Few
things are more picturesque than a stream at the roadside (as
at Tissington in Derbyshire), especially if spanned here and
there by small bridges (as at Bourton-on-the-Water), and by
their presence the road will be widened from house front to
house front. The water of a stream should never be utilised for
a manufacturing purpose where it afterwards flows through the
village, except for generating electric power or other clean
uses. If there is an avenue of old trees it should be secured for
one of the roads.
SHOPPING.—The chief shopping will be best placed just without and
surrounding the main centre, and that of less importance round
the minor centres.
FACTORIES.—Supposing that the _raison d’être_ of the village
or garden city be one or more industries in which many of the
inhabitants are employed, where, it will be asked, are the
factories to be placed? Without a definite example of land, it
is difficult to give a definite reply. Many things are essential
to such sites—for instance, the adjacency of a stream, river,
or railway—and if the manufacturer transfers his works to
the country, he will rightly choose the most convenient and
advantageous site for them that offers, and other arrangements
will have to be made in concert with him. Nevertheless, the
factory or factories should be as far as possible from the main
centre, that is on the village or city outskirts. The preferable
position would lie between the north-east and south-west, for
the prevalent south-west wind will then carry away the smoke in
summer, when the villagers indulge in outdoor life, while the
north and easterly winds of winter will carry it over the village
when they are indoors. Screens of trees should be planted between
the village and the factories as soon as possible.
PLOTS FOR HOUSES.—As to the treatment of the plots for houses:
should the road cut into the land it need not necessarily be
levelled, but taken as it is; the gables will thus present a
desirable variation of level, and the ridge line will be less
monotonous. An endeavour should be made, however, always to get
the plots not less than 18 ins. above the level of the crown
of the road, otherwise the drainage will be troublesome and
expensive.
As soon as the house is erected, it is well to set hedges of
thorn or beech, both along the roadside and between the houses.
Until these are grown, the ordinary iron hurdle, or light-railed
wooden fence, might serve.
It is advisable to arrange the building plots so that the houses
on either side of the road do not come exactly opposite each
other; the houses should be so arranged as to face the open space
opposite.
GARDENS.—At Bournville the average garden-space allowed each
house is 600 square yards, this being found to be about as much
as the average man can well attend to. (This means there will be
from eight to twelve cottages to the acre.) The laying out is
done prior to the tenant’s occupation of the house. A description
of the way the Bournville gardens are laid out is given, with a
plan, on page 23.
When the houses are placed at the end of the plot remote from
the road, any hard and fast lines in the style of the garden
should be avoided: apple and other fruit-trees, or an occasional
kitchen-garden, may be placed in a prominent position, for
even the trim flower-garden might be varied with advantage. A
preference has already been expressed for having the garden
adjacent to the house rather than the allotment garden at a
distance, but at the same time the latter plan may be sometimes
forced upon us. Undoubtedly the rivalry that is encouraged among
gardeners congregated together in allotment gardens is good and
healthy, but the inconvenience to the household of the distance
between home and garden would suggest the adoption of the former
whenever it is possible, and even where there is an allotment
there should still be a small plot adjacent to the house.
While endeavouring to get as much light and air space as possible
in the village, it will frequently be found necessary to erect
cottages in blocks of four, and sometimes of eight. In order to
give adequate garden-space, even to small houses, and not in long
thin strips, the frontage of the land will have to be broad; a
rule should be made, therefore, of spreading the houses laterally
by arranging the staircase of each house, not between the back
and front rooms, but between the houses. This will bring the
outside houses nearer to the extremity of the land, and will not
only give each garden the desired straightness and breadth, but
afford a greater breadth of view upon it from within.
In conclusion, it might be again stated that most of the remarks
under this head—which are mainly arranged from notes taken or
suggested during the planning and working out of the Bournville
Estate—are broad and suggestive rather than insistent, and it is
probable that the setting out of particular land will not admit
of the adoption of many of the principles here laid down.
BRADBURY, AGNEW & CO., LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.
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