This ground-breaking study analyses the building of Saltaire, the famous model town in West Yorkshire. Now a World Heritage Site, it was designed to provide mill-workers housing and is a superb example of enlightened urban planning, created during a 24-year building programme. The authors follow its development through seven building phases and sixteen building contracts, explaining the principles which guided the urban layout and the various house designs. By comparing Saltaire with earlier factory towns and considering its 19th-century architectural context, they describe the design decisions taken and the implications of those choices. They reveal for the first time that the hierarchies apparent in the architecture were the result of the design process and should not be seen as a reflection of the town's social structure. "This work will fundamentally alter our understanding of an urban complex that stands as amongst the most signal achievements of British architects in a period of tremendous social, industrial and indeed architectural advance." - Frank Salmon, University of Cambridge.