In Memoriam
Marie Beirne 1946 - 2018
Our friend and colleague, Marie Beirn, passed away on November 26, 2018 due to complications following surgery. We miss her terribly.
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Design
The impetus of post-war idealism to create affordable middle class housing found its design parallel in early 20th Century European utopian aesthetics, "Towers in the Park." The complex combines high rise buildings and open spaces, bringing the light and air of the suburbs into the city. The design sparks controversy.
Read...Community
The shared experience of the Veterans and their families coupled with the layout of the complex led to something which neither Robert Moses nor Jane Jacobs could have predicted: the development of an extraordinarily tight-knit sense of community and a small town ethos among the residents.
Read...History
NYC at the end of WWII: with a severe housing shortage looming, big money and big government create the first public-private partnership to build a massive apartment complex to house thousands of returning veterans. That the Vets had to be white led to a long and bitter struggle that eventually resulted in the nation's first fair housing law.
Read...The Producers
William Kelly
Marie Beirne
About the Film
Stuyvesant Town does not want for controversy and struggle. The massive housing project has consistently seen conflict over a wide range of issues: public and private interests, design and urban planning, a racist housing policy. Battles took place in the courts, in legislatures, and in the streets. The Burden of Eden explores these struggles of Stuyvesant Town's near eighty year history.
Read...