Brentham: A History of the Pioneer Garden Suburb 1901-2001

Brentham: A History of the Pioneer Garden Suburb 1901-2001, Aileen Reid, Brentham, Brentham Heritage Society, 2000, 264 pp, £25.00 (h/b) This attractive study of Brentham Garden Suburb has much to commend it. It is written by an authority on E. W. Godwin, commended by the Prince of Wales and introduced by Professor Sir Peter Hall. It provides a lively, well-illustrated and detailed account of the first tenants' co-partnership scheme in Britain. Even specialist planning historians will have only passing knowledge of the history of the pioneering estate developed by Ealing Tenants Limited. Aileen Reid not only greatly extends our knowledge of the history of Brentham Garden Suburb itself, but also provides an invaluable account of the context from which it emerged and the ongoing pressures on the estate. Brentham: A History of the Pioneer Garden Suburb begins with a valuable account of the history of the Tenants' Co-partnership movement and the dominant role played by Henry Vivian. The ideals of the promoters of co-partnership were similar to those of Ebenezer Howard and the garden city enthusiasts. Reid explores the connections between the two movements, and highlights some of the ideological links and pragmatic compromises that were made in the development of Letchworth and Brentham. She highlights the role played by co-partnership societies in these and other significant developments, such as Hampstead Garden Suburb. The connection with the Arts and Crafts movement and, in particular, the work of Raymind Unwin and Barry Parker is clearly brought out. Aileen Reid provides a fascinating and detailed account of the Ealing Tenants and the building of Brentham between 1901 and 1915. She identifies the `pioneers', many of whom were connected with the local branch of a building co-partnership company, General Builders Limited. They were encouraged and guided by Henry Vivian, who was to play a dominant role in the development of the estate. Ealing Tenants had a rocky first year, and development proceeded in a haphazard manner during the following years. Compared with schemes elsewhere, the first dwellings were stylistically not very innovative. There was some disagreement about the types of house to be built. Henry Vivian was in favour of providing houses for a wider range of tenants and pressed for the expansion of the estate. In this, as in the later battle between the shareholders and tenants, Vivian got his way. The purchase of significant amounts of land in 1906-07 led to the employment of Parker and Unwin to draw up a plan for the extended scheme. A further plot was bought in 1909 and was laid out to a plan by the estate architect F. C. Pearson. A lucid account is provided of the architecture and planning of Brentham in the period up to 1915. The gradual development of the plan of the expanding estate is carefully recounted. The shift from the early terraced dwellings to the more picturesque Arts and Crafts cottages of F. C. Pearson, the architect of the suburb from 1907 to 1910, is clearly identified. The more restrained domestic designs of his successor, G. L. Sutcliffe, are deftly analysed, as is his important plan for the Brentham Institute. Sutcliffe was only briefly employed as architect at Brentham; he soon assumed the wider role as architect to Co-partnership Tenants Limited. …