Although the postwar planned community of Levittown, New York was completed first, Lakewood, California, became the archetype of the American suburb. Standardized building components put together in an assembly-line fashion enabled developers Louis H. Boyar, S. Mark Taper, and Ben Weingart to construct 17,500 tract houses in less than three years. Affordably priced at about $7,500, they sold immediately. Anchoring this instant city was the largest shopping center of its day, which offered everything needed for modern living.
Special thanks to: D. J. Waldie; City of Lakewood.
Photos and videos: © and courtesy of the City of Lakewood, California.
© J. Paul Getty Trust
Learn more about the exhibition, "Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990," co-organized by the Getty Research Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum, at the National Building Museum October 20, 2013 through March 10, 2014. www.nbm.org/exh...
Co-organized by the Getty Research Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum, "Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940--1990" was part of the initiative Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., which celebrated Southern California's lasting impact on modern architecture through exhibitions and programs organized by seventeen area cultural institutions from April through July 2013.
16 окт 2024
