More information : Saltaire village illustrates a combination of manufacturing efficiency and social concern. Salt aimed to provide a high quality physical and social environment for his dependent workforce. The village amenities included the school, hospital, church, almshouses, wash house, communal dinning hall and park. Salt aimed to provide his workforce and their dependants with all that was necessary for their health, hygiene, education and their cultural, moral and spiritual improvement. By 1871 Saltaire provided homes for 4300 people in just twenty-five acres. Most of the original structure of the village and its mills has survived.
Until the completion of housing within Saltaire village workers were brought into work by special train each day. The houses in Saltaire are a fine example of 19th century hierarchical workers' homes. They were built by Lockwood and Mawson between 1854 and 1868. All the properties are of hammer dressed stone with Welsh slate roofs. Each was equipped with its own water and gas supply and an outside lavatory. House sizes vary, from 'two-up two-down' terraces to much larger homes with gardens for the managers. All of the houses are laid out in a formal grid pattern. The first phase of housing was laid out between 1854-57 in twelve parallel streets and provided homes for 1000 people. The street names for the village were taken from members of the Salt family, the Royal family and the architects of the village. (2)
In 1854 Saltaire consisted of 163 houses and boarding-houses and about 1000 people. By 1861 the village consisted of 447 occupied houses and 2510 people. By 1871 there were 824 houses and 4389 people (2003 males, 2386 females). (3)
The residential area covered just over 25 acres. Several different types of house were designed, roughly intended to correspond to the social hierachy of the village. The majority were workmen's cottages, containing two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a cellar pantry. The first of these erected between 1854 and 1857 were undecorated and austere (Amelia Street to Ada Street). Those erected later above Titus Street and across Victoria Road had a number of slight embellishments and improvements. 'Overlookers' houses were built , mainly in William Henry Street and George Street. Most of these had three bedrooms, a scullery kitchen, sitting room, cellar and a small front garden and were decorated in the early Renaissance style. A number of large and well equipped houses were built for senior employees in Albert Road and Victoria Road. In Caroline Street and Albert Terrace there are a number of three-storey houses intended as boarding houses, but rarely used as such. There was a good system of drainage, water and gas was supplied to every house which also had its own separate back yard and private lavatory. There were none of the conventional back-to-back houses which became standard in most West Riding textile towns. The rents charged ranged from 2/4d to 7/6d. (5)
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