Rockville is a real city with a real downtown. During the 20th Century it was gobbled up by the expanding Washington suburbs, but it has a legitimate historic core. Like many cities, its historic downtown was gutted during the urban renewal days, and is only now recovering. The Rockville Town Square project is a redevelopment that covers a few blocks of the larger downtown area. Although it’s new, and still has a bit of a “plastic” feeling, it’s very well designed and more “real” feeling than many new-built town centers elsewhere.

The project is laid out around a comfortable central plaza. The buildings are all uniform height, giving the project a European feel. Although they were all built at the same time as part of the same project, the architecture of each building is unique, and the styles vary from traditional to modern.

Here are some loose pictures, taken in 2011.