Howard Park and Gardens is a public
recreation ground
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...
in
Letchworth
Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990.
Letchworth ...
, in
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
, England, laid out when the
garden city of Letchworth was created. It is listed Grade II in
Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...
's
Register of Parks and Gardens.
History
The park and gardens are named after
Ebenezer Howard
Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication '' To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in wh ...
, who pioneered the idea of creating garden cities; they would benefit the whole community, they would be well planned and integrate the best aspects of town and country. The first garden city was Letchworth, on a site acquired in 1903. It was planned in 1904 by the architects
Barry Parker and
Raymond Unwin
Sir Raymond Unwin (2 November 1863 – 29 June 1940) was a prominent and influential English engineer, architect and town planner, with an emphasis on improvements in working class housing.
Early years
Raymond Unwin was born in Rotherham, Yor ...
; it included a corridor of green space, which became the park and gardens, within a residential area. It was laid out from 1904 to 1911.
Description
The area is about . Howard Park, to the north, and Howard Gardens, to the south, are divided by Hillshott Road. Norton Way South is on the western border.[
The more informal Park has a large green space, a play area, a paddling pool opened in 1930, a refreshment kiosk and public toilets. East of the paddling pool is a memorial to Ebenezer Howard: a stone tablet installed in 1930, flanked by curved brick screen walls.]["Howard Park and Gardens"]
North Herts Council. Retrieved 28 May 2022. In the south-west corner of the Park is the Mrs Howard Memorial Hall. It was designed by Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin, and was built in 1905–1906, the first public building in the new town. It is a Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
, and is described in the listing as a smaller scale version of the Church of Christ, Scientist in Manchester (now the Edgar Wood Centre).[
In the more formal Gardens there is a bowling green and pavilion, paths and mature trees, and a wildflower area. In the south is the C F Ball Memorial Garden, created about 1936.][
The First Garden City Heritage Museum is situated next to Howard Gardens, adjacent to its western boundary. It was built in 1906–1907, as offices for the Parker and Unwin firm, in the style of a medieval ]hall house
The hall house is a type of vernacular house traditional in many parts of England, Wales, Ireland and lowland Scotland, as well as northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, centring on a hall. Usually timber-framed, some high status examples wer ...
; it is a Grade II* listed building.
See also
* Broadway, Letchworth
References
{{Reflist
Grade II listed parks and gardens in Hertfordshire
Letchworth