Bookworming: G. Feenstra, Tuinsteden

The Frisian-born architect Gerrit Feenstra (1890-1985) worked in a traditionalist style. In 1914, aged 24, he was appointed as stadsarchitect (municipal architect) by the city of Arnhem. He kept this post until 1920 when he decided to set up his own practice. He retired in 1960 at the age of 70. Although trained as a traditionalist at the polytechnic school, he included influences from the Amsterdamse School (Amsterdam School), the Haagse School (New Hague School) and Het Nieuwe Bouwen (New Objectivity) in his works. His post-WW2 work show great affinity with the Delftse School (Delft Traditionalist School). Arnhem is historically well-connected with Germany. This is partly the reason why Feenstra was asked to write a book in the series of text books for architects (Handboek voor Architecten) on the practical implementation of Garden Cities in 1917.

The book simply titled Tuinsteden was published in 1920. He choose the simple title to relate to the subject matter and on the frontispiece the full title with subtitle can be read: Tuinsteden, en volkshuisvesting in Nederland en het buitenland met een beknopt overzicht van woningwetgeving en crisismaatregelen [Garden Cities and public housing in the Netherlands and abroad with a concise review of housing legislation and crisis measures]. The richly illustrated book comprises of 4 sections.

I have a copy of the original with this stylish design on the front. The title page with the long descriptive title (middle). A page showing drawings and a site picture of Hampstead Garden Suburb (on the right). Feenstra sees this development as a leading project in future garden city development.

The first section of the book deals with Vroegere en hedendaagse toestanden en de woningbouwwetgeving (Historical and current situation with house building regulations). Before the 1901 Housing Act, Feenstra explains, there were three groups involved in house building: [1] philanthropic (housing) societies, [2] winter builders (who set their farm workers to work in construction projects when there was little work on the land) and [3] speculative, commercial developers (so-called revolution builders). The second group fell away with the modernisation of agriculture. The first group builds the best housing, but the last group produced much larger numbers of dwellings. Speculative house building is often of mediocre or worst quality, of poor construction and with substandard materials used. Most of these buildings include windowless rooms and attics and cellars converted for housing. As this leads to unsanitary conditions an Act was submitted to parliament in 1854 to improve living conditions and the standard of workman's housing. Conservative -confessional- parties were very successful in their delay tactics so only some minor regulations were approved. It would take a general enquiry (1872) to come to a final legislative proposal that -finally-  came into force in 1901.

This 1901 Housing Act comprised of 10 paragraphs that deal with [1] regulations on housing requirements, [2] declaration on number of inhabitants, [3] improvements to counter overcrowding, [4] condemned buildings, evictions, closures and demolitions, [5] compulsory purchase orders, [6] expanding built-up areas, [7] municipal financial support in housing, [8] governmental financial support in housing, [9] penal provisions and [10] concluding regulations. Most of the responsibilities for implementing this Housing Act lay with municipal authorities. For the realisation of public housing, housing cooperatives (Woningcorporaties) and building societies (Woningbouwverenigingen) were the only (non-profit) bodies that could apply for grants or guarantees. In 1918 the burocratic requirements were relaxed which lead to a speedy increase in the number of public housing projects. Other linked legislation is the 1906 Landarbeiderswet (Agricultural workers Act) that made the erection of small dwellings in the countryside possible for farm hands and seasonal labourers. Local authorities were given discretionary powers to grant land to locals for building their own small house.  

The first section of the book concludes with temporary housing (noodwoningen) and solutions. Temporary housing was mainly erected in industrial cities (Amsterdam, Arnhem, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, The Hague, Zwolle, etcetera). It was sometimes misused to quickly increase the amount of housing available. Although some were built well, most are small and of poor construction. Even the squalid temporary housing was nonetheless kept standing for up to 50 years. Some are still in use; Disteldorp in Amsterdam for instance.

The solution favoured by Dutch architects and planners was (and is) standardisation (normalisatie in Dutch). This trend was started in the nineteenth century based on German examples. Housing is divided in classes which are subdivided in types ranging from a three bedroom family house to a block of four apartments. Each type could be executed as a freestanding building, end of terrace (corner house) or as part of a row (terraced housing).

The second section deals with garden cities abroad. The first -short- chapter is a theoretical examination of the concept 'Garden City' (Tuinstad in Dutch) with a summary of the ideas of Ebenezer Howard (an idealist in the eyes of the practical Feenstra). Examples of foreign garden cities include factory housing at Mulhouse in France, philanthropic housing by the Peabody Trust in London, model villages (Port Sunlight, Bourneville and Earswick) and the garden cities of Letchworth, Hampstead Garden Suburb and the Well Hall Estate. Of each example mentioned a street plan with housing blocks is included, together with floor plans of typical dwellings, and photographs of exteriors and interiors. Feenstra comments on the unnecessarily tiny living rooms and unpractical kitchens that might suit the English taste for emulating grander housing, but are deemed unfit for the situation in the Low Countries. Incidentally Muthesius already commented on this phenomenon and the need for adaptation to local practices.

In a separate chapter examples from Germany are discussed, starting with housing projects in Essen by Krupp. Feenstra gives a full overview of housing provided by Krupp, starting with early examples of workers colonies (Scheder Hof, Alfredshof, and Altenhof). He then goes on the look at intermediate projects (Alfredshof extension and Friedrichshof) and concludes with garden villages (Altenhof II, Gartenstadt Dahlhauserheide, Margarethenhöhe, Siedlung Emscher Lippe, all initiated by Krupp and Gartenstadt Staaken near Berlin). Remarkably he makes no mention of Gartenstadt Hellerau near Dresden.

In the third section aptly entitled Hollandse toestanden, ontwerp tuinstadbebouwing [the Dutch situation, designing garden city buildings) Feenstra discusses the improvements and gains in public housing brought about by modern legislation. He show bad practice and good practice floor plans. Also he pays attention to that typically Dutch staple of urban housing the boven- en onderwoning normally consisting of two -sometimes up to four- dwellings stacked under one roof with a shared entrance but separate front doors. Feenstra focuses primarily on small dwellings; for him these are central to the attractiveness of the garden city model. He includes exemplary plans for houses, floor plans and street plans. Like Sitte he includes examples of interesting street scenes and junctions with sketches of actual situations from Frisia and Holland. Much like Unwin cross sections of residential streets with planting are included in the book. Feenstra briefly discusses best practice examples of middle class housing and also addresses the interior of public housing.

Some images from the book with exemplary housing projects. On the right the plan and an image of Dahlhauserheide a garden suburb in Hordel near Bochum. In the middle the plan and some floor plans of the Siedlung Emscher Lippe in Datteln, built for the colliery of the same name. On the right an example of the municipal housing in Hilversum, designed by Dudok as a series of garden village style neigbourhoods.

A full chapter is dedicated to gardens, with much attention paid to built demarcations (fences, walls, etcetera). The following chapter deals with school gardens and allotment. Both are seen as very important for a successful garden village. Here Feenstra shows a clear influence from Germany where allotment are an integral part of  garden villages and garden suburbs.

The fourth section of the book deals with Dutch examples of garden city type housing. All projects featured ate known as garden villages (tuindorp in Dutch). There are no garden cities in the Netherlands and Belgium as the term village was felt to be more fitting with the character and scale of these housing developments. Feenstra devotes a chapter to each exemplary housing project and includes a street layout, floor plans and pictures of the situation. The most important example is Tuindorp 't Lansink. Other chapters are devoted to Tuindorp Elinkwijk, Arbeidersdorp Zuilen, Tuindorp Heyplaats, Philipsdorp, Tuindorp Meerdervoort, Tuindorp Vreewijk, Municipal housing in Hilversum by Dudok and Tuindorp Ede.

Bookworming: Raymond Unwin, Town planning in practice

Raymond Unwin was a noted architect and one of the first English town planners who took most of his inspiration from Germany. He was born in Yorkshire but grew up and studied in Oxford. After his studies he returned to the North of England (first Chesterfield, then Manchester and later Sheffield). He worked as an engineer in iron manufacture and was inspired by John Ruskin and William Morris and in fact a member of the Sheffield Socialist Society. At the age of 30 he married Ethel, Barry Parker's sister. He formed a partnership with Parker in 1896 (three years later). Their architecture firm preferred the simple vernacular style of the Arts and Crafts Style and aims at improving housing standards for the working classes. They both wrote books and published articles and pamphlets on the subject of planned housing.

Parker and Unwin were asked to design the model village of New Earswick near York in 1902 and were invited to submit a plan for Letchwort Garden Citty in 1903. That same year they were involved in the Cottages near a Town Exhibit held in Manchester. In 1905 Parker and Unwin were asked to draw the plans for Hampstead Harden Suburb. Raymond Unwin became president of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1931. He died in 1940 aged 76.

In 1909 Raymond Unwin published his most famous book: Town planning in Practice, an introduction to the Art of Designing Cities and Suburbs. This book boasts 300 illustrations and was published in London and Leipsic (Leipzig). A German edition was published in 1922 in Berlin. The book is an effort to combine previously (un)published writings with pictures, plans and impressions by the author. In several chapters Unwin discusses Civic Art, the individuality of towns, formal and informal beauty, the city survey, boundaries and approaches, enclosed spaces, arrangement of roads, site planning, spacing and placement of buildings, variety of buildings, cooperation in site-planning and building bye-laws. There is a ten page index of plans and illustrations plus a bibliography with 17 English, 23 German and 27 French authors.

Unwin states that the rapid growth of towns and cities has lead to the disorderly and perfectly haphazard manner of streets being laid out with the aim of crowding as many buildings on the land as it would hold. Only in the first chapter does Unwin mention To-morrow by Ebenezer Howard. His references to Camillo Sitte are multiple and occur throughout the book. He has his eyes fixed on continental practices, especially in Germany where planning and designing town development had become routine for municipal authorities by 1900. Unwin laments that America France and England lack such planning and controlling regimes and still rely on local regulations (bye-laws). Cities, he argues, need art as an expression of civic life [and by extension an urban environment designed on artistic principles]. As such the conscious art of town building is new to England.

Unwin addresses the individuality of towns with a sketch of the ancient art of town building. For this he compares the differences in layout based on the history of the place showing examples like Chester (Roman town), Edinburgh (medieval old town and formal new town), Winchelsea (planned rebuilt town), Hereford (ancient road junction) and a long list of foreign examples -Moscow, Nuremburg, Mannheim, Rothenburg, Nancy, Monpazier, Paris, Bruges, Turin, Rome, Washington and Karlsruhe to name a few. Plans and reconstructions of recently excavated ancient cities are included. [Incidentally the plans of these ancient cities more often than not show a haphazard layout of streets indicative of ad-hoc planning.] In discussing medieval (German) cities and their particular layouts, Camillo Sitte is mentioned for the first time. He reiterates Sitte when he states that cities with development on irregular lines have so much system and artistic quality that they aren't merely incidental but instead must be the result of conscious planning and design.

Unwin doesn't limit himself to examples of irregular street plans, but also show regular and formal examples that are brought under the term "renaissance planning" [notwithstanding that most examples shown date from the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s]. The reconstruction of Paris under Eugène Haussmann and the monotonous grid iron American cities are also included in this section. Unwin feels it is possible to work along the lines of Sittes artistic principles in a design based on regular lines. He concludes that towns fall into two distinct classes: formal and informal. To elaborate on this he compares Oxford and Rothenburg (informal) with Paris, Nancy and Copenhagen-Amalienborg (formal). The differences in layout choices he -rightly- compares to styles of garden design. Successful town planning, Unwin states,  is akin to well designed gardens and characterised by the successful implementation of purposeful interventions. There is both merit in careful study of the site and its possibilities [the informal approach] and in a simple and orderly plan framing spaces and views [the formal approach]. He makes a plea for incorporating features of the site and where possible mature trees, woodland and other plantings. Unwin considers it wise not to dogmatise on theory!

The author stresses the importance of the city survey as the basis for any new town design. The practical and artistic are interdependent and must be worked out together. The main difference between the two is that practical considerations are often fixed while the artistic expression may take varying form. A proper city survey should include social aspects, population densities, distribution of functions and public spaces, historical development, places of special interest and the relevant context (geology, soil, water, climate, etcetera).  Unwin sums up the maps that need to be drawn and the diagrams that need to be prepared. He also includes examples. He states: without the right information no design can be executed well.

To combat the persistently expanding fringes of half-developed suburbs and half-spoiled countryside around the metropolis more attention must be paid to boundaries and approaches. Though historic cities often had strict boundaries they should not be copied but serve as inspiration. The design of "the wall" in Hampstead Garden Suburb is included as a good example of an attractive boundary. Unwin mentions allotments and parks as a way of creating internal and external boundaries in a suburban context. Other devices useful in creating an interesting approach mentioned in the book are avenues, boulevards, bridges gateways and higher buildings at entrances.

Unwin also elaborate son the importance of a central point or central focus. Centres and enclosed spaces have been the focus of cities and human social life since ancient times, although no recreation of known examples should be attempted. Often there is a clear functional centre with public building(s) in any new town, but the focus shouldn't merely lie there as some degree of central focal point in districts and neigbourhoods is advised by Unwin. He advocates seeing these central focus points not as a functional exercise but as a place [again referencing Sitte]. The effect of enclosure is the most important quality and single characteristic of a good place. Glimpses of buildings on long and short vistas from the place create interest. In contrast to Sitte, Unwin devotes several pages to planted roads [with sketches from the German magazine Städtebau]. Where Sitte treats roads mainly as devices for transport, Unwin also treats them as an integral part of a spatial composition (with greenery) and as a device for affording sites for buildings and other functions. Roads and streets can be arranged on the basis of function, width or use. Unwin shows several diagrams for different types of streets but also focuses heavily on junctions (like Sitte). The strong emphasis on curved streets -as advocated by German planners- isn't shared by Unwin who also sees beauty in straight streets and the formal alignment of spaces. He instead points to variation in the building line as a spatial device for creating interest along long vistas or straight streets. English designers should take inspiration from abroad for the use of greenery in the beautification of places. Therefore Unwin discusses the treatment and arrangement of grass trees and plants to improve the situation.

The chapter on site planning and residential streets deals with practical issues and shows, in contrast to the rest of the book, mostly pictures of British examples, often designed by the author [he is after all an architect]. The lengthy chapter on plots and placing buildings, together with the chapter on buildings explains the basis of so-called Unwinesque design. It elaborates on the number of dwellings per acre [12 is deemed perfectly suitable] and the most economical way of providing access to dwelling by streets and paths. Unwin also recommends the use of greens and closes to cluster houses around. He consciously speaks of cottages instead of houses or dwellings. The plans in the book also mainly show detached and semidetached houses with gardens back and front. Close groupings of buildings to give some sense of enclosure which in turn creates a sense of space are strongly recommended.

On the realisation of his ideas he references the German Societies of Public Interest (Öffentliches Versorgungsunternehmen) as the preferred model. As a practical person Unwin also makes note of the possibilities of Tennant Cooperatives [Brentham Garden Suburb], enlightened paternalism [Bourneville, New Earswick and Port Sunlight], Council Housing [Boundary Estate and Pimlico] and Tennant Societies [Letchworth and Hampstead Garden Suburb]. The modern school of German town planners is looked upon with envy by Unwin. The whole book is a pamphlet for municipal town planning powers. Building bye-laws are identified as stifling good development and encouraging overdevelopment and wasteful parcelling on samely narrow streets.

Bookworming: Hermann Muthesius, Das Englische Haus

This German architect, author and diplomat was born Adam Gottlieb Hermann Muthesius in 1861 in a small village in Sachsen-Anhalt as the son of a master builder. This pioneer of design is little-known in the Anglo-Saxon world, but is seen as a pivotal person in the development of modern design and architecture throughout continental Europe. He is renowned for promoting the ideas of the Arts and Crafts Movement within the German-speaking world. He is best-known for influencing early modernism in architecture and design as one of the founders of the Deutscher Werkbund and Bauhaus.

Muthesius started his academic career studying philosophy and history in Berlin, but changed to study architecture in Charlottenburg after two years in 1883 whilst working as an architect apprentice. After completing his studies he worked in Tokyo between 1887 and 1891 before returning to Germany to work for the Prussian Ministry of Public works. In 1895 he studied in Italy on a stipend before accepting the position of cultural attaché at the German Embassy in London. Here he worked for the next six years, returning to Berlin in 1902. As an avid admirer of English culture he was met with some resistance and accused of unpatriotic behaviour in Germany. He was also accused of spying by the British. I will focus on the first volume: Band 1 Entwicklung des Englischen Hauses (Development of the English House).

Hermann Muthesius also wrote books and articles. His most famous work is Das Englische Haus, a three volume report on residential architecture, domestic life and design, published in 1904-05. In 1908 the joined edition was first published. The book starts with the observation that the English have their own sensibilities and customs that set them apart from continental Europe. Although a narrow channel separates the island from the mainland there have been few influences from there. Instead, Muthesius states, cultural influences have been taken from further afield and have been appropriated by the English. [This isn't completely true but fits well with how the English saw -and still see- themselves.] This particular character is especially expressed in their buildings. [This is the premise of the book "The English House".]

The title page of Das Englische Haus (the second edition of 1908) on the left. In the middle a typical floor plan of a house by an Arts and Crafts architect with a free asymmetrical layout. On the right a picture of an example of a house with a dominant chimney stack that was included in the book as typical for an English domestic home.

Muthesius draws attention to the tradition of the free-standing single dwelling, comparing London to an expanded village opposed to the continental urban metropolis. Also he makes mention of the phenomenon of commuting into the city for work whilst living in a semi-rural environment of street after street of small family houses at travelling distance. He attributes this to the emphasis placed on owning a house, a cultural fixation of on the countryside and the dream of a self-sufficient life. He also cites the climate as a reason. The damp and often cloudy days promote indoor living. This all stems from a deeply conservative nature, Muthesius concludes. The yearning for country living, expressed in cities littered with gardens and the countryside being built over with files of free-standing homes, is innate to every Englishman.

Muthesius than proceeds with a history of the development of the English home. He starts with buildings in Norman times and works towards the 1860s, in his view the glory days of English house building. There are several paragraphs on old architecture dating back to Norman, early and late gothic and Elizabethan times. The examples featured include solely residences and castles of the nobility.

In the 17th century there is a clear influence from both France and Italy. Muthesius calls this the Period of Palladianism. This coincides with baroque architecture in continental Europe, but examples of this style are few and far between and more akin to the understated Dutch Baroque (also known as Dutch Palladianism in Britain). This classicist style also dominates the 18th century with Vitruvius Britannicus (1715-25) as the key publication. Muthesius includes several plans of buildings in this style, often on a strict axial layout.

The first domestic building featured in the book dates from the 1800s. It is used to point out the specific rooms of an English house -derived from grand mansions- such as the (with)drawing room, the parlour, the scullery and the pantry. The development of the single family dwelling expands greatly in the 19th century. In a separate train of thought Muthesius also points to Scotland as the place where romanticism originated in the British Isles. He also draws attention to some forms of romanticism being rooted in orientalism and chinoiserie.

The second and third sections of the book delve deeper into domestic architecture. The book shows examples of urban dwellings that emulate grand mansions inspired by the Italian renaissance, classical temples and the gothic era, all without a clear preference and with the thoroughly modern use of cast iron in construction and ornamental detail. As an admirer Muthesius devotes a lot of attention to the "Glasgow School" and William Morris an opposes this -in his mind better and more instinctive architecture- to the eclectic styles that are the norm at the time. Pictures of old farmhouses are included in the book. He sees the Arts and Crafts Movement as the beginning of a more artistic approach with country buildings as the source of "honest" contemporary domestic architecture.

In this modern English domestic house chimneys take centre stage as the defining feature of the building. The architectural style can vary widely from the vernacular style of the Glasgow School to a return to gothic, medieval and English profane baroque. Although some symmetrical house types remain, the real change of this time is the free floor plan with corridors and separate sometimes linked rooms (en suite). Several examples of named Arts and Crafts architects are presented in the book. Often these have floor plans and images of the exterior.

After 200 pages the Garden City Movement is mentioned for the first time. Mind you this movement is only a few years old when Muthesius produces this first volume in 1904. He lumps the Garden City together with model villages like Port Sunlight and Bourneville and the Millbank Estate, the Boundary Estate and some Peabody Estates. Only 10 pages are dedicated to these recent examples of social housing. In 1908 a short general history of garden design in England was included after this. It focuses on the development of gardens with examples in the French and Dutch style and informal chinoiserie and landscape gardens.

This book was very important for the spread of vernacular architecture and the Garden City Movement in the German-speaking world and countries under its direct influence. It is also an exemplary book on how to discuss architecture.

Bookworming: Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow

For most people in the English-speaking world modern town planning (i.e. city and country planning as we know it now) started with the publication in 1898 of To-morrow: a Peaceful Path to Real Reform by Ebenezer Howard. This book in the utopian tradition of the late nineteenth century describes an idealised place to live that marries the advantages of living in an urban environment (work and facilities) with the merits of country living (sense of community, clean air, connection with nature). This Garden City became truly popular after the 1902 reissue of the book as Garden Cities of To-Morrow coupled with the already established Garden City Association, founded by Howard in 1899. Howard envisaged clusters of Garden City satellites around existing (industrial) cities separated by a green belt of (semi)rural land with road and rail links between them.

Brett Clark, in his Introduction to Howard's Garden Cities of To-Morrow (2003) formulates it well: 'Ebenezer Howard advocated the construction of garden cities to reduce the alienation of human society from nature. The social world was to be reorganized and integrated into the surrounding environment to ensure sustainable interactions. In Garden Cities of To-morrow, Howard provided an outline of a garden city that promised a clean environment, free from air and water pollution, and an abundance of parks and open spaces. Social production was organized for local demands with the goal of creating self-sustaining communities, thus reducing the need for long-distance trade. Howard insisted that the long-term sustainability of garden cities was founded on abiding by the law of restitution, where all wastes were recycled back to the soil to ensure the continued productive potential of the land. In this, Howard's garden cities dissolved the divide between town and country and provided a model for an ecologically sustainable society.'

The title page of the 1902 edition reproduced here. In the middle Robert Beever's critical biography of Ebenezer Howard. The well-illustrated book on Letchworth by Mervyn Miller.

The book with many schematic illustrations has been an inspiration to many in many different countries, but each times the ideas were appropriated. Even Ebenezer Howard didn't manage to create true Garden Cities fully compliant with his ideals. Only two official Garden Cities were realised in England. Both Letchworth Garden City (1903) and Welwyn Garden City (1920) lack several essential elements, most prominently the communal ownership of the living environment, reinvestment of revenues into the local community and the absence of private landlords.

Much has been made of the illustrations in this seminal book. Some have tried to adopt these as the intended representations of the spatial design for such suburban satellites. I feel they were intended however more as organisational representations. The book is full of such lists and schematics to prove the point that such an ideal should and indeed could be realised. They are more organisational in nature than proposed layouts. The writer we must remember wasn't a design professional, but a clerk (making him the opposite of Camillo Sitte).

Two of the famous schematic representations included in Garden Cities of To-Morrow. On the left the Three Magnets representing the pull factors of town,  country and town-country (the garden city). On the right an organisational drawing showing the garden city suburban satellites that would be part of a future based on cooperative socialism.

Howard drew from various contemporary sources for his ideas. He never actively looked beyond Britain and the USA for inspiration. He turned to the American poets Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson, to the work of Henry George (Progress and Poverty, 1879) and dr. Benjamin Ward Richardson (Hygeia, or the City of Health, 1867) for inspiration. Many consider the time he spent in America -as an unsuccessful pioneer- as pivotal. Howard grew-up and lived in the city all his life. He left London for America only to return few years later. That city -or rather Greater London- grew rapidly during the nineteenth century. The growth of metropolitan areas all over Britain lead to the depopulation of rural areas around them. People found themselves in often dismal conditions in these expanding industrial cities.

Ebenezer Howard joined a debating society (the Zetetical Society) and thus came into contact with the ideas of freethinkers, preachers, prophets of change and progress, reformers and revolutionaries. Edward Bellamy's utopian novel Looking Backward (1888) inspired him to want to write his ideas down himself. He produced a hybrid utopian novel that also wanted to demonstrate the feasibility of what was proposed (he was after all a political clerk) as he saw the need for radical reform, notably in housing, employment and industrial policy in general.

Through his contacts Howard was introduced to the ideas of the Co-operative Housing Movement. This was the English branch of the co-operative movements that sprang up in both North-America and continental Europe -notably in Germany as Baugenossenschaften. In England the rapid growth of the co-operative movement can be directly linked to the Rochdale Principles, a set of ideals for a co-op formulated by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in 1844. The ideal of co-operative housing was first realised in Brentham Garden Suburb in Ealing, west London, in 1901. Despite the name this housing project isn't an offshoot from the Garden City Movement, but like Bedford Park (1877) it served as an inspiration for it. In that same year -1901- Ebenezer Howard managed to persuade Ralph Neville, chairman of the Labour Association to chair the Garden City Association. He introduced Howard to the wealthy backers of the Co-operative Movement, notably the Liberal MP Henry Vivian, who had already invested in the Ealing project. In 1903 Howard had secured financiers for Letchworth Garden City. Thus the utopian vision could take shape and become a reality!