Lamont Young (Naples)

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Lamont Young may also refer to Lamont H. Young, Australian geologist.

Lamont Young (1851-1929) Italian architect and urban planner from the late 19th and early 20th century. He was born in Naples and all of the works and urban design associated with his name are found in that city. In archtecture, he is primarily associated with having constructed a number of pseudo-Victorian castles in the city, the most prominent of which is on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele overlooking the Chiaia section of town.

In urban design, Young planned a mammoth rebuilding of the city of Naples in the 1880s, including the construction of an underground train line. Although the plan was initially approved, it eventually lost out to a competitor plan, known as the risanamento-- (lit. "making healthy again")--a more drastic version of urban surgery than even Young had planned and the one that was, over a 30-year period, responsible for the rebuilding of Naples before World War I.

Young was criticized at the time for his "Victorian fantasies" that did not fit into the tradtional architecture of the city. Today, he is viewed as a visionary, and plans for his original underground train line appear as a decorative mural on the inside of one of the stations of the new metro train line--not yet complete--in Naples.