Gradić Pejton ( sr-Cyrl, Градић Пејтон, trans. '' Peyton Place'') is an urban neighborhood of

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, the capital of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. Located in Belgrade's municipality of

Vračar Vračar ( sr-Cyrl, Врачар, ) is an affluent urban area and Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade known as the location of many embassies and museums. According to the 2022 census results, the municipality has a popul ...

, it is a unique craftsmen settlement in the city. Gradić Pejton is made of wood, and irregularly shaped in the honeycomb-style to preserve existing trees.

Location

Gradić Pejton is located 2 kilometers south-east of downtown Belgrade (

Terazije Terazije ( sr-Cyrl, Теразијe) is the central town square and the surrounding neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Stari Grad, Belgrade, Stari Grad. Today, Terazije has primarily function of the main trans ...

), beginning on the corner of the ''Makenzijeva'' and '' Čuburska'' streets, right across the small Čubura park. It is a small, westernmost extension of the neighborhood of Čubura that spreads east and north of Gradić Pejton, which in turn borders the neighborhoods of Neimar on the south and Vračar on the west.

Characteristics

Gradić Pejton is one of the most unusual parts of Belgrade. It is an

artisan An artisan (from , ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, sculpture, clothing, food ite ...

settlement with many small shops and many of them are practicing crafts which are now rare and slowly dying out in big cities like Belgrade: stamp-cutters, printmakers, framemakers, keymakers, glassblowers, etc. In addition to this, several

kafana Kafana is a type of local coffeehouse, bistro or tavern, common in the countries of Southeast Europe, which originally served coffee and other warm drinks while today usually also offer alcoholic beverages and food. Many kafanas feature live mus ...

s and cafés are located in the neighborhood. Several more characteristics separate Gradić Pejton from the rest of Belgrade. It was built from 1968 to 1971 by the architect

Ranko Radović Ranko Radović (August 18, 1935 – February 16, 2005) was a Montenegrin and Yugoslav architect, professor and theoretician of architecture. He taught contemporary architecture and urbanism at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture be ...

(1935-2005) who, in the period of the most massive building of the concrete dwelling blocks in Belgrade's history, decided to make a commercial complex completely made of wood, and to blend it into the Čuburski Park. Partially because of the wish not to disrupt the atmosphere of the Belgrade's famed bohemian quarter of Čubura and partially because of the environment preservation, not one single tree was cut on the lots designated for Gradić Pejton as the complex was designated in the

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic cells built from beeswax by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae) and stores of honey and pol ...

pattern to protect the already existing trees. After the TV series Peyton Place, immensely popular in Serbia at that time, the neighborhoods was named after it. This was later followed by several other towns in Serbia like

Kraljevo Kraljevo ( sr-Cyrl, Краљево, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Raška District in central Serbia. It is situated on the confluence of West Morava and Ibar River, Ibar, in the geographical region of ...

Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...

, etc.

Future

The city government announced in 2005 that it will tear down the entire Gradić Pejton and build a parking, cultural center and a kindergarten instead. This prompted the swift reaction of the Belgraders who oppose the demolition of the neighborhood even though it is currently in bad shape, which was used as a pretext by the city architect Đorđe Bobić. This is just one of the major clashes of the city architect and the inhabitants of Belgrade (the others include the building of Belgrade Opera not in the central Square of the Republic but in the uninhabited area of

Novi Beograd New Belgrade (, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. It was a Planned community, planned city and now is the central business district of Serbia and South East Europe. Construction began in 1948 in a previously un ...

and removal of the Belgrade ZOO from

Kalemegdan The Kalemegdan Park (), or simply Kalemegdan ( sr-Cyrl, Калемегдан) is the largest park and the most important historical monument in Belgrade. It is located on a cliff, at the junction of the River Sava and the Danube. Kalemegdan Pa ...

in downtown Belgrade to

Surčin Surčin ( sr-Cyrl, Сурчин, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. It is located in the eastern Syrmia region in Central Europe, 32km west of downtown Belgrade. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 45,452 inhabitants. It is the ...

, 20 kilometers away). City government then proposed that some of the shops may be rebuilt but the shop owners refused this. Also, the idea of city architect to place a stone memorial commemorating that architect Ranko Radović's work was once here was refused by the Radović's widow Mirjana Popović-Radović who claims that she will sue city government if they do that because "no one has right to wash his own actions with the name of her husband". In 2016 city and municipal administrations announced reconstruction of the complex, but it remained on paper only.

References

External links

Gradić Pejton

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gradic Pejton Neighborhoods of Belgrade Vračar