Born: Rochester, New York, June 19, 1882
Died: New York City, New York, February 7, 1975
Click here for an image of Clarence Stein.
After primary education at public and Ethical Culture Society schools, Stein attended Columbia University (1903 - 1904) and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in France (1908 - 1911). Apprenticing with architect Bertram Goodhue in New York (1911 - 1918), Stein directed the design of the new copper-mining town of Tyrone, New Mexico (1916). He initiated his own practice in 1919. In 1923, he founded the Regional Planning Association of America and served as its president from 1925 to 1948.
Stein chaired the New York Commission of Housing and Regional Planning (1923 - 1926), for which his associate Henry Wright produced the first outline for a state plan in America and which resulted in the first American public subsudy for housing. With Wright, he planned "Sunnyside Gardens", an experimental 1200 unit housing development on Long Island, New York (1924 - 1928) and "Radburn" at Fair Lawn, New Jersey (1928 - 1929), "the first city for the motor age." During the 1930s, Stein undertook public housing projects, such as Hillside Homes, built in the Bronx, New York (1935), advised the federal government on the greenbelt town program, and consulted to the Public Works Administration and the U.S. Housing Authority.
As president of Civic Films, Incorporated (1938 - 1958), Stein played a major role in production of "The City" (1939), the first urban documentary film. Stein was also associated with Wright in the planning of Chatham Village, Pittsburgh (1932), a primary advisor on the development of Baldwin Hills Village, Los Angeles (1939 - 1940), architectural and site consultant for "Harbor Hills," San Pedro, California (1940), chief architect for Fort Greene Houses, Brooklyn, New York (1941), and consulting planner for the new town of Kitimat, British Colombia, Canada (1951).From 1951 to 1959, Stein edited the Town Planning Review (University of Liverpool).
As an architect, Stein was responsible for the design of Temple E-manu-el, New York City (with R. Kohn and C. Butler), the Midtown Hospital and the Park West Hospital, New York City (with C. Butler), the White Plains, New York, Meeting House, and the Wichita, Kansas, Art Institute. Best noted for his work in low-cost housing and new community design, Stein received the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 1956.
Electronic Version by Stephen Best