Robert A.M. Stern, Architect, Teacher, Writer and Dean of the Yale School of Architecture honored Camden with his presence in the city on May 18 as he toured the Garden Village neighborhood of Yorkship Village. Stern, the keynote speaker of the Congress for the New Urbanism, further honored Camden on May 19 as he held out Yorkship Village as a exemplary model of Traditional Neighborhood Design during his acceptance speech of the prestigious CNU Athena Medal at the packed Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. CNU is holding it's annual Congress in Philadelphia for the first time. From May 17 - 20 CNU turned the entire Delaware Valley into an Urban lab.

Notaries who spoke at the convention included Gov. Rendell, Congressman Barney Frank, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Great Britain John Prescott.

This was Sterns second trip to Yorkship, the first 25 years ago. Stern was struck at the decline of the neighborhood since, but commented that he saw signs of the neighborhood making a comeback. The social context of the setting also concerned him. To this observer, it seemed in Sterns keynote speech that the tour of Camden, (the city with America's highest poverty rate according to the latest U.S. Census data) had some influence in his plea for New Urbanists to pay more attention to America's blighted inner cities, and he challenged CNU to do so.

During the time we spent with the great famous architect it was clear he cares deeply about inner cities and the people who live there. The entire tour was enthralled by the enduring form and charm of Yorkship. Local residents were very welcoming, friendly and social. Those of us who took the tour will be forever invigorated and energized by the memory of our CNU sponsored tour and the recognition of Yorkships qualities by CNU and Robert Stern. During Sterns speedy but lengthy presentation at the Kimmel Center, which included hundreds of pictures and plans of other Garden Village examples from around the world, Stern paused the power point presentation to freeze the original plan drawing of Yorkship for the international audience while he drove home a point in his speech. 

Here is the description of the tour offered by CNU in its program:

Yorkship Village

Tour

Friday, May 18, 2007 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM

"Turn your clock back to 1917 and see worker housing at its best at Yorkship Village in Camden. See how the Garden Suburb forms laid out by Electus Litchfield provide parks and grand boulevards, a lively mixed-use central square, and a graceful interconnecting street pattern. In a city with extreme levels of poverty and unemployment, Yorkship Village endures as a humane place to live."

The tour was led by local resident and architect Kristine Seitz, Rutgers Professor Michael Lang and Sue Brennan, Executive Dir. of the Fairview Main Street Assoc. ( www.fairviewmainstreet.org)

-Michael McAteer