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

Unwin’s town planning

Raymond Unwin was chosen as the Suburb master planner following his recent work on Letchworth Garden City, which was built along the same egalitarian and design principles. It was in Letchworth that Unwin’s planning style developed, with emphasis on avoiding monotony and conformity, creating green open spaces and low density housing.

Unwin’s plan is a carefully thought out response to the problems of housing and metropolitan expansion in the 1900s. His plans for the artisans’ cottages are often compared to the standard bye-law industrial terraces of the time. While the cottages do occupy more land, Unwin argues that the decreased quantity of roads necessary increases the amount of land for green spaces and for self sufficiency, giving the cottages a lower cost per square foot.

Aesthetically Unwin was inspired by "the aspects of the mediaeval German town, which gave nourishment for the romantic sentiments of the cool, organising Englishman," From this German town ideal Unwin took the essence of a plan which followed the natural contours of the site and placed great emphasis on entrance and view.

He began laying out plans for the suburb in 1907, focusing his design around the three access points to the suburb, North End Road, Hoop Lane and Finchley Road. He designed a series of gates and dominant buildings to mark the entrances to the suburb, and the great wall to mark the boundary between the Suburb and the Heath.

He used the natural contours of the land to create a relationship between the large imposing buildings of Central Square and the small cottages of the artisans’ quarter. He laid out the roads so that axial roads provided views of the Squares from the larger houses, while the natural slope of the hill and the gradually less formal road layouts created more secluded areas at the bottom of the hill, perfect for the smaller scale housing.

This gradation and subtle change in planning is continued throughout the suburb. The formal Georgian designs of Erskine Hill, transform into large Arts and Crafts houses, finally scaling down again into the artisans terraced cottages.

The scale of the roads changes, wider roads are created for the larger houses scaling down to narrow lanes and twittens (small hedge lined back lanes). This was not just a status symbol but a planning practicality. The axial large roads would have held far more traffic as they provide more direct routes across or around the suburb, and the houses that line them were far more likely to have goods delivered or to own a motor car.

The scale of planting also changes, with larger and more dramatic street trees and dense hedges giving way to more close knit but smaller fruit trees and communal gardens.

It is Unwin’s attention to natural details like the species of tree and his decision to try and echo the countryside which was there before the Suburb through the inclusion of hedges and open spaces which gives the suburb such a ‘green’ atmosphere.

"To lay out the ground that every tree may be kept, hedgerows duly considered, and the foreground of the distant view preserved, if not as open fields, yet as a gardened district, the buildings kept in harmony with the surroundings."

Within this variety of scale Unwin creates some elegant and also some charming street scapes, and manages to get both to harmonise in a beautiful ruralised setting, and work with the needs of their occupants.