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A New Hometown for Calumet, Aerial Perspective

A work made of pen and black ink with opaque white watercolor over traces of graphite on cream wove paper-faced board.

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  • A work made of pen and black ink with opaque white watercolor over traces of graphite on cream wove paper-faced board.

Date:

c. 1948

Artist:

Bertrand Goldberg
American, 1913-1997

About this artwork

In the late 1940s, Goldberg worked on a series of projects that connected his early forays into mass production to the expanded field of neighborhood and urban planning. One of the most extensive of these was a town developed for Lester Selig, the president of a large railroad-car producer in the Calumet region. Goldberg’s project, A New Hometown for Calumet, included plans for 4,000 houses for workers from the area’s plants and steel mills, set on 2,500 acres of converted farmland. As a kind of “George Pullman renewed,” Goldberg designed residential superblocks that included everything from sewer and water-supply networks to facilities for shopping, transportation, education, government, health care, and worship. Inspired by garden city movements, he separated pedestrian and automotive traffic in his new town and included large greenbelts for self-sustaining food production. Although Goldberg would later find fault with his Calumet plan, the core concepts—high quality, low-cost housing, reduced travel time between home and work, and an improved interaction between people and their immediate environment—would shape nearly every project of his mature career.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Architecture and Design

Artist

Bertrand Goldberg (Architect)

Title

A New Hometown for Calumet, Aerial Perspective

Place

United States (Object designed in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Designed 1943–1953

Medium

Pen and black ink with opaque white watercolor over traces of graphite on cream wove paper-faced board

Dimensions

50.5 × 76.5 cm (19 7/8 × 30 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

The Archive of Bertrand Goldberg, gifted by his children through his estate

Reference Number

RX23664/141.48

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.

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