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Bordesley Green: Ideal Village Conservation Area

 

The Ideal Village Conservation Area in Bordesley Green was 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 have retained their original privet boundary hedges