Port Sunlight
9781465686183
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
The individual or community which has no ideal is to be pitied. For, whatever may happen, there is always a better chance for those who maintain a high ideal than for those who, without one, adventure themselves against the chances and difficulties that surround us. Nothing is more disheartening to the idealist and reformer than to find not only thousands of individuals but whole communities without a guiding star of faith and hope. How fortunate is a place like Port Sunlight, when we compare its history and possibilities with those of London! It is pleasant to realise that what has become a problem of such a very serious kind in London after so many years of haphazard and chance, is happily barred out of the horizon in the definitely schemed plan of the garden city or the model village. But it is one thing to have a scheme or an ideal and another to have a good one. Moreover, as to whether it is good or bad, or wholly or only partially good or bad, the scheme does not always show until it has been some time in operation. In time the awkward corners may be rounded off, or they may become more acute, but the actual life of the community in any so-called model village or town soon proves the value or the unimportance of those features which have been part of the design. What most impresses itself on those who study the industrial village of Port Sunlight is the fact that it is the definite outcome of a genuine ideal. Whether its present state has surpassed the hopes of its founder or has failed to realise them, we can at any rate see that this was meant to be something better than what had been before, and that no effort was to be wanting to secure this. We are sure that the inconsequent charm and the haphazard picturesqueness of an old English village were not the main objects in view, but that the aim was a conveniently planned and healthy settlement laid out with all possible artistic thought on sound business lines. Garden grounds, roads, and open spaces were to be ample without being wasteful, houses were to be picturesque but sensibly planned. Avenues were to be planted and gardens laid out with needful limitations as to size and direction. The individuality of separate gardens was to be subordinated to a definite idea of communal amenity. Variety of plan was to be obtained only within a certain economic range.
