Broadacre City

Frank Lloyd Wright

and his vision for the urban future

The model 1934 - 35 and its structure

Site plans from 1935, 1945 and 1958

by Franz Sdoutz

'Broadacre City' model 1934 - 35 [right]

Built by Wright's apprentices, financed by Edgar Kaufmann, on display for the first time 1935 at the 'Industrial Arts Exposition' […] in the 'Rockefeller Center' ["Radio City" III.) 1] in New York and exhibited in the USA V.) 2 and Europe VI.) 3 .

Quarter of Broadacre City model compared to a one mile grid composed of 640 (broad) acres at 264 x 165 feet (approx. 80 x 50 m) each. [Sdoutz 2007]

See Img. _03 for site plans of the lower right quarter square mile ["SECTION A"] superimposed by the grid.

Context:
Land Ordinance of 1785 (USA)

The area displayed here by both plans equals 160 acres each [= 64,75 ha = a Quarter-Section] designated for "Little homes".

References:

1. 'Frank Lloyd Wright' by Bruno Zevi, published by Zanichelli Editore Bologna, 1994 [first edition 1979] http://books.google.com/
   
   Img. _01 to the left: 'Broadacre City' plan of model published 1945 in 'When Democracy Builds'
   Img. _01 to the right: 'Broadacre City' model 1934 - 35 [image rotated to match plan]
2. ."FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT: DIE LEBENDIGE STADT" edited by David G. De Long, published by Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein / Skira editore, Milan, 1998
   http://books.google.at/
   
   Img. _03 Detail of Broadacre City site plan, according to De Long published first in the 'Architectural Record' in 1935. Orientation of plan reproduction has been changed for comparison. [page 30]
   
3. 'The Living City' by Frank Lloyd Wright, published by Horizon Press, 1958
   http://www.archive.org/
   
   1 "This matter (a direct continuous study beginning 1921) was first presented as "The City" in a lecture at Princeton University. Subsequently that lecture was published with five others by the Princeton University Press. While in Arizona, pushed there by the national breakdown of 1929, the Broadacre City model 12 feet by 12 feet was made by the Taliesin Fellowship. It was first exhibited at the Industrial Arts Exposition, Radio City, New York, April 15, 1935. This modeling is now a feature of Taliesin." [page 219]
4. 'Frank Lloyd Wright 1943-1959: The Complete Works' by Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, published by Taschen 2009
   
   Img. _04 Detail of 5825.001 [page 531]
5. IN: 'Center: A Journal of Architecture in America', 'Modernist Visions and the Contemporary American City' - Volume 5, published in 1989 by the Center of the Study of American Architecture, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin. http://soa.utexas.edu/
   
   'Broadacre City: The Reception of a Modernist Vision, 1932-1988' by Anthony Alofsin [pages 8 - 43]
   
   2 [page 18] According to Anthony Alofsin the model was also on display:
   at the Museum of the State Historical Library at Madison (Wisconsin),
   at the department store of Edgar Kaufmann (Senior) in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania),
   at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C., and later
   at the Iowa County Fair (Wisconsin) and
   in Marquette (Michigan);
   attracting an approximate total of 70 to 80 thousand visitors in the US.
6. 'Frank Lloyd Wright: Europe and beyond' by Anthony Alofsin published by University of California Press, 1999 http://books.google.at/
   
   3 The model was part of the "Sixty Years of Living Architecture" exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, June 1951 [page 70 onwards]
   
   "A large wood and plastic model of Broadacre City, cleaned, repaired, and repainted for the occasion, was the pièce de resistance of the fourth hall […] and it made a profound impression." [page 86]
7. Sdoutz 2007
   Img. _02 to the left: 4 English acres compared to 4 Broad acres
   Img. _02 to the right: Quarter of Broadacre City model compared to a one mile grid; Background image [FLLW FDN # 3402.0089 ?] of model taken from: www.wrightclub.hu (offline)

Links

Images of the model:
http://www.wright50years.com/ 2 3 4
membres.lycos.fr/boscha/desurbanisme
mocp.org […]
www.arkitektnytt.no […]
www.dkolb.org […] = www.raumplanung.arch.tu-muenchen.de
www.planetclaire.org […]
www.accd.edu large =
bp3.blogger.com = http://contentdm.unl.edu/ […]
architettura.supereva.com […] detail […]
www.steinerag.com
www.fabiofeminofantascience.org
www.architecturalartsltd.com
www.archined.nl […]
www.epiteszforum.hu […]
www.flickr.com
http://www.scalarchives.it/ 2
http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/

Reproductions of the model plan:
www.caosmanagement.it […]
www.steinerag.com […]
architettura.supereva.com […]
www.mongelli2000.com =
http://contentdm.unl.edu/ […]
http://www.scalarchives.it/
http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/

Images and drawings in PDF format:
dasun2.epfl.ch (2007)
http://www.wright50years.com/

Compare:
Galesburg Country Homes 1947
Greater London

more Broadacre

• 'Broadacre City' model; illustrations 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007 for 'The Living City'
• related housing schemes:
  Quadruple Block Plan; Willey House; Cloverleaf Quadruple Housing; Galesburg Country Homes; American System-Built Houses; Usonian Houses
• additional architecture:
  Huntington Hartford Play Resort; Gordon Strong Automobile Objective; Rogers Lacy Hotel

File Log

• Outlining Broadacre City became necessary in the course of my urban diploma project 16/3 in 1999. Put online the same year in German, this 'preliminary' English translation became available in 2007.
• All links to http://contentdm.unl.edu/ [University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries] have been updated (25.11.2008).
• Links to http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/ [Columbia University in the City of New York] added (2.8.2009)
• All dates according to source [!].
  
  
• ARCHITECTURETEORY.NET is currently being upgraded and restructured. This may result in shifted and frequently altered content.

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