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Levitt did more than assemble
cookie-cutter homes, he created
communities. He knew that his new
subdivision was too big to work as a
neighborhood and so he built it as a new
form of American community. The nature
of Levittown as a community was a major
attraction to potential buyers. Toward
that goal, Levittown, PA was built as a
"self-contained planned community". 
The Community “Plan” included
schools, places of worship, recreation
areas and shopping facilities as well as
houses. This comprehensive approach is
analogous Levitt's house planning which,
for example, included landscaping as
well as providing a washer, stove and
refrigerator in each house. Levitt’s
approach to community planning and
design created a full-service community
with "built-in" features—just like its
houses. For example, elementary schools
were centered inside each master block
of sections so that, in Levitt's words,
"no child will have to walk more than
one half mile to school or cross any
major road."
The Community Plan
and design included:
41 Sections with 17,311 single family
houses
171 miles of roads
5 Olympic-sized community swimming pools
Little League baseball fields
Lots of green space and neighborhood
parks
Large, multi-purpose Community Hall
Two large, centralized Shopping Centers
Sites set aside & donated for churches &
schools
Photo - William & Alfred
Levitt of Levitt & Sons. William J
Levitt was the
visionary and salesman and his brother
Alfred Levitt was the planner & Architect
(Levittown Library).
Buying Up Bucks County
In early 1951, Levitt & Sons
Bought up over 5500 acres (over
22 square miles) of farmland,
and woods in Bucks County, PA in
the townships of Bristol, Falls,
and Middletown and the borough
of Tullytown.
The land was purchased from
over 170 individual landowners.
Levitt used surrogate agents to
purchase the parcels. This was
to try and keep a lid on his
plans for as long as possible to
keep land prices from
skyrocketing. Also, piecemeal
acquisition had hampered his
progress and cost him money
during the Levittown, NY
project.
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1938 Aerial Photo (Jan
Duckett) |
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Master Block of "Sections"
(Photo - Levittown Library)
The basic planning unit for
Levittown was the master block,
a roughly mile-square area that
encompassed three to five
variously sized neighborhoods,
also known as "sections." Each
section contained on average
between 300 and 500 houses. |
Landscape Plan
(Photo from Levittowners member)
Levitt & Sons planned everything
out, right down to the trees and
flowerbeds |
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The "Other" Planned Community
(Photo - Jan Duckett)
Fairless Hills was built prior
to Levittown as housing for the
newly opened US Steel Fairless
Works. When completed, Levittown
wrapped around Fairless Hills. |
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planning suburbia