Bryn Gweled, Pennsylvania

Bryn Gweled is a small community in Upper Southampton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Described variously as an "intentionally cooperative community"[1] and "more like a commune",[2] Bryn Gweled consists of 75 privately owned homes on 240 acres (0.97 km2) of collectively owned land.[3]

The community was founded in 1940 by twelve mostly Quaker families from the Philadelphia area.[1] The name of the town means "Hill of Vision" in Welsh. The community maintains its founders' vision of collective responsibility, consensus-style management, and racial diversity,[3] and has been cited as an example of community-based decision-making in action.[4]

Some of house architecture was created by various students of Frank Lloyd Wright the famous American architect - such as Robert Forsythe Bishop, and others who went on to have distinguished further careers. The homes are located near picturesque fields and forests overlooking hills and creeks of the surrounding countryside and are each on lots greater than 2 acres (8,100 m2). Several of the homes feature various unique architectural elements such as heated floors, exposed wooden beams, wide open interior spaces, central fireplaces typical of organic architecture and Usonian homes.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Bryn Gweled website, history section
  2. ↑ McCullough, Marie (2007-10-09). "Ties to the Prize". Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2008-01-27. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  3. 1 2 Bryn Gweled website
  4. ↑ Christakis & Bausch, How People Harness Their Collective Wisdom And Power to Construct the Future, Information Age Publishing Inc., 2006, p. 125

Coordinates: 40°09′57″N 75°00′53″W / 40.16588°N 75.01464°W / 40.16588; -75.01464

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