Product Description

Located in Queens, fifteen minutes from Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Station, Forest Hills Gardens is a leading example of England’s garden city transplanted onto American soil. The commuter suburb drew national attention when plans for its development were announced by the Russell Sage Foundation in 1909, and the thriving community continues to provide a parklike haven for more than 6,000 residents.

Susan L. Klaus offers a richly illustrated account of the collaboration between architect Grosvenor Atterbury and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., who drew on his father’s visionary concepts as well his own ideas about what makes a community work. As Americans continue to struggle with the dual challenge of containing sprawl and creating livable communities, "A Modern Arcadia" provides a timely analysis of one of the most successful places ever built in the United States.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #438319 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 207 pages

Review
"...an exemplary short architectural monograph: succinct, eloquent, contextual, and copiously illustrated." -- Choice

"Great book. It is the best of its genre..." -- Andres M. Duany

"Klaus, an independent scholar, has a strong feel for the period architecture and especially landscaping." -- New York Times Book Review

"One of the finest planned communities ever, Forest Hills Gardens finally receives the attention it deserves." -- Robert A. M. Stern, Yale Sch Architecture

"The scholarship in this work is exceptionally thorough..." -- Cynthia Zaitzevsky

From the Publisher
An illustrated history of one of America’s most notable planned communities.

Winner of the 2003 Historic Preservation Book Prize from the Center for Historic Preservation at Martha Washington College.

Winner of the New York Society Library’s 2002 New York City Book Award for Landscape History.

About the Author
Susan L. Klaus is an independent scholar specializing in urban and landscape history.

Customer Reviews

An important book
I happend to bump into the book by accident. I was doing research into
Edward Bouton, creator of Baltimore's Roland Park. Bouton also doubled as the general manager of the Sage Foundation's Forest Hills Gardens.
This is a great book, meticulously researched. Read it.