Charles III builds model town in England.
08.09.2025Charles III, King of England, initiated a vision in 1993 – at that time still as Prince of Wales – with a ground-breaking ceremony in Poundbury near Dorchester. With the founding of a model town according to royal taste, he is emulating other kings, such as Louis XIV of France, who created his own monument with a small town in Versailles.
According to Wikipedia, Charles was instrumental in the design and implementation of Poundbury as a model town based on the principles of sustainable development and design principles that the current British King Charles III had already outlined in his 1984 book “A Vision Of Britain”. The new settlement stands on leased land belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall, is based on classical and traditional architecture, and was designed by the Luxembourg urban planner and architectural theorist Léon Krier.
When the project was launched, Prince Charles, as Duke of Cornwall, was the owner of the land. Since his proclamation as King of England in 2022, the land has passed to his eldest son, Prince William, as the new Duke of Cornwall.
Wikipedia writes that the concept involves mixing social housing and private homes in a small-town setting, integrating green spaces and blending the development harmoniously into the landscape. Building volumes and heights should be based on “human scale” without falling into the megalomania of 1930s modernist neoclassicism. Simple, elegant, moderate and varied design should be used to avoid the depressingly ugly, monotonous and cheap appearance of modernist social housing, as well as the kitsch of the “sugar-coated” neo-historicism that is particularly widespread in the USA and the “eccentric quest for originality” of postmodern architecture.
The Swiss magazine Schweizer Illustrierte has dedicated a detailed article by René Haenig and Philippe Clot to this slightly bizarre project. The small town, which currently has around 4,700 inhabitants, illustrates Charles’ vision of country life: old English in style, but modern in terms of energy efficiency. However, England’s eco-king does not allow solar panels on the roofs of houses in Poundbury because he finds them ugly. The small town is characterised by modern, energy-efficient houses and flats, without architectural eyesores or noisy, unhealthy traffic.
According to Wikipedia (as of 2022), demand for property is high, particularly among pensioners from London and families from the surrounding area, and the village already borders the outskirts of Dorchester. By 2026, the population of Poundbury is expected to grow to around 6,000.
The oldest houses are 30 years old, writes Schweizer Illustrierte, and yet the place looks like an idyllic 18th-century village: two- to three-storey houses that may only be built with natural materials from the region. Plastic windows and rain gutters are taboo. Everywhere there are small turrets, columns and neatly arranged flower pots without a speck of weed.
In the article, Fran Leaper, editor of the village magazine “Poundbury Magazine” and a resident of the town for almost 20 years, talks about the beginnings of the model town: “When the then Prince Charles wanted something – and he’s not used to anyone saying no – he got it. Every building here was reviewed by Charles during the planning stage. He made cuts before the city council was allowed to give final approval. Even after that, he could still make changes.”