Y



Y
 
  
‡ Stein, Clarence, 1882±1975, American architect, b. New York
City, studied architecture at Columbia Univ. and the École des
Beaux-Arts.
‡ Stein worked in the office of Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue,
where he assisted in the planning of the San Diego World's
Fair (1915).
‡ Along with Lewis Mumford and Henry Wright, Stein was a
founding member of the Regional Planning Association of
America, a group instrumental in importing Ebenezer
Howard's garden city idea from England to the United States.
‡ Stein and Wright collaborated on the design of Radburn, New
Jersey (1928±32), a garden suburb noted for its superblock
layout.
‡ Stein wrote Toward New Towns for America (1951).
s  Y
‡ During World War I, the US government assumed responsibility for
the housing of workers in war industries.
‡ Two agencies were created to implement this program: the Housing
Division of the Emergency Fleet Corporation & the United States
Housing Corporation.
‡ During this period, many were producing the dreary, monotonous
rows of cheap & poorly planned single family houses & apartments.
‡ Studies by Henry Wright & Clarence Stein demonstrated the need for
complete analysis of all costs that enter into housing.
‡ The row or group housing was prevalent in all Eastern cities. Baltimore
& Philadelphia are famous for their row houses with clean, stone
entrances.
‡ Henry Wright & Clarence Stein went one step further, they
demonstrated the superiority of the dwellings two rooms in depth
rather than the tandem arrangement to which the usual row house
had degenerated. They showed how the group house improved land
planning, in comparison with detached units and their wasteful side
yards.
‡ These architects contributed much to the enlightenment in planning
that emerged in the 1920s & early 1930s.
4
   

V


is a large block of land
surrounded by main roads. The houses are
grouped around small cul-de-sacs, each of
which has an access road coming from the
main roads. The remaining land inside the
superblock is park area, the backbone of
the neighbourhood. The living and sleeping
sections of the houses face toward the
garden and park areas, while the service
rooms face the access road.
 
 
‡ Built from 1924-1928
‡ Architects -Clarence S.
Stein, Henry Wright, and
Frederick Lee Ackerman
‡ Landscape architect -
Marjorie S. Cautley
‡ Other founders-Eleanor
Roosevelt, ethicist Felix
Adler, attorney ,housing
developer Alexander Bing,
urban planner Lewis
Mumford.
‡ Today, the 55 acres of
Sunnyside Gardens are
contained within 17 city
blocks, with 535 row houses,
32 co-ops, and hundreds of
rental apartments²all
adjoined by garden spaces.
  
 




‡ Large areas of open space were
included in the plan.
‡ Construction costs were minimized,
which allowed those with limited
means the opportunity to afford their
own homes.
‡ Rows of one- to three-family private
houses with co-op and rental
apartment buildings were mixed
together and arranged around
common gardens.
‡ Contiguous blocks are known as
Courts, with buildings enclosing
interior garden commons.
‡ Lanes and walkways lead through
each block to divide the interior space
into three of four smaller garden areas
‡ Stores and garages placed around the
edges of the neighbourhood.
     

‡ For the first four decades, Sunnyside Gardens
was meticulously preserved by design.
‡ Deeds for new homes with 40-year restricted
covenants, which forbade changes without the
approval of trustees elected from the
homeowners associations. These covenants
kept common garden space open and fostered
an awareness of architectural qualities worth
preserving.
‡ Beginning in 1964-68, as 40-year covenants
expired on individual properties, some
homeowners overtook garden spaces by
installing driveways or fencing off portions of
the open courts, enlarging their private yards.
‡ Still, the great majority of neighbors adhered
to the original ideal of open space.
‡ Sunnyside Gardens was added to the National
Register of Historic Places in 1984
‡ In 2007, when the neighborhood was
designated a New York City Historic District


!"#
‡ Ö
V  Radburn is located within the Borough of Fair Lawn, Bergen
County, New Jersey, 12 miles from New York City.
‡ 
V
V Clarence Stein and Henry Wright
‡ ÖV 1929
‡ ÖV There are approximately 3100 people - some 680 families
living in Radburn.
‡  
Housing consists of 469 single family homes, 48 townhouses,
30 two family houses, a 93 unit apartment complex and 10 condominium
units
 




$

‡ The primary innovation of
Radburn was the separation of
pedestrian and vehicular
traffic. This was accomplished
by doing away with the
traditional grid-iron street
pattern and replacing it with
the superblock.
‡ A pedestrian underpass and
an overpass, linking the
superblocks, were provided
over streets with vehicular
traffic.
‡ Another innovation of
Radburn was that the parks
were secured without
additional cost to the
residents. The savings in
expenditures for roads and
public utilities at Radburn, as
contrasted with the normal
subdivision, paid for the
parks.
%

 

‡ As the country struggled out of the Depression, the influence of the
Radburn Idea was first reflected in the various Greenbelt communities of
the Resettlement Administration and later, in Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles
and Kitimat. B. C.
‡ The Idea then showed up in England and later in Sweden at Vallingly, the
huge Stockholm suburb; at the Baronbackavna Estate, Orebro and at the
Beskopsgaden Estate, Goteborg.
‡ It was in post world War II England that Radburn achieved generic status.
The "Radburn Plan", the "Radburn Idea", the "Radburn Layout" appeared
first at Coventry and later at Stevenage, Bracknell and Cumbernauld.
‡  


 
 ; to Brazil; to several towns
in Russia and to a section of Osaka, Japan.
‡ The Japanese community is almost an exact duplicate of Radburn.
‡ The "Idea" finally returned to the United States at Reston, Virginia and
Columbia, Maryland.
‡ Several towns since have been modelled after the "Radburn Plan".
‡ Brazilia and the capital of New Zealand have consciously implemented
Radburn-based concepts
Y  
‡ Complete disregard for housing standards and desire for profit
regardless of the exploitation it entailed had produced high density,
excessive land coverage and decidedly bad housing. The theory that
these evils were essentially good business was exploded. Good
planning was discovered to be an effective instrument to complete
with bad planning. When laws were enacted to curb irresponsible
building of slums, the road was cleared for good planning with
financial benefits as well as the restoration of positive social values.
‡ The period of activity during the 20s and early 30s did not solve our
urban housing ills but did provide a foundation upon which future
progress could be continued. Building companies became conscious
of the advantage of investment in housing. Large scale planning
opened the opportunity for arranging building on the land so that all
dwellings were well located. As a permanent investment such factors
were important, and good planning was becoming good investment.
Good planning built in permanent value.