THE ARCHITECTURAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF COOPERATIVE LIVING

THE ARCHITECTURAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF COOPERATIVE LIVING

The Architectural and Social History of Cooperative Living Lynn F. Pearson M MACMILLAN PRESS

Lynn F. Pearson 1988 Soticover reprint ofthe hardcover I st edition 1988 978-0-333-40620-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1988 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS L TD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Pearson, Lynn F. The architectural and social history of cooperative living. 1. Shared housing--social aspects-- Great Britain 1. Title 363.5 HD7333.A3 ISBN 978-1-349-19124-6 ISBN 978-1-349-19122-2 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19122-2

Contents List of Figures List of Plates Acknowledgements vi VB ix 1 The Nineteenth-century Home and its Alternatives 1 2 Associated Homes and Cooperative Housekeeping 11 3 Mrs E. M. King and the English Response 23 4 Homes for Working Women 45 5 Socialised Domestic Work and the Garden City 56 6 The Cooperative Housekeeping Boom 86 7 Alice Melvin of Finchley 119 8 Communal Living and the War 129 9 The Movement Declines 158 10 The Rise and Fall of the Cooperative Housekeeping Movement 188 11 Communal Living Today 202 Appendix 220 Notes and References 221 Index 268 v

List of Figures 1 E. V. Neale's associated home 30 2 Mrs E. M. King's cooperative home 35 3 Marie C. C. Morfit's cooperative house 40 4 Ladies' residential chambers, York Street, London 52 5 Proposed cooperative building in Bradford 82 6 Elmwood Cottages, Letchworth Garden City 88 7 Walter Crane's collective dwelling 93 8 Homesgarth, Letchworth Garden City 97 9 Waterlow Court, Hampstead Garden Suburb 107 10 The working woman's house 141 11 Mrs E. B. Pearsall's proposed cooperative houses, Letchworth Garden City 163 12 Meadow Way Green South, Letchworth Garden City 166 13 Guessens Court, Welwyn Garden City 169 14 St George's Conrt, Bournville, Birmingham 173 vi

List of Plates All photographs copyright the author unless otherwise stated. 1 Streatham Street 'Model houses for families', the courtyard 2 Cooperative home designed by E. W. Godwin for Mrs E. M. King (Building News, vol. 26, 24 April 1874, p. 452) 3 Chenies Street, ladies' residential chambers 4 York Street, ladies' residential chambers 5 Nutford House residential club 6 Queen's Club Gardens 7 Mrs Daubeny, manageress of the London Distributing Kitchen (The Lady's Realm, Feb 1902, p. 515) 8 Raymond Unwin's design for a quadrangle of artisans' dwellings (Raymond Unwin, Cottage Plans and Common Sense, Fabian Tract no. 109, Fabian Society, London, March 1902, p. 10; by kind permission of the Fabian Society) 9 Elmwood Cottages, Letchworth Garden City, by M. H. Baillie Scott (some alterations have been made to the original design) 10 Homesgarth, Letchworth Garden City, inside the quadrangle (author and Spare Rib) 11 The Orchard, Hampstead Garden Suburb, by Parker and Unwin (Garden Cities and Town Planning, November 1909, vol. 4, no. 35, p. 248, by kind permission of the Town and Country Planning Association) 12 Raymond Unwin's drawing of a 'group of cottages with a cooperative centre' (Raymond Unwin, Town Planning in Practice, Fisher Unwin, London, 1909, p. 381) 13 Waterlow Court, Hampstead Garden Suburb, inside the quadrangle (author and Spare Rib) 14 Waterlow Court, outside the quadrangle showing decorative brickwork 15 Pre-First World War picture of the interior of a flat at Waterlow Court (by kind permission of the Hampstead Garden Suburb Archives Trust) 16 Pre-First World War picture of the dining room at Waterlow Court (by kind permission of the Hampstead Garden Suburb Archives Trust) vii

VIII List of Plates 17 Meadow Way Green North, Letchworth Garden City 18 Mrs Alice Melvin, aged about 60 (taken about 1915; by kind permission of Rosemary Melvin) 19 House in Brent Garden Village, designed by P. Woollatt Home 20 Cedar Court, Brent Garden Village, by Taylor and Huggins 21 Part of the Melvin Cooperative Residential Society (Hampstead) Ltd property in Priory Road 22 Meadow Way Green South, Letchworth Garden City 23 Guessens Court, Welwyn Garden City, inside the quadrangle 24 St George's Court, Boumville, Birmingham

Acknowledgements I would first of all like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council, who provided the funding for the research fellowship at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS), University of Birmingham in 198~ which enabled this book to be written. Professor Gordon E. Cherry of CURS provided support, ideas and encouragement during my work on the book, and with Christopher Watson of CURS was instrumental in guiding the project through its initial stages. I am indebted to them both for their interest in this book. I would also like to thank the staff of CURS Library and the University of Birmingham Library, particularly the Inter-library Loans section, without whose efficient service this research would have been severely impaired. I want to thank some long-suffering friends who saw this work from its very early stages, especially Jenny Brennan who was first to encourage me to pursue this line of research. Frances Anderson added constructive criticisms which helped change my initial ideas into a research proposal, Helene Hogg bought me endless lunches and Janet Smith endured several long conversations. Throughout the research and writing of the book, Caroline Moseley offered constant support, ideas and willingness to discuss even its smallest details, for which I am deeply grateful. Lastly, Sam the dog succeeded in preventing me from becoming totally immersed in cooperative housekeeping. I have an academic debt to Dolores Hayden for her work on The Grand Domestic Revolution (referred to in the text), as this was one of the inspirations behind my investigation of the English cooperative housekeeping movement. I would finally like to thank the large number of people and institutions who contributed to this work in one or more ways, by allowing me to inspect and/ or to reproduce material in their collections, or by giving their time and information. The study relied enormously on access to a wide variety of archives and personal reminiscence, and I am very grateful to the following: Ian Allan Group Ltd, Ambleside Tourist Information Office, County of Avon Planning Department, BAAS, Borough of Barnet Engineer and Surveyor's Department, Mr A. H. Beatty, Bell and Hymans Ltd, City of Birmingham lx

x Acknowledgements Reference Library, Mr and Mrs Hugh Bidwell, University of Birmingham Library, BournviJle Village Trust, David Brightwell, British Architectural Library, BAL Drawings Collection, Building Societies Association, Miss Bury, Doreen Cadwallader, Jane V. Dansie and the Essex County Council, Roy Evans and the Letchworth Settlement, Miss V. G. Exton, Fabian Society, Fawcett Library, Neville Fay, First Garden City Museum, Mrs Stella Goldman of the Hummingbird Housing Association, Brigid Grafton Green, Guildford Museum, Guildhall Library, Hampshire County Libraries, Hampstead Garden Suburb Archives Trust, Philip Henslowe, Hertfordshire County Council, Hertfordshire County Council Record Office, Housing Corporation (all regions), Howard Cottage Society, M. R. Hughes, Imperial War Museum Department of Printed Books, Kenneth Johnson, George F. D. Jones, Miss K. M. Kaye, the Labour Party Library, Paul Larkin and Runnymede Borough Council, Helen Lloyd, London City and Westcliff Properties Ltd, Valerie Marett, Mr McBride, Rosemary Melvin, Mervyn Miller, T. E. Morgan, Mount Provincial Developments Ltd, Stella Mary Newton, Nuffield College Library, Onslow Village Ltd, Mr and Mrs K. Pegg, Mrs Petherick, Margaret Pooley, Public Record Office, Alison Ravetz, Registry of Friendly Societies, David N. Robinson, Mr J. Rogers, Philip Sharp, Mrs G. Shaw, Kathleen Slack, Ken Spinks, Jane Sutton, Miss L. Tetley, Elaine Tickel, Town and Country Planning Association, Kathleen Vinall, the Venerable Geoffrey Walton, Welwyn Hatfield District Council, Nina West, Mr and Mrs Woollons, Miss Wright. Transcripts of Crown-copyright records in the Public Record Office appear by permission of the Controller of HM Stationery Office. Lynn F. Pearson Whitley Bay