MODERN 1900 - 1950

Garden Villages

Sir Ebenezer Howard, following a stay in America, had the idea of building a Garden City. This would be an independent ‘city’ placed in the countryside providing housing, industry and all the amenities a community would need. Letchworth, commenced in 1903, was the first Garden Village project to be built in England in the early years of the twentieth century. These low cost housing developments were community based with open spaces and natural landscaping surrounding houses and flats, all built to a similar design.

Merville Garden village, a planned settlement in the suburbs of Belfast, was commenced in 1949. It was designed by E.Prentice Mawson on the same principles as earlier garden villages. It was designated a conservation area in 1995.