We're going to watch a video, entitled Suburbs Arcadias for Everyone, by the noted Architect Robert A. M. Stern
As gender roles became more differentiated, publishers started writing magazines directed toward "women's interests. Such magazine was Godey's Lady's Book. This illustration is from 1862. Click on the image to read the story. You might find other stories interesting, as well, and a browse will let you see how broad the publisher thought women's interests were.
Read, in Jackson, Kenneth T., Crabgrass Frontier,
Chapter 3, Home, Sweet Home: The House and the Yard
Probably the advantages of civilization can be found illustrated and demonstrated under no other circumstances so completely as in some suburban neighborhoods where each family abode stands fifty or a hundred feet or more apart from all others, and at some distance from the public road. —FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED
To the left, is the House of John Howard Payne, the actor/poet who wrote Home Sweet Home. Stephen Foster set the poem to music and it became one of the most loved (and romantic) songs of the 19th Century. The Robert Shaw Choral sings it in the video to the right.
As you read this chapter, look for changes in domesticity in the new "home-sweet-home" suburb, and notice changes in the use of the parts of the yard as well. Across this period the front yard changes especially. Jackson notes the nature of this change in a few well-chosen words: "By 1870 separateness had become essential to the identity of the suburban house. The yard was expected to be large and private and designed for both active and passive recreation, in direct antithesis to the dense lifestyle from which many families had recently moved." Next time you're in downtown Bristol, notice the different depths of the front yards. You'll find a good illustration of Jackson's point See if you can document this in your resource folder, in Bristol, or elsewhere.
The New York Time review writes: "The vision of suburbia has been realized in many places and this program showcases several examples. There have also been cases where plans developed into something less than perfect, but the dream of a house in a wooded setting is still pursued by many Americans. Pride of Place: Building the American Dream - Suburbs, Arcadia for Everyone looks at the first suburb, located in Llewellyn Park, NJ; Forest Hills, NY, and Oak Bluffs at Martha's Vineyard. For those who work in urban centers, a home on the outskirts of the city is an ideal living situation" Llewellyn Park was the first planned suburb. It is in New Jersey. Perhaps some of you live near it. Click the picture to visit its website.
For Friday February 5
Read, in Jackson, Kenneth T., Crabgrass Frontier,
Chapter 4, Romantic Suburbs.
More important than the grand avenue in creating a new image for high-status suburban residence was the winding lane. Just as the grid was ideal for the row house, the undulating pattern was best suited to the suburban cottage being popularized by Beecher, Downing, and Vaux. First introduced in suburban areas in the 1850s as a design feature, a gentle turn was indicative of the pastoral and bucolic pace of the home rather than the busy and efficient system of the office or factory. (Jackson, Kenneth T.)
We might finish up the video (it is eight minutes longer than the class), or we might not. We're going to revisit Lewellyn Park and some other "romantic" suburbs as well. Some were as far west as Chicago, for instance, Riverside. (Nothing much is left of the original riverside. The Condo Revolution has caused it to be razed to the ground. Another example would be Vineland, New Jersey--the historic downtown is reasonably well preserved. Below is a poem by "Vineland's First Poetess". How Romantic!
