From the Archives: Foster City Neighborhood 5

Bayporte newspaper advertisement – September 7, 1974

In 2010-2011 we assisted the City of Foster City with the existing conditions analysis for the Land Use & Circulation Element of its General Plan. This involved lots of photos.

Foster City is a master-planned “new town” founded in the 1960s on engineered landfill in the marshes of the San Francisco Bay. The city was named after T. Jack Foster, a real estate magnate who owned much of the land comprising the city and who was instrumental in its initial design.

The neighborhoods in Foster City are numbered: Neighborhoods 1 through 9, as well as C, L, PT, TC and VP. The street names area also named around themes such as fish, ports and famous explorers. Neighborhoods 1 and 2 were covered in a previous entry; followed by Neighborhoods 3 & 4 in a subsequent entry.

Winston Square newspaper advertisement – May 25, 1974

Neighborhood 5 was first Foster City neighborhood to be built out of order. It was developed in the 1970s, and consists entirely of multifamily condominium and cluster developments; there are no detached single family homes. The developments provide a showcase of 1970s architectural design and site planning, including the iconic white and blue “The Islands” and “Lido Island” condominiums which overlook Foster City’s Central Lake.

Neighborhood 5 also included the Charter Square shopping center, which is shown in this collection of photos but has since been torn down to build a new elementary school.

From the Archives: Williams, California

Through the years of the consulting business we compiled a lot of photos, so an aspect of  this site it to provide a venue for pulling those out of the archives. Here is a handful of photos produced for a proposal for Williams, California. The photos were taken in September 2009:

From the Archives: Greenbush and Vilas Neighborhoods in Madison, Wisconsin

Through the years of the consulting business we compiled a lot of photos, so an aspect of  this site it to provide a venue for pulling those out of the archives. Here is a handful of photos produced for a proposal for a housing revitalization strategy for the Greenbush and Vilas neighborhoods in Madison, Wisconsin. The photos were taken in June 2009:

From the Archives: Maple Ash Neighborhood – Tempe, Arizona

Through the years of the consulting business we compiled a lot of photos, so part of this site will be to provide a venue for pulling those out of the archives. Here is a handful of photos produced for a project studying the Maple Ash neighborhood in Tempe, Arizona.

Maple Ash is the oldest remaining neighborhood in Tempe, located south of downtown and west of ASU main campus. It is characterized by lush green landscaping, including large trees and grassy lawns. Even the alleys behind the houses have a lush character, with oleander and shrubbery spilling over from the backyards. Given the desert location, the lush landscaping is especially extraordinary.

The neighborhood was subdivided in the 1910s and 1920s, and the homes were built in the subsequent decades. Homes are typically modest in scale, with a wide range of styles. The architectural character of the homes together with the lush landscaping makes for a distinctive setting.

From the Archives: San Carlos, California

Through the years of the consulting business we compiled a lot of photos, so part of this site will be to provide a venue for pulling those out of the archives. Here is a handful of photos produced for two different proposals for San Carlos, California in 2007 and 2010:

From the Archives: Foster City Neighborhoods 3 & 4

In 2010-2011 we assisted the City of Foster City with the existing conditions analysis for the Land Use & Circulation Element of its General Plan. This involved lots of photos.

Foster City is a master-planned “new town” founded in the 1960s on engineered landfill in the marshes of the San Francisco Bay. The city was named after T. Jack Foster, a real estate magnate who owned much of the land comprising the city and who was instrumental in its initial design.

The neighborhoods in Foster City are numbered: Neighborhoods 1 through 9, as well as C, L, PT, TC and VP. The street names area also named around themes such as fish, ports and famous explorers. Neighborhoods 1 and 2 were covered in a previous entry; this entry covers Neighborhoods 3 & 4.

Neighborhood 3 was built concurrently with Neighborhood 2. The homes were built in the late 1960s and the condominiums and apartments in later years. Streets in Neighborhood 3 are named after fish, such as Tarpon and Marlin.There are a number of parks including Marlin Park featuring a beach along the lagoon shore.

Neighborhood 4 was the last Foster City subdivision to be built “in order”; Neighborhoods 9 and 8 came next rather than Neighborhood 5. Streets are named after ships, or parts of ships, such as Mainsail Court and Compass Street. In a departure from the curved, interconnected streets in the earlier Foster City neighborhoods, streets in Neighborhood 4 are rectilinear and organized into a distinct pattern of courts (cul-de-scas). A neighborhood park joins up the ends of the courts. The Marlin Cove Shopping Center, initially built concurrently with the homes, was redeveloped in the 2000s as a mixed-use center.

From the Archives: Jasper, Indiana

Through the years of the consulting business we compiled a lot of photos, so part of this site will be to provide a venue for pulling those out of the archives. Here is a handful of photos produced for a proposal for Jasper, Indiana taken in the fall of 2008:

Jasper is located in southern Indiana, amid scenic rolling wooded hills. I visited on a rainy Saturday to take photos, and most of these photos were taken from the car. Since it was a dark, wet day the original color photos looked a bit lackluster and did not capture the spirit of the place, so for the proposal I converted them to black and white. This was before Instagram and newly available filters – today there would be many more options to enhance the photos and build on the unique style of the place.