Usonia Historic District is a planned community and national historic district in the Town of Mount Pleasant, adjacent to the village of Pleasantville, Westchester County, New York.
History In 1945, a rural tract was purchased by a cooperative of young couples from New York City, who were able to enlist the students of Frank Lloyd Wright to build his Broadacre City concept. Wright decided where each house should be placed. Wright designed three homes himself and approved architectural plans of the other 44, which were designed by such architects as Paul Schweikher, Theodore Dixon Bower, Ulrich Franzen, Kaneji Domoto, Aaron Resnick, and David Henken – an engineer and Wright apprentice. ()
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012 as the Usonia Historic District. The historic district encompasses 43 contributing buildings, one contributing site, and three contributing structures.
Description The layout of the neighborhood was planned by Wright in a circular manner, preserving most of the original trees and "encouraging the flow of the land". The balance of the homes were decreed to be in the modern "organic" style ordained by Wright. The community was named "Usonia" in homage to Wright, whose ideas on the way Americans should live together guided their plan. Gallery The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Usonian homes in Pleasantville are:
Other homes include:
Notable residents Aaron Resnick Mel Smilow Martin Scheiner Ann McGovern Roger Kahn
See also List of Frank Lloyd Wright works National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Westchester County, New York
References
External links
Inside Usonia: A 1940s utopian town in the United States, a BBC documentary on YouTube "Usonia Community Remembers Its Past", The New York Times "Wright Find Recalls His Influence On A Community", The New York Times "Updating Wright's Ideal", The New York Times "Green Before It Had a Name", The New York Times , Retro Info! Photos on Flickr