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Saltaire, Akroydon and Bedford Park are the most famous planned, model urban suburbs of the nineteenth century – two of them in Yorkshire, the third in west London – and each with a fascinating history. All were backed by a developer intent on creating a fine environment for living. The first two were for mill-workers, the third for middle-class residents with artistic sensibilities. This book explores the different ideas behind the creation of these different areas, the motives of their creators, and, crucially, how the developments were intended to look. Would they be Classical or Gothic, or should they espouse a new, freer style? In fact all these choices were explored and all had different meanings. Saltaire and Akroydon look to Italianate and Gothic sources, Bedford Park to a new freer style. Famous architects, such as Sir Gilbert Scott and Richard Norman Shaw, played their part in these important developments, and the book is a testimony to their achievements to the creative endeavour of our Victorian forebears.