History

Introduction

• A brief history
• Historical development of the Suburb
• A Concise History
• Growth and Change
• Henrietta Barnett's planning vision
• Unwin's town planning
• Small scale planning
• Town Planning Act
• Central Square Architecture
• St. Jude's and the Free Church
• The Institute

Town Planning Act

Unwin and Henrietta Barnett’s concepts for the design of the groups of houses ran counter to the established practice of the day. Urban development was controlled by rigid local bye-laws, and flexibility of planning was only available in rural areas. Ebenezer Howard whose principles of the Garden City inspired Henrietta Barnett, advocated this move to the country, the idea that a new city could be started from scratch on better founding principles.

Henrietta Barnett realised that a development within easy access of London would have a much larger chance of success and would allow her to protect Hampstead Heath from unsightly development.

The existent bye laws encouraged high density developments to house the ever expanding population; they also set road widths and plot sizes to optimise occupation.

Unwin and Henrietta Barnett’s plans were drastically different. They proposed a low density settlement, providing a healthier environment through green spaces and allotments. Central to Unwin’s plan was variety, he wanted to have variable road widths to create a different character in the smaller closes than along the broad avenues and a changing building line to enable him to set back houses from the road and create groups.

In order to overcome the restrictions imposed by the bye-laws, the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust promoted a Private Bill designed to give them the necessary powers. It passed into law as the Hampstead Garden Suburb Act, 1906. This included the new bye-laws that within the Suburb the average density would not exceed 8 houses to the acre. This was a drastic decrease in density from the density that was common at the time, (15-25 dwellings per acre is the modern high density dwelling recommendation).

The need for differentiation in road widths was recognized, making roads which only accessed housing and were below a certain length exempt from the bye-law widths. A limit to how close houses on opposite sides of the road could get was also set, making the set back groups that Unwin favoured part of the planning legislation.

The green spaces of the suburb were also defended, giving Unwin the right to set aside land for the use of the community that could not be developed. The changes in these bye-laws not only allowed Unwin’s plans for the suburb to go ahead, they also formed the basis of the first Town Planning Act in 1909, setting an example for all future residential development.