Bedford Park has been described as the world's first garden suburb. Although it was not built in the co-operative manner like some later developments (Brentham Garden Suburb, Hampstead Garden Suburb), it created a model that was emulated not just by the Garden city movement, but by suburban developments around the world. Sir John Betjeman described Bedford Park "the most significant suburb built in the last century, probably in the western world". Herman Muthesius, the celebrated German critic who wrote "The English House" in 1904 said, "It signifies neither more nor less than the starting point of the smaller modern house, which spread from there over the whole country."