Part 2

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.