TOWN PLANNING ARCHITECT : CLARENCE STEIN

CLARENCE S. STEIN ABOUT HIS INNOVATIONS ACCOMPLISHMENTS PUBLISHED WORK (1882-1975), one of the twentieth century’s most profound visionaries, led ground breaking innovations in urban planning. Though trained as an architect, he was also a persuasive writer. Born, raised and educated in New York, Stein was primarily considered an East Coast figure, though he did have strong and early ties to Southern California. After studying architecture at Columbia University and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Stein returned to the United States in 1911, joining the firm of Bertram Good hue in New York.  •The Writings of Clarence S. Stein: Architect of the Planned Community, 1998 •Toward New Towns for America, 1951 •Kitimat: A New City, 1954 •Report of the Commission of Housing and Regional Planning to Governor Alfred..., 1925 •Primer of Housing, 1927 (co-author) •Store Buildings and Neighbourhood Shopping Centres, 1934 •Radburn, Town for the Motor Age, 1965 •Hillside Homes, 1936 Beginning in 1923 Stein and Henry Wright collaborated on the plan for Sunnyside Gardens, a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. The 77-acre (310,000 m2) low-rise pedestrian-oriented development was constructed between 1924 to 1929. It was funded by fellow RPAA officer Alexander Bing and took the garden city ideas of Sir Ebenezer Howard as a model. This neighborhood has retained its special character and has been listed on the National Register of Historical Places Born-June 19, 1882 Rochester, New York Died-February 7, 1975 (aged 92) Occupation-Urban planner, architect, writer Known for-Proponent of the Garden City movement ACCOMPLISHMENTS PROJECT WORK Clarence Stein's work expanded the idea of a Garden City. He believed in molding urban construction into nature. He brought these two aspects together to make a modern yet comfortable environment. Other Accomplishments Chatham Village, Pittsburgh Phipps Garden Apartments (I) and (II), New York City Valley Stream Project Greenbelt, Maryland Green Brook, New Jersey Greendale, Wisconsin Baldwin Hills Village, Los Angeles Kitimat, British Columbia The first of these projects was Sunnyside Gardens in Queens, New York. Sunnyside Gardens, a seventy-seven acre low-rise development, was constructed from 1924-29. This was followed by Radburn. “In these projects, Stein, Henry Wright and Alexander Bing rethought the basic social and environmental needs, as well as the financing and physical layout, of the American urban residential community; in so doing, they created new urban forms.”(an excellent blog about these communities ABOUT HIS PRACTICE Moving back to New York in 1919, he opened his own practice. In 1921, he began a long and fruitful collaboration with architect Henry Wright (1878-1936). This charismatic partnership would produce some of the most innovative urban planning in the history of the United States. A diagram showing the street network structure of Radburn and its nested hierarchy. Separate pedestrian paths run through the green spaces between the culs-de-sac and through the central green spine (Note: the shaded area was not built)

CLARENCE S. STEIN LOCATION IN NEW YORK CITY Sunnyside Gardens includes one-, two-, and three-family homes, and a few apartment buildings, all made of Hudson brick (it was inexpensive, durable, and available). Each private residence has a small front garden facing the street and a private garden in the rear. The rental units in the two- and three-family houses enjoy private terraces overlooking the gardens. There are two configurations: the courtyard condition and the mews condition; at the edges of the community some homes simply line the street, with a common walkway running the length of the row. Homes in the courtyard blocks enclose an inner courtyard that was designated a common, landscaped but not used for recreation. Each homeowner actually owned, and paid taxes on, the part of the common in the block and lot, even if it was not used. The mews houses face a common front court and back on alleys; each mews house also has a private rear yard. SUNNYSIDE, QUEENS Sunnyside is a [high class neighbourhood in the Western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It shares borders with Hunters Point and Long Island City to the west, Astoria to the north, Woodside to the east and Maspeth to the south. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community District 2, served by Queens Community Board 2. The land was originally owned by French settlers in the 1800s. The name "Sunnyside" is derived from Sunnyside Hill Farms, so named by the Bragraws family who owned the land.[2] Sunnyside was a rural hamlet mostly consisting of small farms and marshland. It was incorporated into Long Island City in 1870, and developed into a bedroom community after the Queensboro Bridge was completed in 1909. A large portion of the neighborhood is six-story apartment buildings constructed during the 1920s and '30s. Roughly bounded by Queens Blvd., 43rd and 52nd Sts. Barnett and Skillman Aves., New York, New York Area 53 acres (21 ha) Built 1924 Architect Stein,Clarence; Wright,Henry LAYOUT PLANS Architectural st yle Colonial Revival, Art Deco HIS OPINIONS After living at the Village Green for over six years, I can personally attest to the transformative powers it has, successfully bringing people together. I believe that most people who live in the Village feel equally passionate about the place we all call home - and I’ve seen that same pride and passion in the residents of Wyvernwood, as they fight to save their community. Though our means were modest, we contrived to live in an environment where space, sunlight, order, color - these essential ingredients for either life or art - were constantly present, silently molding all of us."

CLARENCE S. STEIN PRINCIPALS BY STEIN SUNNYSIDE, QUEENS City principles developed by Stein and Wright, were: • Superblock – large parcel with few or no through streets, which consolidated open green spaces for use by the residents; • Specialized roads – all auto circulation on the perimeter – garage courts for storing of cars; • Complete separation of pedestrian and automobile – tame the automobile – safer for children; • Houses turned toward gardens and parks – this arrangement turned the structures outside in, placing the living room windows towards the green spaces; • The park as the backbone – large green spaces dominate, rather than streets. Freedom from dangers of the automobile at Radburn Clarence Stein and the Carmelitos architects working on the site plan using wooden blocks, 1938 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GARDEN CITIES Because of his innovations in urban planning on the East Coast, in early 1938 Clarence Stein was hired by the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles to serve as the consulting architect on its first two projects – Carmelitos and Harbor Hills. In August and September 1938, Stein travelled to California to meet with Housing Authority officials and the architects involved with the projects with whom he would work. Particularly at Radburn, Stein and Wright created a revolution in planning, which would truly deal for the first time with the problem and dangers of the automobile. Stein had written that what he hoped his communities would offer was “a beautiful environment, a home for children, an opportunity to enjoy the day’s leisure and the ability to ride on the Juggernaut of industry, instead of being prostrated under its wheels.” At Radburn, “a community within a community,” automobile traffic was separated as much as possible from pedestrian traffic, and for the first time a largely residential “superblock” concept of planning was used. Radburn was followed in the 1930’s by more “towns for the motor age” Chatham Village (Pittsburgh), Phipps Garden Apartments and Sunnyside (Long Island) and Hillside Homes (the Bronx). In addition to beauty and promotion of social life for their inhabitants, the basic Garden Stein and Wright’s philosophies were embraced by the government during the early years of the Great Depression, serving as the design standard for the public housing programs. The first of these - Carmelitos in Long Beach, (Kenneth S. Wing and Cecil A. Schilling, architects; Ralph D. Cornell, landscape architect) - would provide 607 homes for families whose annual incomes ranged from $900 to $1,200 annually The fifty acre site had eighty-seven buildings, arranged in such a way that ample parking was provided, but automobile and pedestrian traffic was kept as separate as possible. A backyard garden was provided for every family, and provisions were made for playgrounds, an outdoor nursery school, and other recreation areas for both children and adults.

CLARENCE S. STEIN FORMATION OF SCHOOL. CLARENCE STEIN'S CONCEPTION OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD UNIT Clarence Stein placed the elementaryschool at the center of the neighborhoodunit and within ¼ mile radius of all residents. A small shopping center for daily needs is located near the school.Most residential streets are suggested as cul-de-sac or ‘dead-end’ roads to eliminate through traffic, and park space flows through the neighborhood in a manner reminiscent of the Radburn Plan. He further expanded the definition of neighborhood center by connecting the neighborhoods together to create towns. The diagram shows the grouping of three neighborhood units served by a high schooland one or two major commercial centers,the radius for walking distance to these facilities being one mile. In the figure , show's grouping of three neighbourhood units is served by a high school and one or two commercial centres. Walking distance radius is one mile. In the figure A, elementary school is the centre of the unit and within a one half mile radius of all residents in the neighbourhood, local shopping centres located near the school. Residential streets are suggested as CUL-DE-SACS to eliminate through traffic and park space flows into the neighbourhood as applied in the Radburn plan. FUNCTIONAL URBAN SPACES The activities of the town takes place in public spaces. In the city there are wide range of public spaces which are differentiated by the pattern of their functions and circulation system. In Neighbourhood unit concept, which is being used as the planning unit for the town or city consists of following urban spaces for, URBAN SPACES IN A NEIGHBOURHOOD UNIT Urban space :- The space is geometrically bounded by a variety of elevations of the buildings. It is only the clear legitibility of geometric characteristics and aesthetic quality which allows us to preserve the external space as the urban space. PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES. 1. Streets and squares 2. Parks and Maidan 3. Precinct 4. Recreation green 5. Civic and Religious Building 6. Sports 7. Shopping Complexes 8. Community centres for public assembly The definition of the five-minute walking radius neighborhood is part of the American Institute of Architects Architectural Graphics Standards which is an industry standard for dimensional criteria for buildings and site planning.