
Prince Albert's Model Cottage was the name given to a model dwelling designed in the mid-19th century to offer an improved form of accommodation for poor families in England. It was supported by
Prince Albert
Prince Albert most commonly refers to:
*Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria
*Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco
Prince Albert may also refer to:
Royalty
* Alb ...
, husband of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
, designed by architect
Henry Roberts, and built by the
Society for Improving the Conditions of the Labouring Classes for display at the
1851 Great Exhibition in
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is a , historic Listed building#Heritage protection, Grade I-listed urban park in Westminster, Greater London. A Royal Parks of London, Royal Park, it is the largest of the parks and green spaces that form a chain from Kensington P ...
.
History
The original Prince Albert's Model Cottage, also known as the Prince Consort Model Lodge, was built by the
Society for Improving the Conditions of the Labouring Classes (SICLC) for display at the
1851 Great Exhibition in
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is a , historic Listed building#Heritage protection, Grade I-listed urban park in Westminster, Greater London. A Royal Parks of London, Royal Park, it is the largest of the parks and green spaces that form a chain from Kensington P ...
. Prince Albert, who had considerable interest in improved housing for the poor, was president of the Society.
The Society wanted to have the
model dwelling built on the Exhibition grounds, but the
Exhibition commissioners were unwilling to have an exhibit that addressed such social issues. With the intervention of Prince Albert it was agreed that the building could be constructed close to, but not on, the Exhibition grounds, and this was done at the
Knightsbridge Cavalry Barracks. At the conclusion of the Great Exhibition the cottage was dismantled and rebuilt in
Kennington
Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...
.
By one estimate over 250,000 people visited the cottage, including Queen Victoria and
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
. The final room visited contained pamphlets and books on model dwellings, as well as the architectural plans for the building through which the visitor had just walked, together with plans of other model dwellings built elsewhere by the society.
Design
The model cottage was designed by
Henry Roberts, who was honorary architect to the SICLC, and, like the Prince Consort, was interested in upgrading housing for the
working class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
. The cottage demonstrated at the Great Exhibition was possibly conceived as a model for larger blocks of flats (designs for a three-storey version were prepared). It was designed to house four families, with two flats, or apartments, on each level. Roberts indicated that the design was aimed at “the class of mechanical and manufacturing operatives who usually reside in towns or in their immediate vicinity”.
Each flat had a living room, with a built-in cupboard heated by the fireplace that was also "well contrived equally to cook the family meals at midday and to warm the feet of the family group at eve",
a kitchen/scullery, three bedrooms and a toilet. Bathrooms were not usually provided in houses built in England at this time. Three bedrooms were included for the sake of "decency" so that children of different sex would not have to share a room.
The most notable external feature was the covered central staircase to give access to the two upper flats. Hollow bricks were used for construction of the building. These were claimed to be sound resistant, damp resistant, non-porous, and cheap to make. The internal face of the walls was smooth and plastering was considered unnecessary.
Subsequent developments
Although built outside the main Great Exhibition area, the Prince Albert cottage exhibit was awarded one of the 170 Council Medals, the Exhibition's highest award.
The design provided a catalyst for further work on model buildings and Roberts and the Society circulated several publications on the topic, including ''“The Dwellings of the Labouring Classes”''.
In 1852 the cottage was rebuilt in
Kennington Park
Kennington Park is a public park in Kennington, south London and lies between Kennington Park Road and St. Agnes Place. It was opened in 1854 on the site of what had been Kennington Common, where the Chartists gathered for their biggest " ...
, south of the River Thames, and housed two park attendants and a cottage museum. Subsequently, it was occupied by the park superintendent and since 2003 has been the headquarters of the
Trees for Cities charity. The design was used in several other locations, including Stepney and Kensington in London and
Abbots Langley and
Hertford
Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census.
The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...
, both 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 ...
. However, despite benefiting from the abolition of Britain's
brick tax in 1850,
and while a success with the public, the cottages were not a commercial success, although the ''Spectator'' had calculated that a return on capital of between five and seven percent per annum would be possible.
The innovative use of hollow bricks was also never widely copied.
The tenements have since been periodically refurbished, most recently during the 1970s.
See also
*
List of existing model dwellings
References
{{Coord, 51.798, N, 0.082, W, display=title
Buildings and structures in Hyde Park, London
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Great Exhibition
Housing in London
Model dwellings
Houses in Hertfordshire