According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 6.9 square miles (17.8km2), all land. (.)/. Rah! Cheerleader for asbestos without being aware of its dangers. No need though. I lived in Levittown PA in a 2 story house. We were all going the same direction Thanks to Big Bill Levitt we all had a chance. Our focus is on creating signature spaces befitting the unique aspects of our clients' projects. Named after the firm Levitt & Sons, Inc. founded by Abraham Levitt, the settlement was. ThoughtCo. Long Island Press, 2014. In 1946 the Levitt company acquired 4,000 acres of potato fields in Hempstead and began to build not just the largest single development by a single builder but what would be the country's largest housing development ever. Each community had a hierarchy of streets, so that the arterial highways separating each neighborhood had no driveways, preserving the carrying capacity of the town owned infrastructure. William's two most trusted friends; Alfred and Henry Trost, both architects who shared his vision of mass producing houses, joined him in this venture. It has a Certain Star Quality", https://www.longislandpress.com/2014/12/24/center-lane-stationery-in-levittown-closing-despite-cash-mob/, "Levittown: The Archetype for Suburban Development", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Levittown,_New_York&oldid=1148886807. During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt had launched a federal agency called the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC), meant to protect struggling homeowners from losing their homes. The racial makeup of the CDP was 90% White, 5.7% Asian, 0.8% Black, 0.1% Native American, and 0.02% Pacific Islander. All models freely adapted ideas from Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian vision natural lighting, open and expandable floor plans, and the merging of exterior and interior spaces. Photograph: Alamy Even so, William Levitt called his product - which first sold for $7,990 with a 5% down payment. A third is the Census Designated Place (CDP) called Levittown as defined by the United States Census Bureau. Overall Rating: Levittown Architects are rated 4.9 out of 5 based on 80 reviews of 5 featured pros. But alas here you are, breathe. With his brother, Alfred, who was an architect, he designed a small one-floor house with an unfinished "expansion attic" that could be rapidly constructed and as rapidly rented to returning GIs and their young families. We were the pioneers.. Keywords:Urban Planning Sustainability Conservation Smart Growth Historic Preservation Levittown Architecture City Planning. The assembly-line production techniques could produce up to 30 of the four-bedroom Cape Cod houses (all the homes in the first Levittown were the same) each day. So, his exposure levels were lower by far than my uncles. October 1, 1947: Levittown's official beginning as a suburban entity with the first three hundred families beginning with the Bladykas family moving into their brand-new Levitt & Sons homes. Levittown, New York, is an unincorporated area in Nassau County, New York. just so you know, the washer/dryer can be found under the kitchen counter in many countries outside the USA. On Friday, November 9, 2007, Levitt & Sons of Fort Lauderdale became the nation's largest builder to file for bankruptcy as the housing market boom of the early 21st century continued to crumble. Senator Joseph McCarthy himself called public housing projects breeding ground[s] for communists. 11, The Levitts and McCarthy joined forces in promoting Levittown as a more American, capitalist alternative to public housing solutions. Through government loan programs (VA and FHA), new homeowners could buy a Levittown home with little or no down payment and since the house included appliances, it provided everything a young family could need. By 1950, when 80% of Levittowns men commuted to jobs in Manhattan, the development had set an example for countless American bedroom communities still to come. In the community, the population was spread out, with 25.7% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. Although Levittown provided affordable houses in what many residents felt to be a congenial community, critics decried its homogeneity, blandness, and racial exclusivity (the initial lease prohibited rental to non-whites). Last Name. Private schools include the Maria Montessori School, The Progressive School of Long Island,[36] and the South Shore Christian Elementary and Secondary School located in the former Geneva M Gallow Elementary School building. [27] The most common use is Levittown as defined by the United States Postal Service's Zip Code 11756. If the hands reaching into those deep pockets were black, or any shade other than Lily white, they were absolutely not welcome. Levittown and its descendants (three of which Levitt himself built in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico, all of which he also named Levittown) lured a generation out of the cities. I remember when a black family wanted to move in , someone went around with a petition and my dad would not sign it. They were apparently better quality to everyone involved those who lived under them, who made them, who made loans on or insured the homes they were installed on, because they were fireproof. Briefly mentioned on Desperate Housewives on October 9, 2011. Since there was discrimination there would be no need to put in a contract not to sell to blacks or non whites, since they couldnt get loans anyway. My parents moved into Levittown, NY, after the war. After the financial success of the Levittown in Long Island, Levitt and Sons went on to build two more Levittowns, one in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey. But a key trait of the 71-year-old development in Nassau. ; ) oh and ! I have no doubt plenty of people in those communities had no issues with that clause. After Roslyn, they decided to set their sights on bigger and better things. The mass production system of factory manufactured panellized construction was invented by Levitt, and is now the standard nationwide. Best of all, the mortgage was often cheaper than renting an apartment in the city (and new tax laws that made mortgage interest deductible made the opportunity too good to pass up). Minimal need for school busses; the planning allowed all kids to safely walk to school. The banks and other lenders required it. 16Later, the Federal Housing Authority continued to use those HOLC standards when issuing mortgages. Though the Levitts were Jewish, they did not wish to sell homes to Jewish families either; despite this, by 1960, although it was still a completely "white" suburb,[18] the population of Levittown was roughly a third Jewish, with the remainder about a third Roman Catholic, and a third Protestant. Custom Website Estimating. Before the sale of Levittown homes began, the sales agents were aware that no applications from black families would be accepted. Jackson wrote in Crabgrass Frontier, Suburbiais a manifestation of such fundamental characteristics of American society as conspicuous consumption, a reliance upon the private automobile, upward mobility, the separation of the family nuclear units, the widening division between work and leisure, and the tendency toward racial and economic exclusiveness. To some, suburbia was a symbol of American can-do; to others, it was a symbol of conformity and exclusion. Facts and kindness get points across more effectively without insults, assumptions & unqualified anger. There is nothing wrong with me pointing out racism no matter the era or Government. Asbestos was the Wonder Material of the age, as it was used to create numerous fireproof and insulating materials for building many types of structures. The building of every house was reduced to 26 steps, with sub-contractors responsible for each step. He noted that "The stories played out in suburban Levittown are the stories of America. Levittown, Long Island, the most famous American postwar suburban development, was a household name, the "Exhibit A" of suburbia. So much of the American story has involved, literally and ideologically, turning away from the crowded industry of the city to the romantic beauty of the frontier. 12 Bill Levitt himself once said, No man who owns his own home and lot can be a Communist, he has too much to do. 13 Later, Levitt vilified those who questioned his segregationist policies as communists. As a result, American veterans who wished to purchase a home in Levittown were unable to do so if they were black. Built by William J. Levitt and Sons in Long Island, N.Y., Levittown was the first major housing development. Yes, it was written into the contracts, in very clear, non- mistakable black and white, in every housing development of the day. This lesson highlights the changing relationship between the city center and the suburb in the postwar decades, especially in the 1950s. Especially not in areas that were predominantly white, and where more white people would be living. He drifts into a rhapsodic recollection of the 50s. University of Pennsylvania sociologist Gans and his wife bought one of the first homes available in Levittown, NJ with $100 down in June 1958 and were one of the first 25 families to move in. Like so much else in 20th-century America, Levittown began as a shrewd business move. A combination of unusually high birth rates (which bred the baby boomer generation) and plummeting construction left many families struggling to find any suitable shelters, sometimes living in boxcars, chicken coops, and large iceboxes. See individual business pages for full, detailed reviews. Why would they? It worse than Scotland. With the full implementation of federal government supports for housing, administered under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Levitt firm switched from rental to sale of their houses, offering ownership on a 30-year mortgage with no down payment and monthly costs the same as rental. Art & Architecture | Levittown, Street scenes, Long island ny Explore Travel Travel Destinations North America Travel Save From american1950s.weebly.com Art & Architecture 1950 American Architecture | 1950's art & architecture P Dalton Loveless 927 followers More information 1950 American Architecture | 1950's art & architecture The potato fields located 25 miles east of Manhattan on Long Island was named Levittown, and the Levitts began to build a huge suburb. In 1963, folk singer Malvina Reynolds song Little Boxes, captured what some in the growing counter-culture movement saw as the forced conformity of suburban life.