Ealing Tenants Limited was founded in 1901 to build
houses that members would own collectively and rent themselves. The model is
very similar to the nineteenth-century German Baugenossenschaft. Collective ownership and shared responsibility
was also one of the cornerstones of Ebenezer Howards idea(l)s laid down in his
seminal book Garden Cities of To-morrow. In contrast to earlier garden suburbs
(Merton Park and Bedford Park) that were more akin to philanthropic model housing,
Brentham Garden Suburb wasn't built for profit of the landowner.
The tenants cooperative acquired land near the
Pitshanger Estate north of Ealing. The suburb was started on fields near Pitzhanger
Manor about a mile north of Pitzhanger House (that still stands at the entrance
to Walpole Park off Ealing Green). On 20 April work began on the first nine
houses. In total three streets lined with long rows of terraced housing were
built. This first building phase was completed between 1901 and 1905.
In 1905 more land was bought by Ealing Tenants Ltd.
from the Fowlers Hill Estate. In 1907 some adjoining field were bought from the
Pitshanger Estate. With this expansion
it was felt necessary to pay greater attention to the design of the houses and
to the overall street plan. The first streets were similar to those of a
commercial housing development and even lacked the attention to detail so
characteristic of dwellings company housing. With this in mind, Raymond Unwin and
his partner, Barry Parker, were asked to design the layout of roads for the
creation of the expanded estate at Brentham. This introduced a different Arts
and Crafts inspired aesthetic and also meant a shift towards a more picturesque
arrangement and the introduction short terraces, linked terraces, and
semidetached cottages. Unwin also makes repeated mention of the Ealing Tenants
Project in his book, that became the cornerstone of specific garden city
design. Unwin and Parker drew the urban plan, the housing was designed by
architects George Lister Sutcliffe and Frederic Cavendish Pearson.
The garden suburb was consciously designed with a
semi-rural picturesque effect in mind. There are three clear subsections within
this housing development that are indicative of changing ideas in urban
development and design. The first building phase (1901-05) is standard
Victorian group of streets with terraced housing. The second phase (1905-06)
was planned by Unwin and Parker, but lacks the typical Unwinesque
characteristics as the design was made before Raymond Unwin came into contact
with German urban planning on artistic principles. The third building phase
(1907-15) reflects Unwinesque principles and was also featured as an exemplary
project in his 1909 book Townplanning in Practice. Playing fields and
allotments are a reoccurred feature of housing on Garden City principles; in
Brentham 10% of the site was set aside for such functional green spaces.
Brentham Garden Suburb isn't a full garden city
development according to the models presented by Ebenezer Howard. The main
focus of the development is on mixed housing in a semi-rural setting with few
amenities included. The housing wraps around the existing church (1). Further
north the Brentham Club (2) is situated on a small green (3). The river Brent
(4) is the northern edge of the development. The focus is on family housing
with a single block of apartments for single people (5) included in the last
development phase. Originally the garden suburb was designed as a unit that
only connected to pre-existing roads. A corner (6) wasn't built as a result of
WW1 In the 1930s a new street for a neighbouring estate was made here.
During the period Brentham Garden Suburb was being
built, co-partnership housing -often modelled on the Rochdale Principles- became
a national movement. The Co-partnership Tenants Housing Council was set up in
1905 to advise numerous societies. A federation of tenants' societies had been
established, known as Co-partnership Tenants Ltd, under the chairmanship of
Henry Vivian the chair of Ealing Tenants Ltd. As a result many of the later co-partnership
schemes closely followed the ideas of Ealing Tenants. At Letchworth Garden City,
Garden City Tenants Ltd had close associations with Ealing Tenants Ltd. At
Hampstead Garden Suburb Vivian organised a tenants' society on the same lines
as Ealing Tenants. The movement also spread overseas to many countries,
including Canada and Russia. Examples from the Low Countries are, however,
modelled on the German Housing Coops.
Brentham is not only important as an early example of
cooperative housing, but is also shows the development of Unwinesque design.
The first section is Victorian in character (V). The second section (s1) shows
garden suburb design by Parker and Unwin without knowledge of Sitte-esque
artistic principles. Whilst working on this development Unwin became aware of
German urban planning and Brentham is for the most part a showcase of Unwinesque
design principles and thus a true garden suburb (gs). In the north the playing fields
(pf) were located on lower ground near the river. Allotments were located
behind the private gardens.
Brentham Garden Suburb wasn't returned to collective
ownership of the tenants as originally intended. The main reason for this was
the unravelling of the cooperative movement. Also, the development was never
completed as WW1 terminated building activity. Most of the proposed development
had been built by that time however. In the late 1930s the estate was
privatised. In 1969 Brentham Garden Suburb was declared a conservation area and
given protected listed status. A dedicated residents group was set up to guard
the future conservation of this important housing project.
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