New Earswick

Joseph was able to turn his attention to another great issue that preoccupied him once the Cocoa Works was built and increasing in prosperity. He wanted to make a contribution to solving the housing problem. In 1901 a 150 acre site was purchased at New Earswick, two miles outside York and close to the Haxby Road factory, for £6000. Renowned Arts and Crafts architects, Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin were appointed in 1902. Their plan for the village implemented many of the ideas of the Garden Cities Association. These were to provide open green spaces and community facilities as well as houses. Joseph’s aim was to improve workers’ living conditions and help workers leave insanitary houses in the city which possessed some notable slums. Houses were available to workers in general, not simply to Rowntree employees. The village became a blueprint for other garden suburbs in the country and the vision that lay behind it still attracts international attention today.