Part II: “A New Sort of Space: A Proper Country Home”
5. Retirement p. 67
6. Prosperity, pp. 68
7. Slovenliness, pp. 69 - 77
8. Village, pp. 78 - 92
Part II of Stilgoe abounds in important images, and you’ll want to meditate on some of them. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 suggest that the relationship between suburban ideas and rural ideas were complex. Working farms were not pretty places in the 19th century. (Minnesota folklore has a saying that one can tell who dominates a farm family, the husband or the wife, by which has the newer coat of paint, the barn, or the farmhouse). Note the illustrations of villages, and see if you can see ways in which the typical farming village differed from the suburb. Note especially the illustration of the village of Jamaicaon Long Island, p. 90, where one can see some of the typical elements of suburban landscapes appearing, while others remain absent. The link above presents Jamaica as it looks today.
The illustration of South Braintree in 1858 shows the settlement pattern typical of the days before the railroad became a significant tool for moving “commuters” from home to work and back. Look carefully at the relationship of houses to the principal road. The railroad, which will make such an impact in a few short years, is to the right. Trains cannot reach an efficient speed quickly, nor can they stop on a dime. How would this effect the distribution of houses in “commuter land” before the automobile was invented?
For Monday, February 13
No New readings for this day. We’ll be watching a video from the Pride of Place series entitled, “Suburbs, Arcadias for Everyone”. For those who want to work ahead, continue with chapters 5 - 8 of Stilgoe.
Lewellyn Park, discussed in Stilgoe (pp. 52 - 55), the plan (left) and prospect (right). Lewellyn Park is America's first planned suburb, and figures prominently in the video we'll watch. Click to read about it (left) and its founder (right).
A Satellite photo of South Braintree today.
The red line marks the MBTA "red line" subway to downtown boston. South of this point MBTA commuter lines reach to places like Plymouth and Kingston. If you've access to Google Earth you can trace patterns associated with railroads and subway lines along this route. Much of this area is outer suburbia now. You will note, however, that the density of suburban houses mostly decreases beyond Braintree, except for the village centers of older towns. The reason is that commuting by the subway is considerably less expensive than commuting by rail.
By the way, how is Tracy Kidder's House coming along????
