Bridge Apartments: A Wild Urban Concept and a Troubled Legacy
The Bridge Apartments, much like many other New York City housing projects of its time, are built utilising the air rights over public infrastructure. For example Tracey Tower which is built partially over an MTA train yard. What makes the Bridge Apartments stand out from the rest is its unconventional construction, not only utilising the air right, but being built directly on top of the Trans Manhattan Expressway (a section of the I-95). It is one of a handful of buildings over freeways in New York, other prominent examples being the UN headquarters and the River Campus of Rockefeller University, the latter being completed only in 2019.
The apartments are designed by Brown & Guenther, a local firm which also oversaw several other projects in the city, including Columbia University’s Bard-Haven Towers. Construction started in 1961 and finished in 1964 for the Bridge Apartments, which contains 960 units in four buildings. Then state Commissioner of Housing, James W. Gaynor, described the apartments as having “taken advantage of daring new concepts in sit utilization and design standards” The outlooks on the buildings were optimistic, as it promised views onto the Hudson River, George Washington Bridge, and East River. But enthusiasm was quickly met with realistic issues. As early as 1967, problems with noise and fumes were reported by the New York Times, and by its 10th Anniversary, the article published by the Times bluntly stated that the buildings are “struggling” in its title.
The noise and fume issues were known to at least the architects, who claimed that they were concerned, however they stated that since “the highway was being finished at about the same time as the buildings, and [they] couldn't fully assess what impact the traffic would have.” To make matters worse, the platform which the buildings sat on were not sealed off but rather left open between the buildings, per the request of the Port Authority who owned the air rights which the apartments used. Bernard Guenther, one of the architects, said that “Leaving the spaces open helped their pollution problem, and it helped create ours.” Concerningly, this didn’t concern the tenants, who were busy rent-striking against the management, as “in the face of tenant charges of deterioration in services, management sought two annual rent increases of 30 and 35 per cent.”
On a not very long Wikipedia list of structures built on top of freeways, nearly all of them are built within the US. Out of those structures, most were built on top of tunnels or tunnel-like structures, and very few are residential. While the list may be incomplete, it is clear enough of an indication of the necessary methods to combat the inherent issues that freeway traffic brings. Unfortunately as a forerunner of this type of development, the Bridge Apartments falls victim to almost all issues such a structure can encounter. The section of the freeway the apartments are over is a section of depressed roadway, where noises are bounced off the walls and ground, with only one way to go being up. Same goes for the fumes, which is further worsened by the gaps between the buildings creating a funnel effect, which actively intensifies the issue. Vibrations also exist to interfere with the lives of the tenants.
Still to this day though, the Bridge Apartments remain a relatively popular place despite all the shortcomings. “They tolerate the annoyances, savor the pleasures and develop a hardened brand of urban pluck to become accustomed, even fond, of their surroundings.” Writes David Chen, New York Times reporter, in 2004. For better or worse, the apartments are in a convenient area near lots of commerce and transportation, and are rent-stabilised. The most recent occasion of the apartments making news is on May 4th 2022, where crumbling concrete encasements on the Apartments’ support structures were photographed and spread virally on the internet. Despite the Port Authority ensuring that the concrete is non-structural, and only acts as outside encasement to the metal beams inside, it still caused wild uproar from residents and drivers, criticising the lack of care from Authorities.
As much as the Bridge Apartments have been troubled, they still provide a place to reside for thousands of people. More than 60 years have passed since its conception, and there is no sight of an end to its stories. The Bridge Apartments is in a way an extreme yet extraordinary generalisation of the city living experience: Noisy yet beautiful, chaotic yet calming.