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© Hull City Council, 2003 |
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Slums cleared for new cityscape |
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Amid much pomp and glory, Hull's main arterial route, Ferensway, was opened in 1931. Planners believed it would become "the north's premier street" and put Hull on the map. It didn't. Just over 70 years later, in the guise of the equally highfaluting St. Stephen's redevelopment in the city, is history repeating itself?
Building Ferensway necessitated clearing one of the city's squalid slums. Prostitution, disease and poverty were replaced by new cityscape ideals of commerce, efficient transport and municipal respectability. The transformation was not without scandal, however, and provides an intriguing example of town planning at its most idealistic.
"Country fit for heroes"
In 1918, Prime Minister Lloyd George's pre-election pledge promised to transform Britain into a land "fit for heroes to live in". Cities such as Hull devoted themselves to modernisation. One major task of the interwar years was slum clearance.
Life in the slums
Gillet and McMahon's fascinating "A History of Hull", includes details of the "last traces of medieval social customs". Apparently one 1920s inhabitant of Hull's slums earned his living fighting dogs… with his teeth! Meat pie races in the city's pubs were also common. |
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Slums developed in British cities for economic reasons and Hull was no exception. Working-class families lived in the city centre, close to their place of work. These workers, unlike the suburban dwelling middle-class, could not afford to use public transport.
A 1925 medical report on Hull, states that 2,578 houses were needed to rehouse persons living in unhealthy areas. The report also mentions "much overcrowding" in the "narrow courts in congested districts", with demolition as the only solution.
Brave New World?
© Hull City Council, 2003
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Planners of the "magnificent new artery" through Hull treated the clearance of slums that lay in its path as a public service. Sir Reginald Blomfield, an assessor for the designs of Ferensway, described the area as an "eyesore and menace to health". Even more illuminating is his comment that the area was "a disgrace to a progressive city".
The atmosphere was one of modernisation and progress. As one publication put it, the new street had to be "worthy of the position it occupied in the city's commercial life".
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