The contribution of Sir Ebenezer Howard to the evolution of architecture in 19th century

Britain.

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Ebenezer Howard (29 January, 1850–1 May, 1928)

Sir Ebenezer Howard 1850-1928,

English town planner, principal founder of the English garden-city movement. His To-morrow: a Peaceful Path to Real Reform (1898), reissued as Garden Cities of To-morrow (1902), outlined a model self-sustaining town that would combine town conveniences and industries with the advantages of an agricultural location.

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Life He was born in Fore Street in the

City of London. He was son of a shopkeeper. He started his education firstly in Suffolk, then Cheshunt in Hertfordshire and finally completing his education at the age of 15 at Stoke Hall, Ipswich. His formal education was limited.

After starting work in a stockbroker’s office at age 15, Howard learned shorthand and held various jobs as a private secretary and stenographer before becoming a shorthand reporter in the London law courts.  While he worked for a firm of law stenographers Howard witnessed the regeneration of the central business district and the development of the city's rapidly growing suburbs.

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Influenced by an Uncle who was a farmer,  at the age of 21 he emigrated with two companions to the United States with the intention of farming. They travelled to the West and he settled on 160  acres in Howard County, Nebraska as a homestead farmer. This venture did not work out and soon discovered that he was not meant to be a farmer. Shortly he made his way to the city of Chicago. He moved to Chicago, Illinois to resume his career as an office worker. He worked as a reporter for the courts and newspapers. Howard began to think about ways to improve the quality of life. By 1876 he was back in England. He arrived at a time when the city was recovering from the great fire of 1871 which had destroyed most of the central business district. He found a job with Hansard, and he joined a firm of official Parliamentary reporters. Here he was responsible for recording the details of debates , committees and commissions and it was at this occupation that he spent the rest of his life. In 1904, Howard’s wife died; he remarried in 1907. Howard moved to live in the first Garden City, Letchford, in 1905. He first lived in Norton Way South for some time, and moved to Homesgarth in 1911. He was elected first president of the Garden Cities and Town Planning Federation in 1913, and became an honorary member of the Town Planning Institute in 1914. Howard moved to Welwyn Garden City in 1921, the second garden city he founded. There he remained until his death. He was knighted in 1927. He died on May 1, 1928 after suffering a chest infection and stomach cancer.

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Howard was frustrated by the problems of housing and labour. He observed that all parties no matter how opposed politically, socially or by religious beliefs were virtually united by one issue, the continued stream migration from country districts to the already overcrowded cities. The background to the problem was the growth of the Victorian industrial cities. Industrialization had drawn the population into the cities with the promise of better wages, and amongst other attractions, more opportunities for work and social activities. Unfortunately the cities became overcrowded, housing,  water supply and drainage inadequate and rents and prices high. On the other side of the problem , the country and agricultural land was being stripped of its able bodied population. Depressing the economy of these areas and leaving villages deserted with the remaining population crowded into poor quality  dwellings. The shortage of living accommodation for agricultural workers and the decline of the agricultural communities increased the pressure that drove the people towards the towns and cities.

The Trigger

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Working long hours for low wages the agricultural workers could not afford to rent properties at a level that encouraged new building. The migration of the population led to disastrous living conditions in both the cities and the country for those without the money to get away from the worst of it. The overcrowding and the industrial pollution together with the lack of good water supplies, poor drainage , poverty and slum living conditions led to disease. Several outbreaks of cholera between 1831 and 1854 killed hundreds of thousands, creating national concern for the public health.  Various reports around the early 1840's reported on Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Classes . Polluted water supplies due to inadequate or total lack of sanitary sewage and waste facilities , poor burial practices , and the effect of overcrowded housing were all identified as sources of disease. Gradually public health legislation led to improvements in water supply and drainage and planning controls for buildings were introduced. This led to the mass of suburban housing built to conform with the new legislation around existing cities. It didn't address the problem of migration.

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As a young man Howard had spent his spare time moving in various intellectual circles including nonconformist churchmen , other religious groups and reformers. The land question was a major source of discussion among these groups, and the many issues concerning land ownership, land nationalization, land taxation, land values, and the problems of urban squalor and poverty would have been issues he was well aware of. He see the various attempts being made by industrialists to set up healthy, well planned model communities for their employees. There were several  earlier developments for example Copley in 1849-53, but the most notable were those by W.H.Lever (1851-1925) and George Cadbury (1839-1922)  who were both later involved in the Garden City movement. The housing here was of a quality and design that influenced later construction at  New Ears wick (built for the employees of Row tree in 1902, this village was begun by Parker and Unwin before Letchworth and features many of the ideas that they would develop for the Garden City), and early estates by London County Council.

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Influences and Ideas Howard read widely, including Edward Bellamy's 1888 utopian novel Looking Backward and thought deeply about social issues. One result was his book titled To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform, which was reprinted in 1902 as Garden Cities of To-Morrow. This book offered a vision of towns free of slums and enjoying the benefits of both town (such as opportunity, amusement and high wages) and country (such as beauty, fresh air and low rents). Through his ideas, he outlined a model self-sustaining town that would combine town conveniences and industries with the advantages of an agricultural location. The garden city movement is an approach to urban planning that was founded in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by greenbelts, and containing carefully balanced areas of residences, industry, and agriculture. Two cities were founded based on Howard's ideas: Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City, both in England.

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THE TOWN-COUNTRY MAGNET

This diagram of Ebenezer Howard shows the position of people at the time of The Industrial Revolution. People in England at that time have a question in their mind that 'Where will they go?,’ Ebenezer Howard gave answer of this question by this diagram. He explained that there are two choices for them first is Town and second is country. But both options has its negative points. So he give them the third choice Town – Country. It was the combination of both town as well as country. The Town – Country were new suburban towns of limited size, planned in advance, and surrounded by a permanent belt of agricultural land. Such suburban Cities were the perfect blend of city and nature.

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The Garden City The diagram above shows the plan of The Garden City prepared by Sir Ebenezer Howard. "An estate of 6,000 acres was to be bought and held in trust for the people of Garden City. A town was to be built near the centre of the estate to occupy about 1,000 acres. In the centre was to be a park in which were placed the public buildings, and around the park a great arcade containing shops, etc. The population of the town was to be 30,000. The building plots were to be of an average size of 10 by 130 feet. There were to be common gardens and cooperative kitchens. On the outer ring of the town there were to be factories, warehouses, etc., fronting on a circular railway. The agricultural estate of 5,000 acres was to be properly developed for agricultural purposes as part of the scheme, and the population of this belt was taken at 2,000.

The diagram on next slide represents one section or ward of the town. It consists six magnificent boulevards--each 120 feet wide--traverse the city from centre to circumference, dividing it into six equal parts or wards. In the centre is a circular space containing about five and a half acres, laid out as a beautiful and well- watered garden; and, surrounding this garden, each standing in its own ample grounds, are the larger public buildings--town hall, principal concert and lecture hall, theatre, library, museum, picture-gallery, and hospital.

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The rest of the large space encircled by the 'Crystal Palace' is a public park, containing 145 acres, which includes ample recreation grounds within very easy access of all the people. Running all round the Central Park (except where it is intersected by the boulevards) is a wide glass arcade called the 'Crystal Palace', opening on to the park. This building is in wet weather one of the favorite resorts of the people. Here manufactured goods are exposed for sale. The space enclosed by the Crystal Palace is, however, a good deal larger than is required for these purposes, and a considerable part of it is used as a Winter Garden --the whole forming a permanent exhibition of a most attractive character brings it near to every dweller in the town--the furthest removed inhabitant being within 600 yards. Passing out of the Crystal Palace on our way to the outer ring of the town, comes Fifth Avenue--lined, as are all the roads of the town, with trees--fronting which, and looking on to the Crystal Palace, we find a ring of very excellently built houses, each standing in its own ample grounds. The houses are for the most part built either in concentric rings, facing the various avenues, or fronting the boulevards and roads which all converge to the centre of the town. Noticing the very varied architecture and design which the houses and groups of houses display--some having common gardens and co- operative kitchens. The municipal authorities exercise control though proper sanitary arrangements are strictly enforced.

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Then comes 'Grand Avenue'. This avenue is fully entitled to the name it bears, for it is 420 feet wide, and, forming a belt of green upwards of three miles long, divides that part of the town which lies outside Central Park into two belts. It really constitutes an additional park of 115 acres--a park which is within 240 yards of the furthest removed inhabitant. In this splendid avenue six sites, each of four acres, are occupied by public schools and their surrounding playgrounds and gardens, while other sites are reserved for churches. On the outer ring of the town are factories, warehouses, dairies, markets, coal yards, timber yards, etc., all fronting on the circle railway, which encompasses the whole town, and which has sidings connecting it with a main line of railway which passes through the estate. This arrangement enables goods to be loaded direct into trucks from the warehouses and workshops, and so sent by railway to distant markets. The refuse of the town is utilized on the agricultural portions of the estate, which are held by various individuals in large farms, small holdings, allotments, cow pastures, etc.

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This is another diagram made by Sir Ebenezer Howard. It illustrates that the garden city (which he proposed) must be built around the central big city. Small town or garden city will grow around big city and will be connected with each other as well as big city with rail network and road network.

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Letchworth Garden City

Letchworth Garden City, is a town in Hertfordshire, England. This Garden City was founded Sir Ebenezer Howard in 1903, was one of the first new towns, and is the world's first Garden City. Its development inspired another Garden City project at Welwyn Garden City, as well as many other smaller projects worldwide.

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Welwyn Garden City

Welwyn Garden City is a town in Hertfordshire, England. Welwyn Garden City, as its name suggests, is a garden city, founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s following his previous experiment in Letchworth Garden City, and designed by Louis de Soissons.

Above two are the two towns, named as garden city. These are the examples of the garden city founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard.

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