Simon’s disappointments were centered around New York City suburbs. Simon was a native New Yorker, the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany, and the heir to a multi-million-dollar real estate investment business with clients like Carnegie Hall.[3] After serving in the Second World War, he left Manhattan with his wife and two children to live in Syosset, Long Island. The post-war Baby Boom saw many families making a similar decision, fleeing cities for suburbia. Homogenous tract houses promised more room for families to grow. The problem was, Simon hated suburban living. Suburbia lacked entertainment, and sprawl demanded an inconvenient reliance on cars.[4]
So, my dear Boundary Stones reader, what does a Northeastern millionaire have to do with the D.C. metropolitan area? Hold your horses, local history enthusiasts!
In 1961, a broker approached Simon with an opportunity: nearly 7,000 acres of land for sale in Northern Virginia’s Fairfax County.[5] What Simon lacked in city planning expertise, he compensated with vision, ideals, and seed funding. Simon dreamed of “a humanistic alternative to the isolation and anonymity of conventional suburbia, a triumph over the doldrums of cookie-cutter tract homes.”[6]
Simon bought the land, and the seeds of a new city took root. Its name would draw upon his own initials “R. E. S.”—Reston, Virginia.
Over the following years, Reston would be the subject of much careful thought and planning. The Reston Master Plan was finished in 1962, written by Simon and the architectural firm, Whittlesey & Conklin. The plan outlined lofty ideals that hoped to address “the human requirements of our civilization.”[7] It envisioned 75,000 Restonians by 1980, who would reap the benefits of the following seven principles:[8]
- Reston would have housing for all.
- Reston would allow residents to “Live, Work & Play” in the same community.
- Reston would put the importance and dignity of each individual as the focal point of planning.
- Reston would be beautiful–nature would be fostered.
- Reston would accommodate leisure time.
- Reston would have amenities from the outset including a library, golf courses, art, and more.
- Reston would be financially successful.[9]
On December 4, 1965, the new town celebrated its grand opening. An article was published on the front page of the New York Times, describing “a brave and deliberate design to create a community out of whole cloth” that “looks like an attractive cross between an updated Georgetown and an Italian harbor town like Portofino.”[10]