Usonia Homes, l’ideale democratico di Wright

The article aims to give voice to an American suburban settlement that remains little known from its foundation: Usonia Homes. Usonia Homes was founded close to the village of Pleasantville (Westchester County, New York) in the aftermath of the Second World War. The postwar period was characterized by the necessity to plan the suburban areas and to manage various factors that affected the housing market, such as the automobile ownership ever-increasing, the new building technologies availability, and the growing demand for housing from returning veterans asking for their own home and private backyard. In this context, Wright recognized the chance to fulfill the Broadacre ideal of a suburban settlement characterized by horizontal development, and organized in single-family Usonian houses with one acre each. Usonia Homes represents one of the Wright’s suburban visions fully realized. The research attempts to bring to light the Usonia meaningful example of urban and architectural design by pro­viding both a theoretical account, which is grounded in the study of specialized literature; and a record based on a survey on the field, which includes the information concerning the common strategies adopted to preserve the architectural heritage belonging to Wright.