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Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey

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22 b&w photos		thumbnail
16 data pages		thumbnail
3 photo caption pages

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TITLE:
Old Greenbelt, Crescent Road and Southway, Greenbelt, Prince George's County, MD

CALL NUMBER:
HABS MD-1217

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:
[See Call Number]

MEDIUM:
Photo(s): 22   (5 x 7)
Data Page(s): 15 plus cover page
Photo Caption Page(s): 3

DATE:
Documentation compiled after 1933.

CREATOR:
Historic American Buildings Survey, creator

RELATED NAME(S):
Rosenthal, James W., Photographer

NOTE:
Survey number HABS MD-1217

Significance: The community of Greenbelt, Maryland, was created through a landmark federal planning initiative in the 1930s and exhibits thoughtful integration of transportation, housing, retail, government services, green space, and pedestrian circulation. Since this origin at the hands of the federal Resettlement Administration from 1935-38, Greenbelt has continued an emphasis on planning and maintaining its physical and social character as a progressive community.Franklin Roosevelt's victory in the 1932 presidential election initiated sweeping changes in the federal government to combat the economic depression of the 1930s. Among Roosevelt's advisors was Columbia University economics professor Rexford Tugwell, who had a particular interest in promoting economic recovery in the agricultural sector. Having been named assistant secretary of agriculture and then undersecretary of agriculture, Tugwell masterminded the formation of the Resettlement Administration, dedicated to moving families from substandard urban and rural locations to new, planned communities. The Resettlement Administration included the Suburban Resettlement Division, which was concerned with moving low- and moderate-income young families from cities to new suburban towns. Economics was a primary concern of this effort, anticipating that the low cost of outlying land would make new communities more affordable. This greenbelt town program utilized Garden City planning principles, first promoted in the United Kingdom by Ebenezer Howard and taken up by American planners, architects, and intellectuals including Henry Wright, Clarence Stein, and Lewis Mumford. Garden City ideals featured the prominent inclusion of parks and green space to augment the density of clustered, multi-family housing and emphasized planned integration of residential, commercial, recreational, and industrial uses throughout the city. Greenbelt, chartered by the state of Maryland in 1937, was the most prominent and complete town in the United States planned along these principles. Construction of the original section of Greenbelt, Maryland from 1936 to 1938 provided work for thousands of unemployed laborers, as was characteristic of many New Deal programs. The town was an innovative combination of superblocks (neighborhood units with groups of row houses and apartments intersected by pedestrian walkways through communal green space), a central grouping of commercial and recreational structures, and segregated circulation patterns for pedestrian and automotive uses between the residential and commercial zones. In addition, the federal government promoted cooperative enterprises and associations in Greenbelt as a way to foster affordability and an enduring sense of community.This original section of Greenbelt established a precedent in housing form and in planning that strongly influenced subsequent development. In anticipation of World War II, the federal government developed 1000 new units of row housing for defense workers in an adjacent section of the federally-owned land. These houses were developed into another neighborhood unit of superblocks with curving, picturesque streets grouped around a later elementary school. Old Greenbelt represents a successful example of a planned community, federal intervention into the housing market, and creation of an enduring community spirit through careful social planning.

SUBJECTS:
MARYLAND--Prince George's County--Greenbelt

OTHER TITLE:
Greenbelt

COLLECTION:
Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

REPOSITORY:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGID:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md1701

CONTENTS:
Photograph caption(s): 
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM EAST/NORTHEAST OF 10 CRESCENT ROAD (TWO-UNIT ATTACHED DWELLING).
DETAIL VIEW FROM NORTH OF "SERVICE" SIDE ENTRANCE TO 10B CRESCENT ROAD (NOW GREENBELT MUSEUM). NOTE EXTERIOR UTILITY CLOSET TO LEFT OF MAIN DOOR.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM NORTHEAST OF 8 HILLSIDE ROAD (ROW HOUSES). NOTE UTILITY CLOSETS AND GARAGE ENTRANCE FOR "SERVICE" SIDE OF STRUCTURE.
ROW HOUSES AT 9 COURT, RIDGE ROAD FROM NORTH/NORTHEAST.
"GARDEN" SIDE OF ROW HOUSES AT 13 COURT, RIDGE ROAD FROM NORTHEAST. NOTE PEDESTRIAN WALKWAYS THROUGH SHARED GREEN SPACE.
ROW HOUSES AT 13 COURT, RIDGE ROAD FROM SOUTH WITH GARDENS IN FOREGROUND.
PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY FROM CRESCENT ROAD TO RIDGE ROAD BETWEEN 13 AND 11 COURT.
GARAGES AT 13 COURT, RIDGE ROAD FROM SOUTH.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM EAST/SOUTHEAST OR 18-26 CRESCENT ROAD (APARTMENT BUILDINGS)
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST (STREET SIDE) OF 8-14 PARKWAY (APARTMENT BUILDINGS). NOTE ORIGINAL STEEL CASEMENT WINDOWS AND GLASS BLOCK.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM SOUTHEAST OF 8-14 PARKWAY (APARTMENT BUILDINGS). THIS ELEVATION FACES A PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY THROUGH SHARED GREEN SPACE.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM NORTHWEST OF 8-14 PARKWAY (APARTMENT BUILDINGS). NOTE PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY ON LEFT.
ELEVATION VIEW FROM EAST OF 12 PARKWAY (APARTMENT BUILDING).
PEDESTRIAN UNDERPASS AT CRESCENT ROAD AND ROOSEVELT CENTER FROM NORTH. NOTE DALE WINLING, 2005 SALLY KRESS TOMPKINS FELLOW, WALKING THROUGH UNDERPASS.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM EAST OF COMMERCIAL BUILDING AND PLAZA AT ROOSEVELT CENTER.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST OF COMMERCIAL BUILDING, GREENBELT THEATER, AND PLAZA AT ROOSEVELT CENTER.
MOTHER AND CHILD SCULPTURE IN PLAZA AT ROOSEVELT CENTER, FROM SOUTH.
REAR ELEVATION OF GREENBELT THEATER, FROM EAST.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM EAST OF GREENBELT CO-OP SUPERMARKET, 121 CENTERWAY.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST OF 159 CENTERWAY (FORMER FIRE STATION).
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM EAST OF GREENBELT AQUATIC CENTER, 101 CENTERWAY.
VIEW FROM NORTHEAST OF GREENBELT AQUATIC CENTER POOL.

CONTROL #:
MD1701

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