Richard Weinstein, Public-Minded Urban Planner, Dies at 85
Richard Weinstein, former dean of the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UCLA died Feb. 24 in Santa Monica, California. He was 85. Weinstein’s many contributions include establishing the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies at UCLA, serving on the jury for the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and as co-administrator of the architectural selection process for the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. The cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease. He is survived by his wife and partner of 34 years, Edina, two sons — Alexander and Nikolas, and two granddaughters.
"Richard Weinstein, an architect who helped redefine urban planning in New York and Los Angeles by coupling private profit with public benefit to make cities more livable, died on Feb. 24 in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 85.
The cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease, his son Nikolas said.
Recruited to New York City government in the late 1960s by the administration of Mayor John V. Lindsay, Mr. Weinstein joined several like-minded young colleagues in a new Urban Design Group within the Department of City Planning.
Their goal was to tailor zoning regulations to a neighborhood’s unique form, function and features rather than impose generic rules by rote.
“We are trying to make development responsive to some human purpose,” he told The New York Times in 1973.
Working largely backstage, Mr. Weinstein was instrumental in the creation of special zoning districts that retained the character of the theater district and the area around the new Lincoln Center performing arts complex.
He also played major roles in the preservation of the United States Custom House in Lower Manhattan and what became the South Street Seaport.
In the 1970s, he helped negotiate the development of Battery Park City on landfill from the construction site of the World Trade Center. He also conceived a plan for selling air rights over the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown Manhattan to a private developer to subsidize the museum’s expansion. The developer built a residential high-rise next door.
Mr. Weinstein moved to California in 1985 and became dean of the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. He held that post until 1995 and was a professor emeritus until 2008.
As dean, he incorporated computer technology and robotics into the curriculum. He also helped select designs for the Walt Disney Concert Hall — Frank Gehry’s was chosen — and the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, designed by José Rafael Moneo."— Sam Roberts, Mar. 2, 2018
This post is an excerpt, read the full article at the New York Times website.
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