ALAN CASH - web pages
Collection of books on Welwyn Garden City
41 Pictures of Welwyn Garden City
Author: (anon)
First published: 1923 by Welwyn Garden City Bookshop
Format: Paperback 9" by 7" with 48 pages
This is a treasure of a book and must be quite rare.
The only narrative is the introduction which reads as follows:
WELWYN GARDEN CITY has a history of a little over two years,
though it is a neighbourhood that has been famous for generations as a choice
district for good houses. The two years have seen the beginnings of a town
which is already adding beauty to a lovely countryside. The forty-one pictures
show what has been done so far. They show that it is possible to build a town
for all classes of people, where utility, convenience, and economy, may be
practised, and the amenities of modern town-life enjoyed, without spoiling
the aspect of the country. Welwyn Garden City does, as yet, give no more than
a suggestion of what it will become in the course of a few years - the town
of fifty thousand, with its industry and rural belt; but these pictures more
than hint at the order, design, and character that the place may be expected
to possess, and point to the conclusion that this new town will not only be
a good place to see, but to build or buy a house to live in. This is the first
collection of pictures of Welwyn Garden City, and we send it out with confidence.
We hope to add to it from year to year, and make it a useful record of the
growth of the town.
The first twenty two pictures are of street scenes or individual houses. The
next seven are interiors of houses. The next eight are of gardens, woods or
rural-looking lanes. The last four are miscellaneous interiors of a milk parlour,
Welwyn Garden City Stores (2 shots), and one of Welwyn Garden City Bookshop.
The photographic reproduction is very good. Most of the pictures are half page
in size.
The houses chosen as subjects are striking ones of individual architecture.
The two (below) I have chosen to scan are entitled "A House on High Oaks
Road" and "A House Overlooking the Valley". The interior is entitled
"A Drawing Room". The fourth one is "A Part of the Welwyn Garden
City Bookshop."
click
on the images for a better view
