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The
work in progress along the FDR
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I
first noticed the activity several months ago when I saw an
enormous barge carrying an eight-story crane
moving slowly downriver. It stopped in the general vicinity
of 63rd Street and the East River Drive, also known as the
FDR which runs nine and half miles along the eastern edge of
Manhattan. Since I first noticed it (and photographed it for
the Diary), there have been several enormous barges carrying
more cranes as well as gigantic pipes big enough for a person
to talk through.
What they were up to is only now become apparent – very apparent
to those of us passing by on our way to somewhere north or south
of there.
The Drive was part of a large city development plan released
in 1929 which called for a “depressed express highway” along
the East Side. At the time there was nothing but shore front bordered
by a variety of things including tenement buildings. The plan was
to replace those tenements with high-rise buildings for offices,
stores and apartments. To maximize light and air, the skyscrapers
were to be widely spaced and separated by low-rise buildings and
parks.
It was Robert Moses, the now legendary arterial
coordinator and parks commissioner for New York City (see Robert
Caro’s Power Broker) who had a specific vision
for the East River Drive: six 12-foot-wide lanes, long viaducts for
grade separation, and landscaping and parks between the parkway and
the river. While the parkway would not have shoulders, it would have
emergency pull-off ramps for disabled vehicles. The parkway was to
connect lower Manhattan with the proposed Triborough Bridge. |
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Looking
south from the Promenade on East 81st Street and the East River
at the new construction alongside the FDR. On a hazy Sunday evening,
July 28th.
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Construction
began in 1934. The section a mile and a half
south of the new construction, between 23rd and 30th, was filled
with rubble from bombed British cities, carried as ballast
in wartime ships. It was called “Bristol Basin” at
the time. The section in our photos was, like much of the Drive,
built on fill or on pile supported relieving platforms, and
was opened for public use in 1942.
Construction is going on again. The pile supported relieving platforms
are being set down into the riverbed so that a road adjacent to the
Drive can be constructed. That way, I am told the highway, which
is now 61 years old, can be refurbished. Riding along the highway
in the East 60s, one can see that time and use and the elements are
seriously eroding the structures supporting the roadway and the riverside.
The photographs of the work in progress do not, unfortunately, reflect
the scope of this project. Because it is a wonder. Like so many things
that go on daily in this City, this “in the river” construction
is a behemoth that merely garnishes the serene sense of “metropolis” that
one has living in New York. |
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One
of a fleet of eight-story cranes
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Looking
north west from 56th and York with the Queensborough Bridge above
and Roosevelt Island in the background.
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The
view from Riverview Terrace (56th and York Avenue) of the Cranes
rising high above the Queensborough Bridge.
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Mr.
and Mrs. John Rosenwald, Valerie Harper, and Henry Sherman
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Monsignor
Tom Hartman, John Rosenwald, Hillie Mahoney, Sam Donaldson,
and Charles Michener
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Clarence
Michalis, Carroll Petrie, Former Amb. to Belgium Alan Blinken,
and Hillie Mahoney
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Mrs.
and Mr. Alan King
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Sam
Donaldson, Michael Armstrong, Christina Merrill, and Harry
Pearce
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Alan
King, Joe Bushkin, and Robert Merrill
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L.
to r.: Francois Bennahmias, Jasmine Audemars, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, and Georges-Henri Meylan; Grace Hightower
and Clarisse Bennahmias.
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John
Mack, Linda Mediate, Clarisse and Francois Bennahmias
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Francois
Bennahmias holding an original Herb Ritts photo of Arnold
and Muhammad Ali, signed by both. Sold for $65,000.
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T3:
Rise of the Machines leather jacket
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Francois
Bennahmias auctioning off 4 prototype Audemars Piaget Royal
Oak Offshore T3 chronographs
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Arnold
with the winning bidders of the Indian Chief T3 limited
edition motorcycle
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