Pictured at far right with Archibald Rogers, Francis Taliaferro, and Charles Lamb, founders of the groundbreaking architecture firm RTKL, George Kostritsky died of COVID-19 complications in July, shortly after his 98th birthday.
A gifted urban planner, the last of the original RTKL partners (now the global firm CallisonRTKL), Kostritsky left an impact on cities across the country, most notably his beloved adopted hometown. At the behest of the Greater Baltimore Committee, he arrived in 1957 to help with nascent plans to revitalize downtown, which was already suffering the consequences of suburban flight. A big-picture thinker, Kostritsky soon became the lead planner of the pioneering 33-acre Charles Center project, which eventually included the rehabilitation or construction of a dozen buildings and series of plazas and interconnected stairways that remain a modernist landmark. In the process, Kostritsky created and obtained U.S. patents for the unique sugar cube-shaped streetlamps that brighten Charles Center’s public spaces to this day. None other than acclaimed urbanist, activist, and author Jane Jacobs, who penned The Life and Death of Great American Cities, visited Baltimore and praised the early example of adaptive re-use “in the very heart of downtown . . . for precisely the things that belong in the heart of downtown.”
Denne historien er fra December 2020-utgaven av Baltimore magazine.
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Denne historien er fra December 2020-utgaven av Baltimore magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Man With a Plan
The eternal optimism of Thibault Manekin.
SHOWER POWER
Locals let rain gardens soak up the storm.
THE SOFA QUEEN
Stuffed & Tufted’s Samantha Kuczynski relishes being the new face of upholstery.
The Starting Gate
At long last, plans are underway for a new “Home of the Preakness.”
CLEANING UP CITY HALL
Baltimore is the second most corrupt federal jurisdiction in the country. Can a city with our history be reformed?
THE HOMECOMING
For one family, it was time to start living in their house, not just existing there.
SUGAR RUSH
Baltimore gets a fresh batch of home-grown bakeries——and the line forms here.
GAMECHANGER SANDRA GIBSON
Executive Director, SNF Parkway Theatre & Maryland Film Festival
FROM THE GROUND UP
A new build gives a couple a house that finally feels like them.
AFTER GLOW
KEY HIGHWAY