This essay is part of a series for the Center of Applied Liberal Arts (CALA) at NYU SPS by students who took Kelly Carroll’s Behind the Scenes in New York: Preserving a City of Historic Neighborhoods last semester. The course project looks at interesting buildings and other types of architecture in New York City, and elsewhere, that currently do not have landmark status. The authors in this series draw upon extensive research to share what is culturally and historically significant about each structure to make a case for why it is important to protect these sites from destruction and preserve them for future generations.
Through many of our courses at CALA we celebrate the history and passions of our city and now through the Know Your City series we will focus attention on significant historic locations. Matthew Wolchko’s paper, excerpted below, discusses the Hell Gate Bridge:
A great bridge in a great city, although primarily utilitarian in its purpose, should nevertheless be a work of art to which Science lends its aid.
O.H. Ammann, 1918, Amer. Society of Civil Engineers
“Several bridges have been designated New York City Landmarks; obviously Roebling’s Brooklyn Bridge, but also the Queensborough Bridge, as well as the Washington Bridge and University Heights Bridge, both over the Harlem River. Several of these spans are also on the National Register of Historic Places. While there can be differences of opinion, the Hell Gate Bridge, while recognized by engineering societies as something of a technical marvel, does not seem to attain much notoriety. Perhaps because it only serves railroad traffic, or that it traverses a somewhat less populated Randalls Island, it has escaped much current notoriety. …
It would be possible, although not easy to express in a short narrative, all of the engineering struggles that were overcome in the design and construction of the bridge and its approaches. Poor soils on the Ward and Randalls Island side, required deep caissons, especially at the Bronx side Tower. Constructing the initial connection parallel to the still operating New Haven Railroad tracks and embankment, where boulders were used for backfill, was another issue. Designing the Queens-side approach viaduct and pier spacing to conform to the street grid also presented challenges; although the Borough was barely built- up in 1915, things soon changed as the population grew.
Of particular note is that the Hell Gate Bridge was the first major bridge to undergo measured stress testing in the field. As scientific research, Lindenthal himself paid for stress testing of the bottom chord of the bridge at various milestones of the construction, under load.”
Full paper here: Matthew Wolchko – Hell Gate Bridge
**********************
Behind the Scenes in New York: Preserving a City of Historic Neighborhoods, taught by Kelly Carroll, is a continuing education course that any member of the public can register for and is also one of the required courses in the Certificate in Historic Preservation. To find out more about the certificate and other preservation courses, click here: Certificate in Historic Preservation
Links to Summer 2021 courses in Historic Preservation Starting June 3:
Behind The Scenes in New York: Preserving a City of Historic Neighborhoods