Project Description
1957 P/A Award Winner
Winner of a 1957 P/A award, Victor Gruen’s plan for downtown Fort Worth,
Texas, heavily influenced development in that city and many others—for
better and worse. It called for a highway ring around the downtown (as
opposed to through it, as was proposed by state highway engineers), with
pedestrian-only streets, below-grade service roads, and second-level
skyways connecting buildings, all surrounded by parking garages at the
downtown’s edge. The ring of highways got built, as did a couple of
skyways and some pedestrian streets and parking garages. But other
cities, from Minneapolis to Fresno, Calif., embraced Gruen’s vision to a
greater degree.
The results have been mixed. Pedestrian-only streets often seemed empty
of life, so many cities have reintroduced cars to them. Likewise, rings
of highways and garages around downtowns have tended to isolate business
districts and accelerate the decay of adjoining neighborhoods. And the
extensive skyway systems deployed in some cities have had negative
effects on street life.
Still, the impact of Gruen’s plan remains undeniable and some of his
ideas are worth revisiting. Fort Worth is currently planning Sundance
Square, which will involve closing part of Main Street to cars and
creating a downtown pedestrian plaza, as Gruen proposed. And as
significant residential communities have grown in many downtowns, cities
have begun to re-examine the need for more open space and
pedestrian-only areas to accommodate greater population densities, as
Gruen predicted. Gruen called his plan “A Greater Fort Worth
Tomorrow”—it’s just taken a while for tomorrow to come. —Thomas Fisher, Assoc. AIA
1957 P/A Awards Jury
Marcel Breuer
Gordon Bunshaft
Huson Jackson
Emil Praeger
Harry Weese