The Aesthetic Movement Analysis

Long considered a prototype for later garden cities and suburbs, Bedford Parks origins were highly influenced by the Aesthetic Movement of the 1870s. This movement supported the emphasis of aesthetic values more than social-political themes. the ideals of men such as John Ruskin and William Morris,looked for the beauty in everyday life as a resist against what they saw as mid-Victorian materialism, vulgarity and industrialisation.

the London middle-classes of the time were looking in vain for an environment where these ideals could be expressed. They were in search of a place to escape from urban problems but also be within reaching distance of the city. Their needs were recognised by Jonathan Carr, a cloth merchant with an interest

The fact that he was quite well known among these artists, help achieve this reputation.
The first architect chosen for the job was Edward William Godwin.He had great credentials, after designing houses for Oscar Wilde and James McNeil Whistler in Chelsea. The established him as one of the leaders in the Aesthetic Movement.
Carr commissioned designs from Godwin was commissioned by Carr along with the architectural firm of Coe and Robinson to produce housing types for Bedford. Godwin designed two houses, one detached and one semi detached, while Coe and Robinson drew up one semi-detached design. As Carr did with all his architects and their designs, Carr bought the designs outright, and had complete control over where and how the buildings were constructed with very little input from the architects after their inital drawings.

When the first designs were published in the architectural press, they attracted extreme criticism for apparent defects in their planning. Carr could not afford to recieve such bad critism so early in his enterprise afford so early in his enterprise. He therefore got rid of both Godwin and Coe and Robinson and had his surveyor/architect William Wilson adapt Godwin's