Henry Wright (planner)

Henry Wright (1878 – July 9, 1936), was a planner, architect, and major proponent of the garden city, an idea characterized by green belts and created by Sir Ebenezer Howard.

[2] Wright designed all three of his projects to face inward toward their common grounds and away from the noise and congestion of Wydown Boulevard and the trolley line which ran along it (now gone).

The subdivisions share common characteristics such as limited access from surrounding thoroughfares, curving interior drives, one to almost 3-acre (12,000 m2) lot sizes, and large traditionally designed houses.

Brentmoor Park is designed around a draw, or small valley, which has its lowest point near the intersection of Big Bend and Wydown.

The 23-acre (93,000 m2) tract encompassing Forest Ridge has only 6 homes, and rises to a central plateau with the lots planned around a large circular private park.

The fashionable period-style houses which fill all three subdivisions were designed by the best local architects as well as some out of town ones, the most notable being Howard Doren Shaw of Chicago and Raymond Maritz.

The residential area has brick row houses of two and a half stories, with front and rear gardens and a landscaped central court shared by all.

Radburn was designed in such a way that thoroughfares had a specialized use; main roads linking traffic at various sections, service lanes to allow direct access to buildings, and express highways.

Radburn was also intended to become a garden city characterized by surrounding greenbelts, and the careful design of residential, industrial and agricultural land.

Chatham Village's distinctive design was based on the ideals of the Garden City movement, including single ownership and the protective greenbelt of undeveloped land, but drew heavily on elements of the "Radburn Idea," particularly the use of superblocks with interior parks, and the complete separation of automobile and pedestrian.

Built during a time of rapid technological change, the 'reverse-front' orientation of house groups, facing the open courtyards in the superblocks' center, evoked the comfort of the traditional English village.

The meticulously designed and maintained landscaping of the terraced greens and courtyards dramatically enhanced the village atmosphere and provided the healthy environment thought to be necessary for modern living.

These principles include low-density superblocks, curving streets, separation of automobiles and pedestrians, shallow two-to-three story building plans allowing improved light and ventilation and landscaped common spaces designed around apartments to form a continuous park.

[1] He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and chairman of the City Planning Association of St. Louis, Missouri and the founder of Housing Study Guild.