Imagine a town full of traditional americana, classical/ arts& crafts style architecture, progressive education, a multitude of recreational activity centers, and an over all pleasantness to the environment. Sounds pretty peachy right? Well in his lifetime, Mr. Disney had a vision of this town being actualized, and in 1995 it was. Celebration, Florida was developed to model small American towns of the early 1900s with shops, restaurants, offices, banks, a movie theatre, and a hotel cluster along the peripheral walkway of a small lake. Mapped by Robert A.M. Stern and Jaquelin Robertson, architecturally developed by Michael Graves, Phillip Johnson, select associates from Deamer + Phillips, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Cesar Pelli,and Graham Gund, and directionally designed by Michael Beruit the ambience in whole creates an easy feeling of pleasantness. The picturesque streets, and perfect little homes and business buildings bring you back to a whole foreign feeling of nostalgia; a yearning for something we have perhaps only experienced in children's books or romantically imagined as the visual history of our country. It is a feeling created not by fact, but by imagination mixed with idealism. However, authenticity arguments aside, Disney was ambitious and inventive enough to have a Disney World, Disney Land, and since 15 years ago a Disney Town. What a legacy.
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