It was Johnson’s 2nd postmodern building in New York City (after the AT&T building a few blocks away), and was designed to stand out on the then “Less than fashionable Third Avenue.”

There are certain times as an Architectural Photographer (ok, there are a lot of them)- when you must photograph a building or space that has been photographed countless times already, both by seasoned professionals and the vast multitude of camera wielding masses. Such is the case here, but rather than subscribe to the “it has already been done” school, I am more inclined to take a few interior moments to consider the lives and careers of the Architects responsible.

I would also recommend a great biography on Johnson I read last year:

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo3640523.html

The great news is that the project has evolved and now is (hopefully) smarter and better organized. I am pleased to announce that I am partnering with a few major Green Roof firms here in the city which will make the issue of access a lot easier to overcome.

Pictured above is the Bronx County Courthouse, a notoriously difficult roof to get a camera on. Working with New York Green Roofs were were able to document the project, seen here just before the growing season begins. Coincidentally, baseball season has also just begun- I hope to return later in the year towards the evening when the lights of the stadium are on.

Stuyvesant Town—Peter Cooper Village is a large private residential development on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, and one of the most iconic of the post-World War II private housing communities. Stuyvesant Town, known to its residents as “Stuy Town”, was named after Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, whose farm occupied the site in the seventeenth century. Peter Cooper Village is named after the 19th century industrialist, inventor and philanthropist Peter Cooper, who founded Cooper Union. The complex, which was planned beginning in 1942 and opened its first building in 1947, replaced the Gas House district of gas storage tanks. 

The complex is a sprawling collection of red brick apartment buildings stretching from First Avenue to Avenue C, between 14th and 23rd Streets. It covers about 80 acres of land, a portion of which is utilized for playgrounds and parkland. The development located between 14th and 20th Streets, Stuyvesant Town, has 8,757 apartments in 35 residential buildings and with its sister development, Peter Cooper Village – located between 20th and 23rd Streets – the complex has a combined 56 residential buildings, 11,250 apartments, and over 25,000 residents.

Even so, the official name was widely ignored by local news outlets at the time of the dedication. Some radio announcers and newspapers omitted any reference to Verrazano, referring to the bridge as the Narrows Bridge, or the Brooklyn-Staten Island Bridge. The society continued its lobbying efforts to promote the name in the following years until the name became firmly established. Today, it is often referred to as just “the Verrazano.”

In 1978, the bridge was renamed for Gil Hodges, the former first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Hodges kept a residence in Brooklyn after his team moved to LA. He also played for the New York Mets at the end of his career, and managed the Mets from 1968 until his death in 1972, including victory in the 1969 World Series.

The increasing traffic needs to and from Welfare Island, as well as growing congestion on the Queensboro Bridge, prompted the New York City Department of Public Works to propose a new vertical-lift crossing between Queens and Welfare Island. After initial resistance from the New York City Council, which doubted that the $6.5 million span would carry enough traffic to justify its cost, construction of the Roosevelt Island Bridge (then named the Welfare Island Bridge) began on March 17, 1952.

Beginning at the corner of Vernon Boulevard and 36th Avenue in Astoria, Queens, the 2,877-foot-long bridge crosses the East Channel of the East River at 40 feet over mean high water. When the 418-foot-long, 1,000-ton vertical-lift span is raised between the bridge’s 170-foot-tall towers, a 100-foot clearance is provided for ships. The raising mechanism is provided by 48 cables, each having a breaking strength of 200 tons and balanced by concrete counterweights. On the Roosevelt Island side of the bridge, a helical approach is used to bring the 34-foot-wide roadway down to ground level. Ramps are provided from the approach to a parking garage. A single six-foot-wide pedestrian walkway is also provided along the entire length of the span.

Designer Othmar Ammann had several plans for the bridge that would keep construction on its tight schedule. The two 377-foot (115 m) towers were constructed in a short 18 days and were the first to have no diagonal cross bracing. Unlike other suspension bridges, the Whitestone Bridge did not have a stiffening truss system. Instead, 11-foot (3.4 m) I-beam girders gave the bridge an art deco streamlined appearance.

The Bronx–Whitestone Bridge opened on April 29, 1939, in festivities led by then-Mayor of New York City Fiorello H. La Guardia. The bridge featured pedestrian walkways as well as four lanes of vehicular traffic, which carried 17,000 vehicles per day during the year 1940. The toll was 25 cents. The 2,300-foot (700 m) center span was the fourth longest in the world at the opening.