User:PeterEltham/Ripley Ville

Ripley Ville



Ripley Ville (later also Ripleyville) was an “estate” of ”model houses“ for members of the working classes. It was located in the district of Broomfields within the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England.

Founded in 1866 it was built for the industrialist and politician Henry William Ripley. Initially Ripley Ville was intended as a commercial housing development but when completed in 1881 it had many of the aspects of an "industrial model village" - but residents were not limited to H.W. Ripley’s employees. It can be compared with the nearly contemporary Akroydon built by H.W Ripley's friend and former schoolmate Edward Akroyd, and with Saltaire

Ripley Ville contained 196 "workmen's cottages", a school with a teacher's house, a church, allotment gardens and (on a separate site about a half mile distant) a vicarage and 10 alms houses. The alms houses still remain. All other buildings had been demolished by 1970

The Ripley Ville Houses in Context,
A more useful comparator is habitable rooms per house and usable space in sq ft. The typical working class cottage built in the 1850s was a “one up and one down” The houses in Fig.4 in Hird Street (built C1859) are typical of this type- one is included in the table as a comparison with the Ripley Ville houses.