connaught, calgary

Thomas Mawson's plan for the Calgary suburb of Connaught, 1913. Janet Waymark says: 'A working mens’ settlement for Calgary called Connaught was built on English Garden City lines, with winding roads, allotments and parks.' Waymark, ‘Civic Art and Thomas Mawson’ Landscapes (2009) 2 pp. 61-82
 

Camberwell Racecourse, Grand Stand and Grounds, c. 1886

Thank you to Malcolm Spence for posting this on the 'The Lost History Of Melbourne/Victoria & Its Pioneers' facebook group. This ingenious and economic idea for a racecourse in the suburb known then and now as Hartwell combines street-frontage housing and large enclosed open block with a multitude of uses. I cannot imagine anybody jumping at the chance to own a 'villa' backing on to a space wherein huge numbers of people (not to mention sheep, cattle, and horses) regularly congregated but I guess standards were different then (or not, since it seems pretty likely the villa lots were never sold in this configuration). Mr. Spence cites this as 'Map of Camberwell Racecourse. C.1880-90. (Map by Battan and Percy Ltd- Source SLV)'. The Camberwell Racing Club's first meeting was held on 29 May 1886 and there seems to have been some dissatisfaction expressed (at least by the Age) on the lack of comfortable amenities for patrons (see Melbourne Age 31 May 1886 p. 5). The prospectus was advertised on 4 November 1886, as per the short item in the Melbourne Age for this day:

Assuming the Club only ever operated one course, I find the 'convenient proximity to town' slightly contentious: 13 km is not a hop skip and a jump although punters could of course take a train to Camberwell and walk a mere three and a half of those km. The Outer Circle Railway, prominent in the plan above but clearly labelled 'proposed', did not open till 1891. Chris McConville's Camberwell Conservation Study (get it here) describes this as the Bowen Estate and gives a slight description of the attractive views available from the site (which would presumably more or less disappear once the villas were built). 

The surveyor credited, Bryson, was also an architect judging from items available in the State Library of Victoria. Whoever he was, he apparently had no qualms about producing a remarkably deceptive map of the area suggesting very falsely (unless you had the eagle eye to spot the tell-tale broken line in 'Hollis St') that Burke Road was a lot closer to Bowen St than 900 m. 

Who was involved in this project? C. F. C. Taylor, M.L.A. was a very active figure in the area in the 1880s. His day job was as a lawyer, but he was also chair of the Victorian Rowing Association (Melbourne Age 14 August 1883 p.6) and secretary of the Riversdale-Road Omnibus Company (Melbourne Age 20 October 1884 p. 2). Of the other men involved not much can be gleaned and they're probably not important to this story except by dint of their being swept up in this scheme which was almost certainly ill-fated in terms of a racecourse but possibly did alright in the long run when the whole site was made available for housing, if they were able to hold onto it during the 1890s depression. By 1913 there was an aerated water manufacturer called P. G. Dixon & Co (Melbourne Herald 31 July 1913 p. 8) which sold up its Rosslyn St. West Melbourne premises the following year (Melbourne Herald 5 February 1914 p. 5). G. Mayger was involved in some kind of proprietorial fashion with the East Melbourne Bicycle Club (Melbourne Herald 9 January 1891 p. 4). The other names are too common to track. 

You can see the present lay of the land here.

Boolarra Ave/Eastern Ave, Newborough, Vic.

Newborough in Victoria was a State Electricity Commission housing project primarily for workers in nearby coal extraction industries (and their families). Of course if you've got an eagle eye you'll know that block 17 is what caught my fancy:

To my surprise, it's still there albeit with at least one housing block removed presumably to give greater street visibility. Will update this entry if/when I find more. 

Original plan at State Library of Victoria. 

Firmstone Reserve, Pagewood

Declared 8 October 1929. See it here, and read the reviews. 

One interesting thing about this space is that its original designer, Geoffrey Robin, envisaged it having quite a wide frontage onto Park Parade. Somebody obviously decided those extra few housing lots were too good to pass up.

This plan is DP16792E NSW State Archives, retrieved by me 9 October 2001

Marcus Hook/Aston Village in Mare of Easttown

At the risk of seeming like the guy who watches random tv shows and finds internal reserves everywhere, I watch random tv shows, and I find internal reserves everywhere. This is an exception because (1) it's not Finnish! And (2) I thought I found some, but I was wrong, but then I found some.

Right from the very first scene of Mare of Easttown (in the location I think seen above) I thought I was looking at houses which backed on to internal reserve spaces of some sort. Clearly back doors of houses within a block were visible to each other, and somehow between those back doors there was publicly accessible space. However, it wasn't clear - beyond low-rise fences - what was between those back doors. That was, until I went looking at a very convenient website that details (apparently) all the locations of the show. From this I came to appreciate that the place that piqued my interest (above) is actually in Marcus Hook, and constitutes a narrow grid block which has a public pathway down the middle, and very long backyards, but no shared space (aside from the path). You can see it (or at least an example of it) here. 

Oddly though before I found the abovementioned website, I went searching in both Aston Township and Chester County. Aston Township features many internal reserve spaces. They include Hidden Park, Aston and Bridgewater Farms Park and Sampson Park also in Aston Township. These don't seem to feature in the show at all (well, I haven't finished watching it yet)...

Update: after watching the entire show, and without wishing to spoil anything, I will say the rear path plays a key role in the denouement of the show. It's very clear that the gardens/yards at the rear of the Marcus Hook blocks are big, empty and essentially useless spaces. 

Mitä meistä tuli

In the 2009 Finnish film Mitä meistä tuli (What became of us), two main characters have a special dinner (snails) on their porch in Helsinki.* The shots are only of the two over each other's shoulders but it is clear they are seated in a small private area which opens up into a public, forested area. There is ambient noise of children's (?) play and other conversations in the background, i.e., they are home but they are also in a public space. This image demonstrates the nature of the partitioned porches (there is no doubt another word for these but I can't think of one):

The above image is a better view of the nature of the space - a lawn and dense foliage.

You could be forgiven for dismissing this as merely my fetishisation of Finnish society but also I would like to draw your attention to the way in which this casually (possibly unconsciously as it's so ordinary) explores the way in which a household can go about its private business in public - as one would, I suppose, in a restaurant or going on a walk. 

* I don't think Helsinki is stated but if it's not Helsinki it's 'Anycity, Finland' 

'Build City for Motor Age' 1928

Knoxville News-Sentinel 25 March 1928 p. 36