tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post3004758808150309830..comments2024-03-28T22:50:02.315+11:00Comments on ART and ARCHITECTURE, mainly: Port Sunlight - a model village for Lever Brothers' workersHelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-8117665481361157202015-04-08T23:55:12.538+10:002015-04-08T23:55:12.538+10:00Janet
Thank you. I hope your writing project goes...Janet<br /><br />Thank you. I hope your writing project goes well since Port Sunlight was an important model village in its own era.<br /><br />Whenever Utopian settlements of the late 19th century were discussed, it is difficult for our generation to know how much was ideological commitment and how much was the true experience of contemporary families.<br /><br />In Fruitlands near Boston, for example, people voted with their feet. But in other cases, we need the evidence provided by people like your grand parents. Yes Port Sunlight was an amazingly privileged place to live in its era, but families still needed heating etc.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-54623657015760974452015-04-08T17:42:05.220+10:002015-04-08T17:42:05.220+10:00Hello. I grew up in Port Sunlight and am currently...Hello. I grew up in Port Sunlight and am currently writing about my childhood there. I had a quick read through your informative article and can I add to the Lever Art gallery. It was built as a dedication to his wife Elizabeth Ellen, who died in 1913. The building was finally completed in 1922 as you correctly say. <br />Lever was greatly admired and respected by his villagers. My great grandfather and his family moved into the village in 1912 and he worked for Lever all his life on the waterways. He was one of the pall bearers at the funeral, all of whom were barge captains.<br />The houses were beautiful from the front but less appealing at the back although each had a garden or a small tiled yard. The windows were rather small and my mother used to complain about the lack of light. Inside they were very basic and in the 1960s there was a renovation plan to modernise the housing and put in heating. These took the place of storage heaters which were useless to be honest! We had a coal fire which still got plenty of use! <br />Lever had a strict code which he expected his workers to live by too, but the payback was to live in a beautiful space which was far more genteel than anybody could have imagined at the time. You have to remember that living conditions for workers in the Edwardian era were appalling and Port Sunlight was an amazingly privileged place to live. Lever also had a much higher percentage of female workers and my great grandmother was never made homeless after my great grandfather died and continued to be housed in the village until she died at the age of 93! Janethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01475921622769265471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-50854737129259060082013-06-10T07:44:33.986+10:002013-06-10T07:44:33.986+10:00Andrew
Thank you. I love good links to sources th...Andrew<br /><br />Thank you. I love good links to sources that I would not necessarily have found myself. Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-55871614875666966312013-06-08T07:13:34.771+10:002013-06-08T07:13:34.771+10:00Someone else has visited Port Sunlight and taken q...Someone else has visited Port Sunlight and taken quite a number of photos, which you may find interesting.<br /><br />http://scottstraveladventures.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/port-sunlight/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-78759605633037379122011-11-27T17:09:53.045+11:002011-11-27T17:09:53.045+11:00Peter
nod... always delightful.
I assumed, in th...Peter<br /><br />nod... always delightful.<br /><br />I assumed, in the post, that Lever displayed the taste typical of high Victorian industrialists. They had money and wanted to make their mark in "clean" works, not related to their industry. What better way than collecting and displaying sublime works of art eg by Holman Hunt, Edward Burne Jones, John Everett Millais, Dante Rossetti, Frederic Leighton, Lawrence Alma Tadema, George Watts, Ford Madox Brown and others. And other works of art, as you noted.<br /><br />If this was true for one successful industrialist in Liverpool, I am sure you are correct about the many other successful high Victorian industrialists in the NW.<br /><br />Whether the paintings ended up on the family’s dining room walls or were given to public collections largely depended on the industrialists’ children and grandchildren. Port Sunlight may have got lucky.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-31737098308698699382011-11-27T05:50:07.906+11:002011-11-27T05:50:07.906+11:00Helen --
The pre-Raphaelite collection in the Lad...Helen --<br /><br />The pre-Raphaelite collection in the Lady Lever Gallery is, as you say, one of the best, and I have visited it often. It never fails to delight. Lever also housed his other art collections in this gallery, and so there are sublime collections of marble sculpture and of Chinese pottery also there. <br /><br />The Northwest of England was rich in the 19th century, and wealthy people collected the modern of their day, eg, the pre-Raphaelites. As a consequence there are superb collections in Liverpool, Manchester and the region. Even small-town galleries nearby will often have a major bequest or two, such as the Thomas Moran painting "Nearing Camp" in Bolton Town Gallery.peterhttp://www.vukutu.com/blog/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-50170397489508468372011-11-23T23:44:06.028+11:002011-11-23T23:44:06.028+11:00askada
Port Sunlight was a revolutionary project ...askada<br /><br />Port Sunlight was a revolutionary project in its time and it is still fascinating as a development model today - 125 years later.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-24721600704800680672011-11-23T18:16:50.723+11:002011-11-23T18:16:50.723+11:00No entro en pólemica social,creo que el proyecto f...No entro en pólemica social,creo que el proyecto fue bello y ha llegado a nuestros días con sabor dulce-amargo a chocolate.askadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17322744980585665571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-61735258628287406822011-11-19T13:28:18.130+11:002011-11-19T13:28:18.130+11:00Anonymous
I did not know about the planned compan...Anonymous<br /><br />I did not know about the planned company towns in India, but it makes perfect sense. The problems you raised for 21st century India are very similar to the problems that beset company towns in the 19th century British experience.<br /><br />Let me repeart what I said about Bournville. The village needed to be "normal", so the Cadburys people specifically designed a mixed community in terms of both class and occupation: a model of good planning open to all comers, rather than containing only tied houses for Cadbury workers. <br /><br />Thus it would be possible for your industrialists to be spending money on projects that benefited the whole local community.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-79249434617472583222011-11-19T07:29:15.251+11:002011-11-19T07:29:15.251+11:00Fascinating article Thank you Company villages are...Fascinating article Thank you Company villages are quite common in areas of general deprivation Eg in India where people would fight to get a job with Tata or the railways in order to get accommodation in these mini paradises. I suppose the problem is that you end up with these little private towns, amazing facilities protected by small armies of security guards to keep outsiders out Perhaps it would have been better if these industrialists had spent the money on projects that benefited the whole local community Having said that I do wish town planners, builders and architects had taken note This is the sort of environment that people want to live in not the stuff that has actually beeb built since the second world warAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-40136670543953249072011-11-18T08:29:22.795+11:002011-11-18T08:29:22.795+11:00PM Doolan
smells (both attractive and nasty) were...PM Doolan<br /><br />smells (both attractive and nasty) were something I mentioned in reference to New Swindon but something I forgot in connection with Port Sunlight. These places might have been a workers' paradises but the working hours were still very long, and the air pollution and noise were constant throughout the day and night.<br /><br />By the way, were there any garden cities or model villages for Lindt workers and their families?Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-51178479112881814512011-11-18T00:37:59.463+11:002011-11-18T00:37:59.463+11:00I like Val S.'s remark about the smell of choc...I like Val S.'s remark about the smell of chocalate being maddening. I teach just a few hundred metres from the Lindt chocolate factory outside of Zurich. The factory is located in the very posh village of Kilchberg, right beside the lake. In the summer we use the nearby lakeside beach. It is a starnge experience to be floating in the clean water with hills all around and the Alps in the distance and a faint but constant smell of choclate in your nostrils. Maddening indeed.P. M. Doolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16673509230835222713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-37914403235738694322011-11-17T01:25:27.049+11:002011-11-17T01:25:27.049+11:00Val S
YES :) I am so glad you found the towns to ...Val S<br /><br />YES :) I am so glad you found the towns to be beautiful. <br /><br />I came to the topic via the Arts and Crafts movement - town planners and designers in the 19th century who wanted green, healthy, well planned cities that would meet the needs of all the residents. But I wasn't ever sure if the towns turned out exactly as the Arts and Crafts people had hoped.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-64754385613647993112011-11-17T01:13:21.917+11:002011-11-17T01:13:21.917+11:00J Bar
with good reason! William Lever of Lever Bro...J Bar<br />with good reason! William Lever of Lever Bros, established in Sydney, visited Melbourne in 1914. There he met Kitchen & Sons, who were successful soap manufacturers. They blended the two companies into Lever and Kitchen.<br /><br />I suppose Yallourn would be the closest example in Australia that fitted the pattern of a planned, company town with every facility known to humanity.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-26781233671416905412011-11-16T21:36:10.785+11:002011-11-16T21:36:10.785+11:00When I saw the name Lever Brothers, I immediately ...When I saw the name Lever Brothers, I immediately thought of Lever & Kitchen. An interesting read.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16361781616939928650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-53498811592755284292011-11-16T16:20:15.004+11:002011-11-16T16:20:15.004+11:00I've been to both Port Sunlight and Bournevill...I've been to both Port Sunlight and Bourneville. They're both beautiful, and the Lady Lever Gallery is a treat. I was lucky enough to live fairly near, so I went several times. I never visited the other buildings, though. <br /><br />I've been to Bourneville only once, and found the omnipresent smell of chocolate almost maddening! I'm sure I must have stopped at the first newsagent to buy a Fruit and Nut.Valhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02451134989199249673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-49577126556456417512011-11-15T23:46:31.591+11:002011-11-15T23:46:31.591+11:00Hermes
Utopian Socialism must have been a very di...Hermes<br /><br />Utopian Socialism must have been a very different motivation from paternalistic capitalism, with or without Christian charity. The question we have to ask, still I suspect, is how did the recipients of all this benevolence read the situation?Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-8162047112126135422011-11-15T23:41:54.303+11:002011-11-15T23:41:54.303+11:00Jane and Lance
thank you for picking up the Birmi...Jane and Lance<br /><br />thank you for picking up the Birmingham glitch as well. I had the opposite experience to you i.e I knew a lot about Port Sunlight but nothing whatsoever about Bournville.<br /><br />The Garden Village Society said that the Bournville Village differed from other communities such as Port Sunlight because it was a mixed community in terms of both class and occupation: a model of good planning open to all comers, rather than containing only 'tied' houses for Cadbury workers.<br /><br />I wonder a] if that is true. And b], if it is true, did it make the residents feel more secure.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-83758175042633255152011-11-15T23:30:36.179+11:002011-11-15T23:30:36.179+11:00PM Doolan
I am glad someone is wide awake *blush*...PM Doolan<br /><br />I am glad someone is wide awake *blush*. Bournville Village was never in Hull; the The Garden Village Society is! Bournville was the model village 6ks south of Birmingham.<br /><br />I will make the change immediately.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-60376206475109119482011-11-15T21:02:56.722+11:002011-11-15T21:02:56.722+11:00Loved this post because I knew nothing about Port ...Loved this post because I knew nothing about Port Sunlight. But you locate Bournville Village in Yorkshire - isn't it just outside Birmingham?P. M. Doolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16673509230835222713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-10413796945042133832011-11-15T19:54:40.270+11:002011-11-15T19:54:40.270+11:00Hello Helen:
Although we know the Bournville Estat...Hello Helen:<br />Although we know the Bournville Estate well, we have scant knowledge of Port Sunlight. Certainly the principles behind them are the same and although on the surface it all looks very altruistic, it certainly made good business sense. To this day, there is terrific company loyalty to 'Cadbury's' and a Trust oversees the maintenance of the Bournville Estate which is exceedingly attractive. A green and leafy gardensuburb, an oasis in the industrial city of Birmingham.Jane and Lance Hattatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16831890261259302647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-89696562415815196932011-11-15T19:25:01.686+11:002011-11-15T19:25:01.686+11:00I don't know enough history Helen. But was it ...I don't know enough history Helen. But was it all tied up with the Utopian Socialism that drove people like Morris. <br /><br />On Bethnal Green : I was thinking the new flats were designed by the middle - upper class and no one bothered actually asking the working class what they actually wanted - in that sense I guess it was the same in these model villages / towns.Hermeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00968366076064269729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-57367428204797427042011-11-15T19:08:54.035+11:002011-11-15T19:08:54.035+11:00Hermes
you hit the nail on the head - who ultimat...Hermes<br /><br />you hit the nail on the head - who ultimately owns the houses/flats and who can make the decisions about what happens to them? Even in Utopia.<br /><br />Port Sunlight really was a model village in its time, but now 'The Trust enjoys the rights to restrictive covenants that apply to all of the houses that have been sold.' And to those not sold, presumably.<br /><br />Bethnal Green was a tightly knit community alright, and the families must have wept when they were taken to their new suburbs, but it had never hoped to be a model village.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-54960606987037280032011-11-15T18:49:23.833+11:002011-11-15T18:49:23.833+11:00I have such mixed feelings about such developments...I have such mixed feelings about such developments and they were such a small number of homes compared to the demand. I note that the patronage still exists. Although 650n of the homes have been sold off (253 retained by Unilever through a Trust)they are very tightly controlled 'The Trust also enjoys the rights to restrictive covenants that apply to all of the houses that have been sold. Through these, the Trust can also contribute to the control of the village heritage.'<br /><br />When the slums of Bethnal Green were replaced with modern flats most of the original dwellers opted to live elsewhere rather than be restricted as to what they could and could not do.Hermeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00968366076064269729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-39233478317276139522011-11-15T17:42:54.933+11:002011-11-15T17:42:54.933+11:00Andrew
nod. I think William Lever was brilliant i...Andrew<br /><br />nod. I think William Lever was brilliant in his thinking. Providing top class facilities for workers and their families was good for the workers and therefore, I assume, great for the business. If I had been a worker back in the 1850s, I would have jumped at the chance to live there.<br /><br />But if a worker wanted to comment on management, or on the product, or wanted better working conditions, I can imagine that he would find himself jobless the next morning. Or if the market fell and the number of workers had to be reduced.<br /><br />No job at Lever Brothers? No home! The entire family would be homeless and schoolless.<br /><br />I wonder if workers' lives were just as precarious under Margaret Thatcher.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com