About this artwork
-
Status
- Currently Off View
-
Department
- Photography and Media
-
Artist
- Joel Sternfeld
-
Title
- N Street Cohousing, Davis, California, from the series "Sweet Earth: Experimental Utopias in America"
-
Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
-
Date
- Made 2005
-
Medium
- Chromogenic print
-
Inscriptions
- No markings recto or verso N Street Cohousing began in 1986 when two neighbors tore down the fence separating the yards of their 1950s tract houses. Over the next few years, more and more fence-removing parties were held on N Street, as the backyards of seventeen homes were gradually joined together to make a beautiful open space with vegetable and flower gardens, a play structure, a hot tub, a sauna, a chicken coop and a pond. Eventually, the neighbors began eating together. Feeling more fulfilled in their lives as a result of their common backyard and community meals, the group decided in 1991 to become a true cohousing group, and the large garage of one home was designated as a community center and equipped with a communal kitchen and dining room that could also function as a meeting room. Other initiatives have included a community laundry room, a wood working shop and a tool room. At present, a brand new community house is being built, completing the cohousing cycle, albeit retroactively. Although it arose through a process of gradual evolution within the midst of a suburban neighborhood, N Street has all the attributes of a classic cohousing community. The thirty-eight adults and seventeen children of the community share many of life’s joys and pains—and some of its meals—with one another, while maintaining separate homes and incomes, and privacy when needed. N Street has become a model for other groups in suburban America who are turning alienating housing into real community by tearing down the fences. From the portfolio, Sweet Earth: Experimental Utopias in America, 1982–2005
-
Dimensions
- Image: 26.4 × 33.1 cm (10 7/16 × 13 1/16 in.); Paper: 27.9 × 35.4 cm (11 × 13 15/16 in.)
-
Credit Line
- Gift of Ralph and Nancy Segall
-
Reference Number
- 2008.735
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.