Community and Creator Seen as Interlinked
Vision of Reston, Virginia at 45 and of Founder Robert E Simon at 95
Apr 27, 2009
At 95, Robert E. Simon Jr. remains both an historical and contemporary fixture in Reston, Virginia, the internationally known planned community he established 45 years ago. From the start, he conceived of his new town as one where houses could be comfortably built near one another, where homes would adjoin wooded areas and parks, and be within walking distance to shopping, recreation, and cultural activities.
Aside from accentuating natural beauty amid a combination of residential and retail structures, Simon always envisioned those of all backgrounds, ages, and income levels being able to “live, work, and play” in or near a single community for as many years as they wished.
Life in New York Shaped Vision of Planned Community
His vision for Reston emerged from his experiences as a New Yorker who traveled to Manhattan from Syosset in suburban Long Island, dismayed by needing to drive long distances between work and home, and the lack of leisure time. “Because the entire working population commuted to the city, social life was restricted to the weekends,” Simon said in a 1966 speech on the founding of Reston, a name derived from his initials.
In 1961, Simon used the funds from the sale of Carnegie Hall, which his family had owned as part of its real estate business, to purchase 6,750 acres in the then rolling green hills of Fairfax County, Virginia, 18 miles west of Washington, D.C. In response, the county created a new Residential Planned Community (RPC) zoning ordinance, enabling Simon and successor developers to pursue such innovations as clustered housing, no minimum-sized lots, and preserving open space as much as possible.
Departure for New York and Eventual Return to Reston
In the late 1960s he left Reston for New York but returned permanently when he retired in 1993, viewing himself as coming home, as Carol Morello noted in a March 25, 2004 Washington Post profile, “At Home With His Creation.” Simon continues to make his views known on Reston’s future, including on the revitalization of Lake Anne Village Center, a European-style plaza and the original portion of the community where he now resides in a high-rise apartment overlooking the lake.
Today more than 60,000 people live in Reston, and thousands more commute to the offices and shops located in the business district. Rehabilitation and redesign continue to dominate local issues, among them the coming of the Washington area’s Metro rail subway system to Reston.
Many of Simon’s initial plans for Reston’s development have been modified and enhanced over the years. Some suspect that it has become more commercialized than he would have preferred.
Concern over Neglect of Original Community Concept
Tom Grubisich, a one-time local newspaper publisher in Reston and former resident of over 35 years, wrote in a January 6, 2008 Washington Post column, “Shadow Over Reston,” that Simon’s original conception is suffering from neglect. Chief among the problems are pollution of the natural environment, too many hastily built homes, and a powerless local governing structure.
But Reston will always reflect Simon’s impact in the use of planning to control unrestrained growth. It remains his legacy beyond Michael Leyzorek’s description of him, in a June 8, 1990 paper, “Robert E. Simon Jr.: Conservator of Carnegie Hall, Creator of Reston,” housed in the Planned Community Archives Collection at George Mason University, as “a man who has never held public office” there “nor been its financial benefactor, nor a school alumnus, a war hero, or even a rock star.”
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