ipl-logo

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth Summary

708 Words3 Pages

In Katherine G. Bristol 's “The Pruitt-Igoe Myth”, Bristol attempts to debunk the myth that has been associated with the failure and demolition of a housing project from 1954 to 1976 in St. Louis called Pruitt-Igoe. After carefully presenting and supporting her reasons for why she believes the failure of this project was due to its design rather than structural aspect, I have come to understand and overall agree with Katherine Bristol 's claim that design of Pruitt-Igoe was the primary reason for the demolition and overall removal of the housing project. Bristol manages to successfully support her statement by offering political, social, economic, and design issues that played a crucial role in the downwards spiral of Pruitt-Igoe. Being part of a postwar re-development plan, the design for this housing project encountered social and economic issues right from the start. As Bristol mentions, initial plans for Pruitt-Igoe consisted of a high-rise, mid-rise, and walk-up structure, but due to its budget constraints, its design was constantly undergoing changes which eventually led to its identical eleven-story final proposal. Besides its structural design, this …show more content…

All of these conditions pointed to an overall, larger and broader design problem with Pruitt-Igoe. Throughout her article, Bristol provides information on certain elements or features of Pruitt-Igoe that, although once praised by many writers and architects, later were acclaimed to be part of the problem for this project. Bristol specifically mentions writer James Bailey, who claims that exposed steam pipes that often burned tenants, unsafe windows that cause the several deaths, unused laundry rooms, and unsafe, unused, and often robbed storage rooms, all are crucial elements that eventually chased tenants out of Pruitt-Igoe. Another two failed design elements that are mentioned on several occasions, are the skip-stop elevators & galleries that became frequent additional locations of crime and

Show More
Related

  • Research Paper On The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

    1328 Words  | 6 Pages

    When workers ran to the exits, they found the stairs and elevators blocked and filled with smoke. The building’s

    Read More

  • How The Actions Taken By Isaac Harris Triangle Factory Fire

    723 Words  | 3 Pages

    Also the nets they used to try and save the people jumping from windows weren't strong enough so they didn't work but with safety codes they wouldn't have had that many people jumping at once or maybe even at all. The worst thing about the Triangle Factory building is that there was no fire escapes in the

    Read More

  • Review Of Jacob Riis How The Other Half Lives

    525 Words  | 3 Pages

    These living conditions were not healthy to say the least. The rooms did not see light of day because of lack of windows and the air in these buildings was not healthy air to be inhaling. The tenants living in these conditions believed that this was their only option for

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Lawon By Cr Alexandra Wiley

    817 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lawton, a rural town of 3000 residents, recently experienced a highway diversion that isolated the town, causing a sharp drop in the number of visitors. While the Lawton community welcomes the peace, it has caused concern for the economic future of the town. In response to this, the mayor of the town, Cr Alexandra Wiley, published a column in the Lawton’s local newspaper attempting to persuade the residents of Lawton the town needs revitalization in order to maintain financial stability. Wiley contends that Lawton is “on the way to being a ghost town” and they should build a “spectacular piece of architecture” to boost tourism.

    Read More

  • In The White City: Murder, Magic, And Exposition That Changed America By Erik Larson

    1124 Words  | 5 Pages

    This competition also affected the future of American construction and the weak environment that was in Chicago slowed the process of construction. This situation was difficult because “… Burnham and Root were being called upon to build what amounted to an entire city in the same amount of time- not just any city, but one that would surpass the brilliance of the Paris exposition.” (44). The depiction of the strain and stress set forth by the success of Paris is reiterated to the reader each time the Paris Exposition Universelle is described in such an adored

    Read More

  • History Of The New York State Tenement House Act

    1029 Words  | 5 Pages

    The House act states that there will be a “ban on the construction of dark, poorly ventilated tenement buildings in the state of New York.” Among other sanctions, the law required that new buildings must be built with outward-facing windows in every room, an open courtyard, proper ventilation systems, indoor toilets, and fire safeguards. Many other “Tenement House Acts” had been enacted, but none were forced to be recognized and most did not cover the major problems that plagued the current tenements. The First Tenement House Act required fire escapes for each suite and a window for every room.

    Read More

  • A Past For The Future: The Invention Of Old Sacramento

    1098 Words  | 5 Pages

    Old Sacramento had a lot of changes to remove everything that was in the past to the future. “The Invention of Old Sacramento: A Past for the Future” by Lee M. A. Simpson and Lisa C. Prince, wrote on how old Sacramento changed throughout the years. Old Sacramento is an historical site that reproduces growth of an inner-city with environmental politics and historic preservation movement. Old Sacramento is also a home of successful business during the nineteenth century, due to a district that was created in Old Sacramento.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Dark Ghetto By Clark

    405 Words  | 2 Pages

    Clark (1989), made references to urban ghettos being overcrowded and the housing stock in decay. Like the rest of the New York City Housing Market, residential buildings in Harlem were built before the 1900’s. The conditions of housing stock in Harlem were poor, all except the newest buildings

    Read More

  • Grenfell Tower Fire Tragedy Case Study

    779 Words  | 4 Pages

    Name Instructor Course Date of Submission: The Grenfell Tower 1) Summary

    Read More

  • The Pruitt-Igoe Myth Analysis

    1172 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Pruitt-Igoe Myth is a documentary that explores public housing in Saint Louis, Missouri, in particular the history of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex. Pruitt-Igoe was a public housing project billed as the perfect solution in the early 1950s, to solve the problems of slums in Saint Louis and to bring people back into a city that had seen a population decline from previous years. Saint Louis was an ageing city desperate to regain their postwar prominence as a bustling city, but faced many challenges pertaining to the racial makeup of the segregated city and the loss of many jobs to suburban areas. Many whites had begun to participate in what is now referred to as “white flight”, or the migration of middle class whites to

    Read More

  • Gentrification All Bad Justin Davidson Analysis

    1841 Words  | 8 Pages

    There has to be a realistic solution that can be put into motion to benefit everyone involved. Referring again to his article “Is Gentrification All Bad?” Davidson argues that urban renewal, if done right, is not a monstrous custom that it is painted to be; nevertheless, he reasons that gentrification depends on who does it, how they do it, and why they do it. As a resident in New York, a city where gentrification is as widespread as the common cold in winter, Davidson speculates that those who go into a neighborhood with the intention to renovate houses, or abandoned buildings ought to have a good reason for it. The author points out that “Gentrification does not have to be something that one group inflicts on another…” (Davidson 349), rather, he suggests that everyone, the gentrifiers and the locals, be on the same page when it comes to developing their

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Documentary The Pruitt-Igoe Myth

    1222 Words  | 5 Pages

    The documentary, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, asks the big question regarding this controversial housing project: why did it fall? The Pruitt-Igoe housing project was meant to help impoverished people. Through this, the housing committee wanted to provide a safe place for kids to play, families to live, and most of all allow the city of St. Louis to prosper. Instead of Pruitt-Igoe cleaning up the city and providing more job opportunities, it created concentrated poverty and hyper segregation. Along with these demographic factors, the lack of maintenance and end of World War II added additional pressures to Pruitt-Igoe.

    Read More

  • Gentrification Informative Speech

    1145 Words  | 5 Pages

    Title: Gentrifying Chicago neighborhoods. General Purpose: To inform my audience of Gentrification in the Norther part of Chicago around the 1960s. Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech, the audience will understand the meaning of gentrification, how Puerto Rican families in the Northern part of Chicago lost their homes to Gentrification, how they fought against gentrification, and how gentrification is now occurring to Mexican families in the Southern part of Chicago. Thesis: Puerto Rican families lost their homes in the 1960s when Lincoln Park was gentrified despites their best efforts, and today Mexican families are losing their homes in Pilsen to gentrification. Introduction I. Attention: What would you risk in order to continue having a home?

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York

    1021 Words  | 5 Pages

    Epoka University Faculty of Architecture and Engineering Department of Architecture ARCH IV ARCH418 PhD. Ernest Shtepani Shasivar Rada ID:02021120 Delirious New York Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan Rem Koolhaas Our role is not to retreat back to the catacombs, but to became more human in skyscraper Manhattan is the theatre for the terminal stage of western civilization... A mountain range of evidence without manifesto.

    Read More

  • Frederick Law Olmsted And Camillo Sitte: Urban Law

    1427 Words  | 6 Pages

    FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED AND CAMILLO SITTE: NOT AS DIFFERENT AS THEY FIRST APPEAR Harkening from different sides of the Atlantic, two influential urban planners worked to transform the blossoming urban environment of the nineteenth century, albeit with very different approaches. This essay will be looking at the ideals and some of the work of Frederick Law Olmsted and Camillo Sitte. Born within just over twenty years of one and other, Olmsted in Hartford, Connecticut, and Sitte in Vienna, both men had careers encompassing fields well beyond urban planning. Not a planner by training, Olmsted delved into the world of planning when he and Calvert Vaux won the design competition for New York’s Central Park in 1858.

    Read More

More about The Pruitt-Igoe Myth Summary

Open Document