Julius Pitzman

Julius Pitzman (1837–1923) was a Prussian-born American surveyor and city planner best known for his development of the private, gated neighborhoods in St. Louis, Missouri from 1867 through about 1914.

Originally from Halberstadt, Pitzman came to the U.S. and was educated as a Topographical and Civil Engineer under the tutelage of his brother-in-law, St. Louis City Engineer Charles E. Solomon, and held several posts within the Engineer and Survey offices before lending his services as a lieutenant of Topographical Engineers in the American Civil War.

Badly injured in the war, afterward Pitzman served as St. Louis County Surveyor. During his tenure he helped design Forest Park, along with Maximillian G. Kern. In addition, he worked closely with many notable architects including Theodore C. Link. Like Link, Pitzman is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery, and Pitzman Avenue stands between the cemetery and the Mississippi River toward the northeast.

Pitzman's son Frederick Pitzman joined his father's firm in 1912, and the Pitzman Company was still in business in the 1990s.

Julius Pitzman was directly responsible for the development of the private place in St. Louis, a pioneering land-use concept both legally and in urban form, a direct precursor to the gated community. The idea allowed residential landowners to control real estate speculation and maintain property standards, in an era before the protections of zoning. Pitzman's use of curvilinear streets to maximize privacy and vary views was a novelty in that era.

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