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The Mary Ward Settlement: Building with a Social Purpose (English/deutsch)

Updated: Oct 18, 2020

During the Open House Weekend events, I went on an "Edwardian Art and Architecture in Holborn and Bloomsbury" Walk offered by the Art Worker's Guild in Queen Square. It included a stop at, and discussion of, the Mary Ward Settlement (photos below on the left and right). The Settlement Movement began in the early 1880s to combat social issues such as income inequality and urban poverty. The idea was to have university students or young professionals live among disadvantaged communities in order to share their knowledge as well as come up with ideas for solutions by experiencing poverty firsthand. The first Settlement House in the world was Toynbee Hall, established in 1884 on Commercial Street in the East End (middle photo). Settlements often offered courses in practical and academic subjects, opportunities to participate in community activities involving music, dance, clubs and hobbies and often legal and financial advice.


The Mary Ward Settlement was the site of a number of interesting developments and innovations. It housed the first fully equipped classrooms for children with disabilities living in the community. The model school began in 1898 and provided course work, physical therapy and meals and its success enabled its proponents to pressure the London County Council to establish more such schools. A second, groundbreaking development was the innovation of a play centre for children. Up until then, children just played in the streets, where they were often subject to bullying or neglect but in the centre they were warm and safe and had the opportunity to develop their play in a supervised environment. Mary Ward's campaigning for, and development of, such play centres had a huge impact on the educational system in the UK.


The building on Tavistock Place was the first commission of the architects Arnold Dunbar Smith and Cecil Claude Brewer and was built in 1896 in the Arts and Craft 'Free Style'. It was named after Mary Ward as she partially-funded it (together with John Passmore Edwards, the newspaper owner and philanthropist) and provided educational and social facilities for the Settlement until 1961. Young professionals lived on the upper floors with a separate entrance on the left side of the building while the communal facilities were on the ground level. It is considered to be a masterpiece of late Victorian architecture and is Grade I listed.

Die Mary Ward Settlement: Bauen mit einem sozialen Zweck


WĂ€hrend der Open House Weekend-Veranstaltungen machte ich einen Spaziergang "Edwardian Art and Architecture in Holborn und Bloomsbury", der von der Art Worker's Guild auf dem Queen Square angeboten wurde. Es beinhaltete einen Zwischenstopp und eine Diskussion ĂŒber die Mary Ward Settlement (Fotos oben links und rechts). Die Settlement Bewegung begann in den frĂŒhen 1880er Jahren, um soziale Probleme wie Einkommensungleichheit und stĂ€dtische Armut zu bekĂ€mpfen. Die Idee war, dass Studenten oder junge BerufstĂ€tige in benachteiligten Gemeinden leben, um ihr Wissen zu teilen und LösungsvorschlĂ€ge zu entwickeln, indem sie Armut aus erster Hand erleben. Das erste Settlement Haus der Welt war die Toynbee Hall, die 1884 in der Commercial Street im East End gegrĂŒndet wurde (mittleres Foto). Die Settlements boten hĂ€ufig Kurse in praktischen und akademischen FĂ€chern, die Möglichkeit zur Teilnahme an GemeinschaftsaktivitĂ€ten mit Musik, Tanz, Clubs und Hobbys sowie hĂ€ufig rechtliche und finanzielle Beratung an.


Die Mary Ward Settlement war Schauplatz einer Reihe interessanter Entwicklungen und Innovationen. Es beherbergte die ersten voll ausgestatteten Klassenzimmer fĂŒr Kinder mit Behinderungen, die in der Gemeinde leben. Die Modellschule begann im Jahr 1898 und bot Kursarbeit, Physiotherapie und Mahlzeiten an. Ihr Erfolg ermöglichte es ihren BefĂŒrwortern, den London County Council unter Druck zu setzen, weitere solcher Schulen einzurichten. Eine zweite bahnbrechende Entwicklung war die Innovation eines Spielzentrums fĂŒr Kinder. Bis dahin spielten Kinder nur auf der Straße, wo sie hĂ€ufig Mobbing oder VernachlĂ€ssigung ausgesetzt waren, aber im Zentrum waren sie warm und sicher und hatten die Möglichkeit, ihr Spiel in einer ĂŒberwachten Umgebung zu entwickeln. Mary Wards Kampagne dafĂŒr, und die Entwicklung solcher Spielzentren hatte enorme Auswirkungen auf das Bildungssystem in Großbritannien.



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