Thomas Stedman Whitwell
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Thomas Stedman Whitwell (1784–1840) was an English architect and civil engineer, best known for his collaboration with
Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...
on an unrealised design for a secular communal utopia at
New Harmony, Indiana New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana, Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana, Posey County, Indiana. It lies north of Mount Vernon, Indiana, Mount Vernon, the county seat, and is part of ...
, USA.


Biography


Early life

Thomas Stedman Whitwell was born in 1784 in
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. He moved to London in his early twenties, as evidenced in records of his having exhibited at the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
. In 1811 he was employed in the Architect's Office at the London Docks.


Architectural Work in Coventry and Birmingham (1813-1825)

After gaining some experience at the London Docks, Whitwell returned to Coventry where he designed a modest number of built works both there and in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, few of which survive. His last completed commission in England was for the Brunswick Theatre in
Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...
, London. Mortalities were suffered after the roof trusses, overloaded with theatre equipment, collapsed days after its opening.


Involvement in New Harmony, Indiana USA

Perhaps due to interest in his exhibition at
Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...
of an unbuilt plan for an ideal community named Southville, Whitwell became involved in the designing of a utopian community at a site then named Harmonie (or
New Harmony, Indiana New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana, Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana, Posey County, Indiana. It lies north of Mount Vernon, Indiana, Mount Vernon, the county seat, and is part of ...
) in
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
,
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, collaborating with the mill owner and social reformer
Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...
. Owen had previously provided workers at his cotton mills with a pioneering model
company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...
,
New Lanark, Scotland New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...
, intended to raise the standard of living and education of his employees. Inspired by stories of utopian self-sufficient communities, such as those of the
Shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...
, springing up in the United States, Owen proposed to create a town unconstrained by the economic conditions and religious influence that he believed had undermined his social experiment in the United Kingdom. Owen purchased the land and town of Harmonie in Indiana from
George Rapp John George Rapp (; November 1, 1757 – August 7, 1847) was the founder of the religious sect called the Harmony Society and a number of associated communes. Born in Iptingen, Germany, Rapp became inspired by the philosophies of Jakob Böhme, ...
and the Rappites, a separatist religious community. The Rappites had built a substantial and successful town on the site, but sold it to Owen so that they could relocate to an area with more opportunities for trade. Owen intended to redesign the town as a self-sufficient secular community, complete with factories, pleasure gardens, a gymnasium and educational facilities. Whitwell devised an ordered quadrangular layout for the proposed town, "thirty-three acres; that of the enclosed quadrangle twenty-two acres, nearly three times as large as Russell Square, London". Communal residences were located on the periphery, acting as a boundary wall, and all facilities were to be placed symmetrically within. Whitwell wrote about his careful consideration of the positioning of the building massing to provide ample light and air to all residents. The engraving of Whitwell's famous perspective of the proposed town was entitled "DESIGN for a Community of 2,000 Persons Founded upon a Principle Commended by
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
,
Lord Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of natu ...
and
Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry V ...
". The direct influence of Sir Thomas More's book ''
Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...
'' (1516) on Whitwell's design is obvious. The layout of long communal dwellings of the New Harmony design recalls More's portrayal of the fictional capital of Utopia, Aircastle, where houses built as long terraces contain back doors opening onto shared gardens, features employed in New Harmony. While New Harmony was intended to be a secular community, Rapp's religious doctrine appears to have influenced Whitwell's design too. Rapp's emphasis on the spiritual experience of nature had led to the inclusion of a labyrinth with a temple in the middle within Harmonie, and other Rappite towns such as Economy, Pennsylvania. All included this vital feature. Whitwell's design for New Harmony also features multiple paths along which residents could meander, but the temple was replaced by a secular "Conservatory, of about one hundred feet in diameter, for the reception and cultivation of exotics". Whitwell spent some time in New Harmony around 1825-26. However, he returned to England, disillusioned, when the construction of the new town proved financially unviable.


Later life

Whitwell's short stay at New Harmony allowed him to publish in the ''New Harmony Gazette'' a proposal for a new system of town naming according to
latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...
and
longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...
, allowing travellers to immediately understand their location from such place names. Whitwell spent the last part of his life composing theoretical works. One, entitled ''On Warming and Ventilating Houses and Buildings By Means of Large Volumes of Attempered Air'', was published in 1834, but another, intriguingly titled ''Architectural Absurdities'', is now lost.


Legacy

Whitwell's reputation as an architect has not withstood the test of time, and his texts have either been lost or had little or no influence, but his design for New Harmony has been revisited as one of the culminations of early 19th-century Utopian experimentation in the United States. The proliferation of new communities with emphasis on either religious or secular collective living reached its high point as Whitwell was producing his design for New Harmony. However, none displayed such a graphic interpretation of their own philosophy as Whitwell's famous perspective did. One of the key features of Whitwell's design, the botanical garden in the centre with equal views and access from every dwelling, was echoed in
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 ...
’s Garden City values and has been carried out in various permutations around the world. One example is Milleara Estate in
Avondale Heights Avondale Heights is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Avondale Heights recorded a population of 12,388 at the 2021 ...
,
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, designed by
Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He designed Canberra, Australia's capital city, the New South Wales towns of Griffith, New South Wales, Griffith and Leeton, New So ...
. Much of the influence of Whitwell's New Harmony design can be credited to Owen, who toured both the United States and the United Kingdom promoting the plan, even persuading
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...
to keep a model of it in his office for a period of time. Owen continued to exhibit and publish it after Whitwell's death in a brochure, ''Plan for a Model Community''.


References


External links


Description of the collapse of the Brunswick Theatre



Description of Whitwell’s "rational" place-naming system
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitwell, Stedman Thomas 1784 births 1840 deaths 19th-century English architects People from Coventry Architects from Warwickshire