Washington Bridge Apartments - Elevation over the Trans-Manhattan Expressway

The Bridge Apartments are four high-rise apartment buildings in the Washington Heights neighborhood of

Manhattan, New York Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Built between 1961 and 1964, they are notable for rising from concrete platforms directly above the

Trans-Manhattan Expressway Interstate 95 (I-95) is part of the Interstate Highway System and runs from Miami, Florida, to the Canada–United States border near Houlton, Maine. In the US state of New York, I-95 extends from the George Washington Bridge in New Yor ...

on its approach to the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey, with the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is named after George W ...

. Their proximity to the highway has led residents to complain of traffic noise and

air pollution Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

. The four buildings, each 32 stories tall, house about 4,000 people in total.

Description

The Bridge Apartments comprise four high-rise buildings, each 32 stories high and containing 240 apartments, for a total of 960 units in the entire complex. The second floor has laundry and community rooms; the lowest floor of residences is the third. The water and heating systems for the buildings are located below the ground floor. The buildings are between 178th and 179th Streets on Audubon Avenue, St. Nicholas Avenue, and Wadsworth Avenue, in the neighborhood of Washington Heights in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

borough of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. They are built directly above the 12-lane

on its approach to the

, on top of four concrete platforms that serve as the buildings' foundations. The spaces between the buildings above the expressway were left open for ventilation, as it would have been prohibitively costly to seal the highway completely and ventilate it through ducts running to the roofs of the buildings. Architecturally, the buildings' placement over an expressway have a precedent in the early 20th century work of

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

and

Antonio Sant'Elia Antonio Sant'Elia (; 30 April 1888 – 10 October 1916) was an Italian architect and a key member of the Futurist movement in architecture. He left behind almost no completed works of architecture and is primarily remembered for his bold sk ...

History

The

air rights In real estate, air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the Earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning or renting land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by oth ...

of the Trans-Manhattan Expressway were transferred from the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...

(which manages the

) to the city in 1960. The rights were purchased from the city by the Kratter Corporation for $1 million. Construction began on the buildings on December 20, 1961. Designed by the architectural firm Brown & Guenther, they were some of the first aluminum-sheathed high-rises in the world. At the time of construction, the total cost was estimated at over $19 million, of which more than $17 million came from a loan from the state's Mitchell–Lama Housing Program, under which the owners agree to limit rents in exchange for government subsidies. The air-rights scheme was considered innovative at the time. The buildings opened in 1964, with the first tenants moving in in February, and their 960 middle-income apartments were quickly filled. Rents ranged from $92 to $179 a month. Soon after opening, residents complained of

from the 150,000 vehicles that passed underneath the buildings each day. In 1967, Senator Robert F. Kennedy visited the apartments to speak with residents about the pollution issue. Kennedy proposed building a "vaporproof barrier" over the roadway. The towers were cited in the debate over the construction of the Lower Manhattan Expressway in the late 1960s, and a 1973 study commissioned by the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

found that the level of

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a poisonous, flammable gas that is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the si ...

exceeded federal guidelines and recommended sealing the lower levels of the building to keep out the dangerous gas. In 1972, 300 tenants went on a

rent strike A rent strike, sometimes known as a tenants strike or a renters strike, is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants agree to collectively withhold paying some or all of their rent to the ...

to protest a planned increase in annual rent. The tenants were able to negotiate a smaller increase. The provisions of the Mitchell–Lama program expired after 20 years, allowing the development to be privatized, and in 1987, the buildings were purchased by a group of real-estate investors led by Mendel Schwimmer and David Bistricer. As of 2004, the apartments housed 4,000 people, the majority of whom were working-class. Residents continued to complain of air and noise pollution, although the buildings remained popular.

References

{{Washington Heights, Manhattan Apartment buildings in New York City Residential buildings completed in 1964 1964 establishments in New York City Washington Heights, Manhattan

Description

History

See also

References