Médiathèque

Letchworth Garden City was founded in Northern Hertfordshire in 1903 based on the ideas of Ebenezer Howard. Appalled by the squalor of Victorian cities and the poverty of much country life, Howard put foward a solution in 1898 in the book “Tomorrow, A Peaceful Path to Real Reform.”

This sets out his plans for Garden Cities, which could unite the best features of both town and country, providing an alternative “in which all advantages of the most energetic and active town life, with all the beauty and delight of the country, may be secured in perfect combination.”

Architects Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin won the competition for the ground plan of the new town, and they were responsiblefor the overall Arts and Crafts style og the early building; well-designed red-roofed houses with roughcast white walls, set in wide leafy roads. Over the years the town has grown and developed, but even now much of it would be clearly recognisable to its postcard-writing Edwardian residents.

Margaret Pierce’s fascinating book documents the changing face of Letchworth, the world’s first Garden City, and shows how this unique town has matured over the last century.