Landslide2008: Marvels of Modernism
TCLF.org
Parkmerced
Courtesy Aaron Goodman

Changes have also been made within Parkmerced’s remaining core.

The quick succession of owners during the 1990s led to a lower level of property maintenance. The current owner is spending over $110 million in much-needed deferred maintenance of the site, but has also initiated “improvements.” The management is calling for changes in order to promote “the ‘new’ Parkmerced.” Existing units are being treated as “mock-ups” or “testing-grounds” to initialize the overall renovations and to allow further large-scale redesign and removal of original features. One of the most noticeable changes has the removal of mature trees both on the Parkmerced land and in the adjacent right of ways. In the main circle, the older dominant Monterey Pines are being replaced with new species, changing the overall character. In the eastern part of the Meadow, the sweeping lawn has been replaced with individual garden plots and new trees. Besides introducing new species, the location of the new trees in the Meadow is not consistent with the original Church-designed plan.

 

World's Fair

 

Moreover, the historic core has been dramatically altered by the relocation of the onsite school and its associated parking into the primary viewshed from Crespi Drive. These large and small-scale changes, along with the proposed redesigns, threaten to alter the overall composition of one of the most ambitious and comprehensively planned residential communities in the Bay Area.

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List of Marvels

Boston City Hall Plaza
Boston, Massachusetts

Estates Drive Reservoir
Oakland, California

Heritage Plaza
Heritage Park
Fort Worth, Texas

Kaiser Roof Garden
Kaiser Center
Oakland, California

Lake Elizabeth
Allegheny Commons
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Manhattan Square Park
Rochester, New York

Mill Creek Canyon
Earthworks

Kent, Washington

Miller Garden
Columbus, Indiana

El Monte
Hato Rey, Puerto Rico

Pacific Science
Center Courtyard

Seattle, Washington

Parkmerced
San Francisco, California

Peavey Plaza
Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, Minnesota


education partners
Garden DesignGeorge Eastman House
Additional Sponsors

American Society of Landscape Architects’ Indiana, Pennsylvania/Delaware, Minnesota, Northern California, Texas, Upstate New York, and Washington Chapters • Astorino • Charles Butt • Design Within Reach • Topher Delaney • Sandy Donnell & Justin Faggioli • Fathom • Tom Fox • Hillman Foundation • Indianapolis Museum of Art • Lorraine Osmundson • Richard T. Murphy • National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Northeast, Southwest, and Western Offices- with funds from the Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation of New York, Dodge Jones Foundation Intervention Fund, and Eastern Massachusetts Preservation Fund • James Richards • Seibert & Rice • Diana & Bruce Shuman • Ann Stack • SWA Group • TBG Partners • Michal and Jeffrey William Tincup • Unilock Inc. • The Woltz Charitable Trust