Landscape Information
Built between 1935 and 1942, the 68-acre planned community now known as Village Green sits on the flats north of Baldwin Hills in southwestern Los Angeles. The design is the result of a successful collaboration between architect Reginald Johnson, landscape architect Fred Barlow, and urban planner Clarence Stein. Garden City-inspired landscape planning serves as the organizing design approach; individual living units, generally two-story apartment buildings, open out onto landscaped common areas and child friendly play spaces, while parking and roadways are confined to the perimeter. Allées of olive and sycamore trees allude to early California scenes. Ivy ground cover is used in place of lawn and decomposed granite walkways weave through small formal gardens. Building on experience from the creation of Sunnyside Gardens and Radburn, Stein created Baldwin Hills, which he believed was the purest manifestation of his Radburn Idea.
The larger Baldwin Hills district includes 450 acres of protected parkland on the central hills overlooking the Los Angeles Basin. Baldwin Hills Village was declared a City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage site in 1977 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Village Green was named a National Historic Landmark in 2001.
