Riverside is recognized as one of the first planned communities in the United States. The historic and landscape architecture district includes most of the Village of Riverside and is bounded by 26th Street, Harlem Avenue, Ogden Avenue, the Des Plaines River and Forbes Road. It features curving streets, expansive parks, numerous parkways, gas-lit street lanterns, and many homes designed by world renowned architects. Some homes, including the F.F. Tomek House and the Coonley House, have been individually designated National Historic Landmarks. In 1869, the Riverside Improvement Company was formed to build a modern suburban neighborhood about 11 miles west of Chicago's downtown lakefront. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who had previously designed New York's Central Park, were chosen to plan and design the site. Their design featured winding roads that mimicked the curves of the river and extensive public green areas along the river and throughout the village to create a park-like setting. The area covers about 1600 acres along the Des Plaines River. Since these early beginnings, Riverside has remained a beautiful "Village in the Forest" and still retains many elements of Olmsted and Vaux's original plan. On August 29, 1970, this legacy was formally recognized when the Riverside Landscape Architecture District was designated a National Historic Landmark.