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NOTICE: This work is copyright © 2004 by Gregory Heller Its repository is Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT The original content of this work is the intellectual property of the author. Any use of the concepts, terminology, or research contained within this work must be properly cited and credited. This work may not be distributed, sold, or reprinted in any form without the express consent of the author. For more information, please contact [email protected] Wesleyan University The Honors College THE POWER OF AN IDEA Edmund Bacon’s Planning Method Inspiring Consensus and Living in the Future by Gregory Heller Class of 2004 A thesis submitted to the faculty of Wesleyan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors in the American Studies Program Middletown, CT April, 2004 To Myra Heller my grandmother, who taught me to love the city, and to Ed Bacon who taught me how to express that love. 2 Acknowledgements I offer my deepest gratitude to Ed Bacon, a man who has been my teacher, inspiration, co-worker, and companion. I am grateful to him for the uncountable ways he has affected my life and shaped my future. I am also grateful for the tremendous impact he has had on Philadelphia: the beautiful city I call home. I would like to thank my parents, Janis Weiner and Douglas Heller, for their endless love, support, and encouragement in all of my endeavors. I also thank my father for our discussions about Ed Bacon and city planning. A number of the ideas in this the- sis were developed over drinks with my father. I would like to thank my brother, Robert Heller; my grandmother, Ester Weiner; my grandfather, Jack Heller; my aunt, Roberta Weiner; and Nancy Parsons for their love and support. I also give my thanks to Tarsah Dale for always believing in me. There are several people who have had a particularly strong impact in shaping my per- ception of the city. These people have continually shared with me their passion for the city and urban experiences. Thank you to Myra Heller, Jonathan Schmalzbach, Paul Yoon, Adam Heller, Noah Isenberg, and Andrew Hohns. Many thanks to Elizabeth Milroy, my dedicated advisor. I look forward to our next collaboration. I am grateful to Shari Cooper, Philadelphia’s Northeast Community Planner. I learned much of what I know about the Northeast through my work with Shari. More impor- tantly, she is singlehandedly bringing life and new hope to a number of Northeast Philadelphia neighborhoods and countless residents. I would like to thank Cynthia Horan and Joseph Siry, two professors who have sig- nificantly guided my understanding of the urban environment. I also owe a debt to Ruth O’Brien, without whom I may never have met Ed Bacon. I offer my thanks to Irving Wasserman for making the Far Northeast a reality. I thank him also for his ongoing assistance in my research. I thank Alexander Garvin for his advice in my discussion of Ed Bacon and Robert Moses, and for carrying on Ed Bacon’s legacy through his work. Finally, I would like to thank my friends, who have been so supportive during my year with Ed Bacon and through the writing of this thesis: Kate Lucas, Liz King, Jackie Lane, Jeremy Best, Mike Gilles, Kate Patterson, Kristin Kyrka, Colin Bumby, Annika Brink, and Molly Dengler. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 3 Illustrations 5 Introduction 8 1. Philadelphia’s Urban Legend 16 Existing Literature 26 Bacon’s Reputation 34 2. The Independent 43 3. Living in the Future 59 4. Symbolic Historical Memory 79 Starting with William Penn 86 The Extension of the Grid 91 5. Planning the Far Northeast 96 Bacon’s Vision 100 Inheriting the Concept 103 Political Battle, Design Solution 107 Garages in the Front 111 6. Ed Bacon’s Planning Process 114 The Organizing Concept 115 The Message of the Land 116 Symbolic Historical Memory 118 The Biological Paradigm 119 Imaging the Future 120 Refusing to Be Categorized 121 The Collective Unconscious 122 Democratic Feedback 124 PRINCIPLES OF PLANNING 126 THE PLANNING PROCESS 127 7. The Reaction 128 Mistakes and Responses 128 Modern Planning Movements 133 Top Down? 135 8. Inspiring Consensus 139 Mediating Consensus 139 The Collective Unconscious 143 Bacon and Moses 145 9. The Far Northeast Today 151 What Went Wrong? 155 Epilogue: Hope for the Future 159 Appendix: An Interview with Edmund Bacon and Irving Wasserman 162 A Note on Sources 176 Bibliography 177 Notes 186 4 Illustrations The illustrations in this thesis are integrated with the text, throughout. I inten- tionally do not provide descriptive captions because I want the illustrations and text to interact and complement each other, instead of behaving as separate entities. In order to comply with U.S. Fair Use Copyright Laws, I include captions with the illustra- tion’s source. I also include a figure number, for reference with the following list. Figure A.1 “Evolution of a Two-Page Spread” 11 Diagrams created by Gregory Heller and Edmund Bacon; Penn Holme Plan from George Tatum, Penn’s Great Town, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1961. Figure 1.1 “Philadelphia’s Edmund Bacon” 16 Time, 84:19 (6 November 1964). Figure 1.2 “Bacon’s Impact on Center City” 18 Philadelphia City Planning Commission, “Plan for Center City,” 1963. Figure 1.3 “Looking into an Urban Crystal Ball” 19 Wharton Account, 19:2 (Winter 1980). Figure 1.4 “Reviving East Market Street” 22 Edmund N. Bacon’s Personal Papers; Ed Mauger, Philadelphia Then and Now (Thunder Bay: San Diego, 2002), 31. Figure 1.5 “Bacon’s Penn Center Concept and Penn Center Today” 25 Bacon Papers; Alexander Garvin, The American City: What Works, What Doesn’t (New York: McGraw Hill, 2002), 528. Figure 1.6 “Philadelphia’s Changing Skyline” 37 Mauger, 42-43. Figure 1.7 “Bacon’s Design for Independence Mall” 38 National Park Service. Figure 1.8 “A Public Toilet Beside Independence Hall” 38 Photograph taken by Gregory Heller. Figure 1.9 “Bacon’s 1932 Architectural Thesis” 39 Bacon Papers. Figure 1.10 “Robert Indiana’s Love Sculpture” 40 Photograph taken by Gregory Heller. Figure 1.11 “Bacon Skates” 40 Photograph taken by Gregory Heller. Figure 2.1 “The City as a Body” 48 Pietro C. Arani, Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Paintings (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 2000).; Tatum.; Composite by Bacon and Heller. Figure 2.2 “Bacon’s Chinese Inspirations” 52 Edmund N. Bacon, Design of Cities (New York: Viking, 1967), 266; Dennis Cox/China Stock; Emil Schulthess, China (New York: Viking, 1966); Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Figure 2.3 “Creating a Connection” 54 Delaware Vally Regional Planning Commission, “Historic Preservation,” 1969.; Bacon Papers. 5 Figure 3.1 “The Time-Space Machine” 69 Photograph taken by Ezra Stoller in Bacon Papers. Figure 3.2 “Children Plan” 71 Photograph taken by Ezra Stoller, in Bacon Papers. Figure 3.3 “The Better Philadelphia Exhibition Model” 71 Photograph taken by Ezra Stoller, in Bacon Papers. Figure 3.4 “Model Detail” 72 Photograph taken by Ezra Stoller, in Bacon Papers. Figure 4.1 “A Gleaming Triumph” 80 Life, 24 December 1965. Figure 4.2 “Symbolic Historical Memory and Penn’s Landing” 81 Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Electronically edited by the author. Figure 4.3 “The White Paper Syndrome” 85 Garvin, 155; The Evening Bulletin (17 May 1941). Figure 4.4 “Philadelphia and Liberties” 87 Walter Klinefelter, “Surveyor General Thomas Holme’s ‘Map of the Province of Pennsilvania,” Winterthur Portfolio, 6 (1970): 48. Figure 4.5 “Penn’s and Holme’s Organizing Concept” 88 Diagrams by Gregory Heller and Edmund Bacon. Figure 4.6 “Thomas Holme’s Portraiture” 89 Tatum. Figure 4.7 “City Hall” 90 Mauger, 118-119. Figure 4.8 “Crossing the Schuylkill River” 93 John W. Reps, The Making of Urban America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965), 265. Figure 4.9 “Proliferation of the Grid” 95 Rand McNally and Co.’s Business Atlas and Shipper’s Guide, 1901. Electronically edited by the author. Figure 5.1 “The Far Northeast Before Development” 96 Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Northeast Philadelphia and Why, 1928. Figure 5.2 “The Benjamin Franklin Parkway” 97 David B. Brownlee, Building the City Beautiful (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1989), 36-37. Figure 5.3 “Plan for Riverside” 98 Reps, 345. Figure 5.4 “Radburn, N.J.” 99 Mary Lou Williamson, Greenbelt: History of a New Town (Norfolk: Donning, 1997). Figure 5.5 “Adapting the Penn Plan” 100 Diagrams by Gregory Heller and Edmund Bacon. Figure 5.6 “The Far Northeast Organizing Concept” 101 Diagrams by Gregory Heller and Edmund Bacon. Figure 5.7 “Irving Wasserman, Damon Child, and Edmund Bacon” 104 Philadelphia City Planning Commission. 6 Figure 5.8 “Interlocking Cul-de-sacs” 106 Philadelphia City Planning Commission, “Annual Report,” 1957. Figure 5.9 “The Morrell Tract” 109 Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Figure 5.10 “The Far Northeast: In Theory and in Practice” 110 Philadelphia City Planning Commission, “Preliminary Far Northeast Physical Development Plan,” 1955; Philadelphia City Planning Commission, “Annual Report,” 1957. Figure 5.11 “Cul-de-sac” 111 Philadelphia City Planning Commission, “Annual Report,” 1957. Figure 5.12 “Garages in Front” 112 Photograph taken by Shari Cooper. Figure 6.1 “Organizing Concepts” 115 Diagrams created by Gregory Heller and Edmund Bacon. Figure 6.2 “Preserving the Stream Valleys” 117 Photograph taken by Gregory Heller. Figure 6.3 “Bacon at Work” 120 Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Figure 6.4 “Market East Plaza” 123 Philadelphia City Planning Commission, “Market East Plaza,” May 1958. Figure 7.1 “Public Housing” 129 Daniel J.