The main points in the general layout or great ground plan are the direct, ample, con venient thoroughfares, the gently curved resi dence streets, so laid out as to allow for deep front gardeng; the interior parks for the private use of the residents, and the large amount of land in proportion to the size of the develop ment that is put aside for common use. Each block is considered as a unit and treated as such. This separate block planning gives a beauty and variety not possible with the ordi nary rectangular block plan.
Unity of design is the special attraction of the gardens, and this unity has been faithfully adhered to. The station, the inn, the stores, the apartments, and the houses, large and small, while varying in treatment and material, are all harmonious in design. The whole place atmosphere that is homelike, refreshing and dis tinguished with a real individuality. Like all other high-class suburban developments, the individual or free standing house will predomi nate, but an attractive feature of the building plan is the so-called "Group-Building.° This plan makes it possible to buy a house of supe rior construction and enduring value at a lower price, for the reason that the land may be used more economically when the houses are either semi-detached or one of a group of three, four, six, eight or 10 houses set contiguously in a row. These groups and rows add greatly to the charm and variety of the building scheme. They have been planned so as to conform to the land and road contours, and are of different sizes and prices, with varying interior arrange ment and architectural treatment. There is no subject upon which the developers of the gar dens have laid more stress than upon the value of the common use of land as a factor in com munity life.
When the plans of this company were first officially made public, disappointment was ex pressed that the enterprise would not benefit the mechanic or day laborer, such as the Eng lish development at Port Sunlight. This, how ever, was impracticable owing to the location of the property, the initial cost of which would only permit the upbuilding of a high grade resi dential suburb.
These examples indicate the scope of the garden city idea in its various applications, from the housing of the employees of a single factory too the establishment of an independent and thriving city.
. .
The workingmen's colonies were the proto types of the garden cities and had their origin in the workingmen's quarters established by the Krupp Company at Essen, beginning in 1,855, with barracks affording lodging and board for 200 men to start with, continuing with the erec tion in 1863 of a colony of 160 dwellings at "Alt West End," the first actual colony continuing with various additions to the present time until, with the colonies of Westend, Nordhcif, Baum hof, Schedcrhof, Cronenberg, Alfredshof, Friedrichshof, Magarethenhof, Dalhauser Heide, Emscher Lippe and Colony Gaarden and the miscellaneous quarters in Essen, the Krupp works house 12,800 men and their fami lies, a total of 46,000 persons.
The colony Cronenberg, the largest and best known, wns mainly erected during the years from 1872 to 1874. The buildings are partly set up in rows of three-storied houses containing 30 to 40 dwellings in each block, and partly of three-storied semi-detached houses with 12 dwellings, six of them accessible from each gable front. The buildings arc constructed of brick or quarry-stone without ornaments, and are surrounded by gardens and lawns. Throughout, each staircase gives access to six dwellings, to two each on each floor from a small landing, through a private front door. The streets are lined with trees, and in the midst of the colony there is a spacious park, which in connection with the gardens surround ing the houses to the whole a most agree able aspect. Subsequent to 1891, 204 additional dwellings were erected, so that the entire colony now contains 1,454 workingmen's dwellings of from two to three rooms, and some of as many as six rooms.
From 1894 to 1899 the principal portico...is of Alfredshof and Friedrichshof were erected, and in the construction of these colonies iesthetic as well as practical and sanitary considerations were emphasized. The plans on which the streets were laid out, the varying positions of the buildings as regards the streets, the provision for spacious open grounds, the application of a handsome and varied architecture and the utili zation of bright colorings in the roofs and facades lend to these colonies a most attractive aspect.