| Raymond Unwin |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT RAYMOND UNWIN | |
| british urban planners | |
| english socialists | |
| british civil servants | |
| socialist league uk, 1885 members | |
| people from rotherham | |
| 1863 births | |
| 1940 deaths | |
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Born in Rotherham , Yorkshire , Unwin grew up in Oxford after his father sold up his business and moved there to study. His education was at Magdelen College School. In 1884 he returned to the North to become an apprentice engineer for Stavely Iron and Coal Company near Chesterfield . Unwin had become interested in social issues at an early age and was inspired by the lectures and ideals of John Ruskin and William Morris . In 1885 he moved to Manchester and became secretary of the local Morris's Socialist League . He wrote articles for their newspaper and spoke on street corners for their cause and the Labour Church . He also became a close friend of the socialist philosopher Edward Carpenter , whose Utopia n community ideas led to his developing a small commune at Millthorpe near Sheffield . In 1887 he returned to Staveley Company as an engineer, working on development of mining townships and various other buildings. In 1893 he married Barry Parker 's sister Ethel, with he and Parker forming a partnership in 1896 based in Buxton , Derbyshire. They preferred the simple vernacular style and made it their aim to improve the standards of housing for the working classes. They were also members of the Northern Art Worker's Guild and were close friends of Edgar Wood (1860 - 1935) the leading Arts and Crafts architect in the North of England, a founder member of the group. In their various writings, including their book The Art of Building a Home (1901), Parker and Unwin aimed to popularised the Arts And Crafts Movement , and as a result of their success thousands of homes were built on their pattern in the early part of the 20th century. In 1902 they were asked to design a model village at New Earswick near York for Joseph and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree , and the following year they were given the opportunity to take part in the creation of Letchworth , when the First Garden City Company asked them to submit a plan. In 1903 they were involved with the "Cottages Near a Town Exhibit" for the Northern Art Workers Guild of Manchester. In 1904 after their plan was adopted they opened a second office at Baldock. In 1905, Henrietta Barnett asked them to plan the new Garden Suburb at Hampstead. Unwin moved from Letchworth to Hampstead in 1906, and he lived here for the rest of his life at the farmstead "Wyldes". http://www.letchworthgardencity.net/heritage/index-4.htm Unwin was knighted in 1932, received the RIBA Gold Medal in 1937, and was awarded by honorary doctorate by Harvard University in 1937. |
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