Bournville History -1

Bournville played an important part in the development of the garden city movement, and it was "the parent of the whole [garden city] movement ". Bournville has a complicated history that consists of four stages: 1.The houses and Institutes constructed by George Cadbury in Northfield and Stirchley, and the fifteen houses (now demolished) for managers associated with the move of the factory to Bournville in 1879; 2. the building estate; 3. houses constructed for rental in 1898; 4. the foundation of Bournville Village Trust (BVT, established 1900).
The first architect employed by Cadbury was Alfred Walker, and the a other architect William Alexander Harvey was responsible for most of the houses constructed by the Bournville Building Estate, and developed the ‘Bournville Style’.

Cadbury's objectives in Bournville were the construction of decent quality homes at prices affordable to industrial workers. The particulars stated that it was: "intended to make it easy for working men to own houses with large gardens, secure from the dangers of being spoilt either by factories, or by the interference with the enjoyment of sun, light and air". The building estate was provided with no community facilities, and the houses were targeted at the lower- and upper- middle classes. 

The story of Bournville house begins on 29 September 1898 when one George Exell, gentleman, purchased a semi-detached pair of houses for £700. (Architect W.A. Harvey)

The first group of houses constructed by Bournville Village Trust. (Architect: W. A. Harvey)

The Bournville Building Estate in 1898.

The Bournville Building Estate as Model Village, 1915    

SOCIAL PROBLEM- exclusion of female voices

The factory always employed more single women than men, married women were not employed, and women who became pregnant lost their jobs. Most single women would have been unable to afford to buy or rent a house on the Bournville Estate. All of these voices are absent from the accepted story, and yet the only true measure of the success or failure of a model community must come from the people who either bought or rented houses. 

REFERENCE

John R. Bryson and Philippa A. Lowe, Story-telling and history construction: rereading George Cadbury’s Bournville Model Village, Journal of Historical Geography, 28, 1 (2002) 21–41 doi:10.1006/jhge.2001.0372