Looking at Buildings

, printed from the Looking at Buildings website on Thursday 28th March 2024

The Flower Estate

Sheffield, Flower Estate

"High Wincobank: Sheffield's Garden Suburb
High Wincobank is on the north-east side of Sheffield. The Flower Estate gets its name from its streets, which are named after flowers. It is an example of a garden suburb. It is significant because the people who designed it had also worked at the famous garden suburbs of Bournville and Letchworth. Click on the picture to find out more about Garden Suburbs"

The story begins with the Yorkshire and North Midland Cottage Exhibition. This was held in 1907 and attracted national interest. Alexander Harvey, the architect of Bournville, designed the layout. In 1903-6 Percy Houfton and H.L. Paterson had designed a few houses nearby. These were included with the new estate in 1907 when the City Corporation bought all the exhibition houses.

This act was very unpopular and contributed to the Liberals losing the council to the Conservatives in the 1908 election. The estate was not developed further until 1912 when the Liberals returned to power. It was completed in 1923.

Do you want to know more: You can find out more detail about the estate in The Municipal Housing Programme in Sheffield before 1914 by Rupert Hebblethwaite, in Architectural History Vol. 30 (1987). The Official Catalogue of the Yorkshire and North Midland Cottage Exhibition 1907 illustrates all the designs. Both can be found at the Local Studies sectionGlossary Term [1] of Sheffield Central Library.

Visit Picture Sheffield [2] to see a few pictures of Wincobank and the Flower Estate. Many more can be viewed on the main Picture Sheffiled database at the Local Studies Library.

Last updated: Monday, 26th January 2009