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The Ideal Village Conservation Area is on the south side of the
B4128 in Bordesley Green; it includes Drummond Road, Freemore
Road, Marchmont Road and parts of Bordesley Green, Belchers Lane, Yardley Green
Road and Blakeland Street. The designated area contains a
17.5-acre village built by the Ideal Benefit Building Society on
17.5 acres of agricultural land leased from Birmingham
Corporation.
The Corporation had acquired the land for the
construction of workmen's houses in 1900 and had already built
Saint Paul's Board School on Marchmont Road in 1902. The lease
stated that no more than 22 houses should be built per acre and
that tenants should be entitled to "gradually purchase" their
homes.
The architects Parker & Unwin designed a garden village, but
their ambitious plans were scaled down when the development was
finally built in 1908-1914.
The houses are individually designed in typical arts and
crafts fashion. Their bays are shaped into elongated gables with
spires at street corners and their front gardens are divided by
stone walls. The roads are tree-lined and some properties still
possess their original privet boundary hedges |