The town was beautifully designed. It was composed of
884 housing units--a mixture of apartments and rowhouses--all facing
inward on a series of parks which stretched along the wooded
crescent-shaped plateau. In the center of the crescent were the community
facilities: a model progressive school, a theater, a town newspaper
office, playground, cooperative stores, etc. Outside the crescent were a
lake, garden plots for tenants at no cost, and a health co-op.The Greenbelt town program provided an opportunity to
create a
complete town, not simply a housing project. Hale Walker assumed the
position of town planner; Reginald J. Wadsworth and Douglas D. Ellington
were principal architects; and Harold Bursley was engineering designer.
The enthusiastic, idealistic New Deal architects instilled the feeling of
grand design in the arrangement of streets, buildings, and open spaces of
Greenbelt. The feeling is "masterful, creating an orderly, tranquil
environment" (Fogle, 25). This achievement lies
in the careful
manipulation of physical aspects of site, infrastructure, and
architecture.
InfrastructureDesign
ElementsMethods and
Materials
History | Architecture and Planning | Final Thoughts |