Suburb and Spring: An Architectural History of Two American Towns, 1893–1918

This thesis analyzes how two towns in the New York metropolitan fringe—Montclair, New Jersey, and Saratoga Springs, New York—expressed the City Beautiful movement in built form. At the turn of the twentieth century,... [ view full abstract ]

This thesis analyzes how two towns in the New York metropolitan fringe—Montclair, New Jersey, and Saratoga Springs, New York—expressed the City Beautiful movement in built form. At the turn of the twentieth century, urbanization and technological improvement led to changes in the physical infrastructure of metropolitan regions. Railroads and trolleys led to new patterns of movement and settlement, as well as consumption and leisure. New ideas of architecture and urban planning emerged, including the City Beautiful, which joined the spirit of progressive reform sweeping American society.

Residents of these towns experienced modernity as contradiction. Their architecture appealed to an idealized bucolic past while embracing certain aspects of downtown urbanism. Both towns developed a cohesive rural–urban identity: Montclair developed as a “country town,” while Saratoga became the “city in the countryside.” While these identities functioned as mechanisms of local civic pride, they aligned with a national effort to define America for the new century. Ultimately, this story suggests that the boundaries of “the metropolis” should be expanded to include towns which are physically distant from the city but nevertheless defined by it.