{"id":23183,"date":"2013-10-22T13:02:23","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T20:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?p=23183"},"modified":"2013-10-23T08:56:26","modified_gmt":"2013-10-23T15:56:26","slug":"vancouver-connection-american-housing-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonight, Tuesday October 22nd<\/sup>,<\/strong> VHF will be showing \u201cThe Pruitt-Igoe Myth\u201d at the Hollywood Theatre on Broadway as part of our Architecture & Design<\/a> film series. The connection between a St. Louis housing project and our west coast city may not be immediately clear, but there is a direct connection surrounding planning and a key figure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo Credit: pruitt-igoe.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First off, for those who aren\u2019t aware of Pruitt-Igoe, or its legacy, Pruitt-Igoe was a low income housing project built in an urban neighbourhood of St. Louis. It was created in the late 1950s and demolished completely less than two decades later. It started off as a utopian ideal of housing the city\u2019s poorest citizens in self contained \u2018vertical neighbourhoods\u2019, where residents would get to know their neighbours. Skip-stop elevators (which only arrived at pre-determined floors) were a main crux of this plan, designed to encourage neighbours to meet and greet in communal areas. Unfortunately these elevators more often offered muggers the opportunities to accost residents navigating dark stairwells. Crime escalated and residents fled.<\/p>\n

\"communal-space-p-i\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The question of why did it fail has been debated time and time again since the demolition of the buildings was completed in 1976. Some credit the fall to the economic state of St. Louis at the time, while others blame the Modernist architectural design and space planning. Some even credit the failure of Pruitt-Igoe as the end of Modern architecture in America.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So what does it have to do with Vancouver?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Detail<\/a>
Detail from “Vancouver Town Planning Commission 1926, Ex-Officio Members and Town Planning Consultants, 1926, Item # LP 290<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Besides drawing connections to social housing plans and the ongoing debate in Vancouver regarding neighbourhood planning, there is a very tangible connection. The plan for the 56-acre site that would become Pruitt-Igoe was directly influenced by urban planner Harland Bartholomew<\/a>, the first city planner for St. Louis, a position he held for several decades, and who also developed plans for Vancouver. Bartholomew had prepared a comprehensive report for the city of St. Louis that identified the slums around the city core for redevelopment. Bartholomew would be later criticized for car-centric planning that prioritized paving and widened roads versus mobility and accessibility. His plans highlighted efficiency and organization, aspects that were also utilized in the building design of the Pruitt-Igoe architects, the skip-stop elevators offering a good example.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bartholomew\u2019s ideas were felt in Vancouver through our original city plan which was prepared by Harland Bartholomew and Associates from 1926-30. Among Bartholomew\u2019s plans for Vancouver were a filled False Creek, paving of what is now the UBC Endowment Lands, and the development of Kitsilano for more apartments (see VHF\u2019s previous blog \u201cVancouver as it Could Have Been\u201d here<\/a>). Much of the Bartholomew Plan was abandoned but the Georgia Street viaducts are a reminder of his ideals. Had Bartholomew\u2019s plans for Vancouver been made reality one has to wonder about the lasting effects it could have had on our city, especially in the historical context of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join us TONIGHT for a by-donation viewing of \u201cThe Pruitt-Igoe Myth<\/a>\u201d starting at 7:30pm. 3123 West Broadway, doors open at 7pm.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also be celebrating the Hollywood Theatre\u2019s 78 years in Kitsilano.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonight, Tuesday October 22nd, VHF will be showing \u201cThe Pruitt-Igoe Myth\u201d at the Hollywood Theatre on Broadway as part of our Architecture & Design film series. The connection between a St. Louis housing project and our west coast city may not be immediately clear, but there is a direct connection surrounding planning and a keyContinue reading “The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6073,"featured_media":23202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,15,11233,25,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture","category-culture","category-history","category-infrastructure","category-neighbourhoods"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tonight, Tuesday October 22nd, VHF will be showing \u201cThe Pruitt-Igoe Myth\u201d at the Hollywood Theatre on Broadway as part of our Architecture & Design film series. The connection between a St. Louis housing project and our west coast city may not be immediately clear, but there is a direct connection surrounding planning and a keyContinue reading "The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-22T20:02:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-10-23T15:56:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/10\/pruitt-igoe_600.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"337\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/\",\"name\":\"The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project - Spacing Vancouver\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/10\/pruitt-igoe_600.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-22T20:02:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-23T15:56:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/10\/pruitt-igoe_600.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/10\/pruitt-igoe_600.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":337},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Vancouver\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78\",\"name\":\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\"},\"description\":\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation is a registered charity that is dedicated to supporting the conservation of the city\u2019s heritage buildings through education, public awareness and granting activities. VHF activities are open to everyone with a special emphasis on members of the public with an interest in the city\u2019s history, building owners, related professionals and related organizations. Activities include workshops, lectures, tours, publications, and granting programs to paint, restore and maintain designated heritage properties. VHF actively fundraises through donations of cash, securities, property, and planned gifts to grow an endowment fund to protect heritage buildings in perpetuity.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/vancouverheritage\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project - Spacing Vancouver","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project - Spacing Vancouver","og_description":"Tonight, Tuesday October 22nd, VHF will be showing \u201cThe Pruitt-Igoe Myth\u201d at the Hollywood Theatre on Broadway as part of our Architecture & Design film series. The connection between a St. Louis housing project and our west coast city may not be immediately clear, but there is a direct connection surrounding planning and a keyContinue reading \"The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Vancouver","article_published_time":"2013-10-22T20:02:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-10-23T15:56:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":337,"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/10\/pruitt-igoe_600.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/","name":"The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project - Spacing Vancouver","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/10\/pruitt-igoe_600.jpg","datePublished":"2013-10-22T20:02:23+00:00","dateModified":"2013-10-23T15:56:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/10\/pruitt-igoe_600.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/10\/pruitt-igoe_600.jpg","width":600,"height":337},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/10\/22\/vancouver-connection-american-housing-project\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Vancouver Connection to an American Housing Project"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/","name":"Spacing Vancouver","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78","name":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation"},"description":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation is a registered charity that is dedicated to supporting the conservation of the city\u2019s heritage buildings through education, public awareness and granting activities. VHF activities are open to everyone with a special emphasis on members of the public with an interest in the city\u2019s history, building owners, related professionals and related organizations. Activities include workshops, lectures, tours, publications, and granting programs to paint, restore and maintain designated heritage properties. VHF actively fundraises through donations of cash, securities, property, and planned gifts to grow an endowment fund to protect heritage buildings in perpetuity.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org\/"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/vancouverheritage\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23183"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23211,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23183\/revisions\/23211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}