1907
Although it lacked the charm and drawing power of an absolute novelty which the 1905 exhibition possessed & profited by, the 1907 nonetheless had a charm of its own and had a positive effect on the development of the town.
Where the 1905 exhibition was significant as a marketing tool as well as anything else – it attracted 60-80,000 visitors to the fledging town, its long-term benefits were the creation of over a hundred houses when Letchworth had prior to that had only sixty.
By 1907 the situation was a little different. There was less fascination with the Garden City from outside, less pressing need to explore building materials and housing issues (there had been several other Housing exhibitions throughout the country in the intervening two years) and the Garden City itself was more established with more homes and businesses having been set up.
The long term benefits were the creation of more Garden City homes, the filling in of the Middle Avenue/The Leys/Pixmore Way area on the development plan, and the development of several Letchworth architects careers.
Whether the public liked these or not, architects certainly did, and there was good take-up for the competition.
Many 1905 entrants returned, including the overall winner Mr Houfton, as well as local architects Bennett & Bidwell and Crickmer, and several of the various companies such as wonderfully-named Fire Partition and Spandrel Wall Company.
The Exhibition President was The Maquess of Salisbury, with the 1905 President The Duke of Devonshire, and the 1905 Chairman J St. Loe Strachey both afforded places as Vice-Presidents. Mr J.A. Brodie, the architect responsible for 158 Wilbury Road (one of the 1905 Exhibition’s, indeed Letchworth’s, most attractive houses) returned with a place on the General Committee.
The opening the 1907 'Cheap Cottages' Exhibition
The Houses of the 1907 Exhibition
There was a focus much more on groups of houses rather than individual detached cottages (with Crickmer’s groups along Middle Street being particularly elegant) and with the exception of the small holdings which were on Baldock Road, the cottages were much closer together in a centralised plot.
The Exhibition Offices, and a licensed Refreshment Tent, were located at the Exhibition’s entrance on Middle Street (Now Lytton Avenue). This was reached by The Leys (now Gernon Road) and led to Pixmore Way.
The groups of houses often had entries into three or four different exhibition classes within the same group, so that some would have sculleries inside or parlours or an additional bedroom and so on.