Modern Arcadia
Subtitle: Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and the Plan for Forest Hills Gardens
Contributors: Library of American Landscape History (Corporate Author)
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: June 20, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9781558493148
Subjects: American history: from c 1900 -; Houses, apartments, flats, etc; Social groups & communities; Urban & municipal planning; 20th century; Landscape; Landscape Architecture And Design; Urban Architecture; Olmsted, Frederick Law,; Architecture; New York; Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.; 1870-1957; Case studies; Forest Hills (New York, N.Y.); New York (State); Planned communities
First sentence: MAROONED IN GOPHER PRAIRIE, Minnesota, in 1912, newly wed Carol Kennicott dreams of transforming "the unsparing unapologetic ugliness and the rigid straightness" of her village into something like the new "fairy-book suburb" of Forest Hills Gardens on Long Island, pictures of which had already found their way to her tiny public library on the American plain.
Description: ""Bright, cheerful houses, well arranged, well trimmed lawns, hedging carefully cut... distinctly joyous," wrote architectural critic Herbert Croly in 1914 about the Forest Hills Gardens community in Queens, New York. The New York Tribune agreed, reporting that the place was a "modern Garden of Eden, a fairy tale too good to be true."".

"Conceived as an experiment that would apply the new "science" of city planning to a suburban setting, Forest Hills Gardens was created by the Russell Sage Foundation to provide housing for middle-class commuters as an alternative to cramped flats in New York City. Although it has long been recognized as one of the most influential planned communities in the United States, this is the first time Forest Hills Gardens has been the subject of a book.".

"Susan L. Klaus's illustrated history chronicles the creation of the 142-acre development from its inception in 1909 through its first two decades, offering critical insights into American planning history, landscape architecture, and the social and economic forces that shaped housing in the Progressive Era."--BOOK JACKET.