International studio (22.1904)

BUNGALOW COTTAGES IN
RABY ROAD, THORNTON HOUGH

So the externally picturesque relics of bygone
times, their crumbling sandstone walls, thatched
roofs, and climbing roses had to vanish before
tire inevitable intrusion of modern ideas demand-
ing decent family accommodation and wholesome
sanitation.
Yet this was not accomplished without some
unwillingness on the part of the inhabitants to be
removed from the old ruins to which they had
become attached.
To an energetic landlord such as Mr. IV. H. Lever,
with power and means to carry out his reforming
instincts, the problem, it appears, was not how to

build an entirely new
village, but how to
rebuild an old one.
Absolutely irreclaim-
able cottages only were
pulled down ; those that
were at all adaptable to
modern requirements
were altered and re-
paired.
The rebuilding was not
always done on the old
sites, but as far as pos-
sible the general outline
of the village was pre-
served, and a score or
more of additional cot-
tages have been erected
to supply the growing
requirements of the
farm-labourers; and
the tenancy is confined
almost entirely to this class.
Mr. Lever has not been discouraged by the fact
that one per cent, is all the direct return upon his
investment. In his view, if rents were raised above
the amount the village labourer can afford to pay,
the majority of the tenants would be forced away,
and the value of his farms in the parish would be
depreciated through the labourers not being housed
within the same district; but, by retaining the
original village population, he thus gains indirectly
upon the value of the farm property.
The simplest of the dwellings, planned by
Messrs. Grayson & Quid, of Liverpool, form a

MESSRS. GRAYSON AND OULD
ARCHITECTS


PLANS OF BUNGALOW COTTAGES,
KABY ROAD, THORNTON HOUGH

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