Bronx Skyscrapers

[DaCrystallineAngel79]

Hey.. how come no one ever talks about Bronx skyscrapers? *snif* :cry: We're all left alone... in the dark... with no friends!! :(

[Kris]

We don't have a Brooklyn or a Queens section either. Instead of whining, you could take pictures and gather information. :idea: :!:

[DominicanoNYC]

Hey.. how come no one ever talks about Bronx skyscrapers? *snif* :cry: We're all left alone... in the dark... with no friends!! :(
Well hey, there ain't no Upper Manhattan section. No one ever talks about the skyscrapers there. Then again there aren't to many. :?

[LeCom]

Bronx skyscrapers are dark. They are colorless, massive, and unimaginative.

Thus, they are awesome.

[SUPREMO]

Most Bronx skyscrapers that I know are mostly high-rise housing projects. Honestly, I don't find them that fascinating but some of the projects are strange and have misguided design like this one,

http://www.horizonmag.com/pictorial/camilo5.jpg

[tribeca]

Not familiar with said skyscrapers in The Bronx...eager to learn however!!! NYC is THE place for skyscrapers...all of you who live there are VERY fortunate to be in the greatest city on earth...no matter what they build it should stay within the confines of the great achitectural styles...Art Deco (Chrysler building) Neo-Gothic (55 Central Park West)...also the building used in the outside shots in "Ghostbusters" Cheers!

[SUPREMO]

Tribeca, the place for skyscrapers? There's Hong Kong as well! And to us, it's the greatest city in the world! Well that's my opinion! Everyone has it's own opinion!

[Gulcrapek]

This is a New York forum...


Anyway, I find Bronx skyscrapers in general to be, yes, massive and intimidating. This can be both good and bad.

The Bronx also has I believe a 17 story office building somewhere.

[LF22]

yeah supremo, not very wise to bash NYC in an NYC forum. But then its an opinion, so I guess it's okay

[DominicanoNYC]

This is a New York forum...


Anyway, I find Bronx skyscrapers in general to be, yes, massive and intimidating. This can be both good and bad.

The Bronx also has I believe a 17 story office building somewhere.

Really? Would that be the Emmigrant Savings Bank Building?

[BrooklynRider]

New York Skyscrapers and Architecture forum has always sort of implied the New York Metro Area. I think the Bronx posts are received well in this section with the usual levels of response based on level of interest.

[Kris]

Not the metropolitan area, the five boroughs.

The projects with the buttresses are the Morrisania Air Rights:

http://herodotus.topcities.com/go/boogiedown38.jpg

Their design is indeed misguided, not only because it is of the tower-in-the-park type but because the buttresses were used by burglars to hide while breaking in. This was remedied with the addition of protruding glass shelters providing larger viewing angles to entries, which has a dissuasive effect. Many towers in the Bronx have odd, seemingly uncompromising sculptural shapes.

Public housing today generally is built in public/private partnerships and resembles this:

http://herodotus.topcities.com/go/boogiedown16.jpg

Plain conventional townhouses. That is the first "green" public housing in the nation however, part of the Melrose Commons development, which includes this award-winning design (http://www.meltzermandl.com/singleproj_meltz.cfm?categoryname=Large%20Scale%20 Projects&Projectname=Melrose%20Court). (This (http://forums.wirednewyork.com/viewtopic.php?t=1146&highlight=melrose) is nearby.)

The two tallest pairs of Bronx highrises are actually not public housing, and they have interesting designs.

Some say Co-op City looks just like Hong Kong.

[BrooklynRider]

Not the metropolitan area, the five boroughs.



Well, unless the Jersey side of the Hudson has been integrated into the five boroughs, it seems posts in "skyscrapers and architecture" deal with the metro area.

[Kris]

Notice the New York Metro section.

[TLOZ Link5]

As stated before, there are also many beautiful prewar buildings along the Grand Concourse.

[SUPREMO]

The Coop City does resembles some of the apartment buildings in HK but it's still New York. I don't know much about Coop City but their architecture are similar to most New York housing projects. Coop City though is privately owned and is not runned by the New York Housing Authority.

Anyway, what are some of the largest housing projects in the Bronx?

[NoyokA]

I thought Coop City was private?

[TLOZ Link5]

It's cooperative, hence Co-op City.

[NoyokA]

Right.

And whose the idiot that voted "screw you"....

[billyblancoNYC]

'Tis 4 idiots it seems.

[Kris]

The Tracey Towers, left of center, are the Bronx's tallest:

http://palter.org/~subway/99-08-02/19.jpg

http://palter.org/~subway

[Kris]

The borough's second-tallest pair, to the left of each picture:

http://www.pbase.com/image/21910476.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/21820573.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/21820526.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/zippythechimp

Same firm (Davis Brody Bond) and vocabulary as Waterside Plaza, which predates it.

[DominicanoNYC]

These buildings are in the 400ft range right?

[Freedom Tower]

Now it doesn't matter what the poll for "Should there be a Bronx section?" says. We have a mini-Bronx sections here right now! :)

[krulltime]

are the Tracey Towers housing for the poor? Does the Bronx have more housing for the poor than any other borough? Is it true?

anybody knows...

[DaCrystallineAngel79]

The Tracey Towers are middle class housing owned by either the city or the state. I live in Co-Op City and the buildings are falling apart :x I actually think the Tracey Towers are pretty :roll:

[TLOZ Link5]

I kinda like them, too. They remind me of the Corinthian Towers in Manhattan; very organic-looking.

[NY-SAILOR]

I believe they should build a 1'000 footer by Grand Concourse and call it the Yankee Tower or something...atleast there would be something nice to look at when going to the Bronx...

[Kris]

Apparently the prejudice runs deep.

[Gulcrapek]

Are there any larger, closer shots of the Tracey duo?

[Kris]

Are there any larger, closer shots of the Tracey duo?
http://www.skyscrapers.com/re/en/im/df/178999

[Gulcrapek]

Thanky.

They'll be interesting to draw...

[Kris]

I like them, in all their phenomenal weirdness.

http://images.nycsubway.org//i5000/img_5961.jpg
http://images.nycsubway.org//i1/img_317.jpg

www.nycsubway.org


Does the Bronx have more housing for the poor than any other borough? Is it true?
Given that Brooklyn's population is almost twice that of the Bronx, I doubt it.

[DaCrystallineAngel79]

if you look in some places, you can see the Tracey Towers from across the borough. 8)

[yanni111]

tracy towers are also easy to see when driving up park avenue on the upper east side

[Kris]

http://www.pbase.com/image/9790006.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/walterk/da_bronx

[Kris]

Co-op City:

http://images.villagevoice.com/issues/0233/closeup.jpg

http://www.villagevoice.com/realestate/neighborhood.php?friend=09f7d68de540676fd450381647 976ede&id=37392

http://www.pbase.com/image/6493800.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/jchiarella/2002_tour_de_bronx&page=all


http://members.tripod.com/~streetlights/coopcity/phcc3.htm

http://forums.wirednewyork.com/viewtopic.php?t=351

[DaCrystallineAngel79]

scarily enuff that picture was taken right by my house. That was taken before the buildings began to have crumbling facades in some places.... :cry:

[DaCrystallineAngel79]

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6984 If you notice, the Tracey Towers in this picture are a weird grayish-blackish-whitish color. However, now, they are brown, and they are not painted because I have seen the bricks up close. The picture was taken in 1977, so this couldn't have been during construction. Of course, the date might be wrong. Might anyone know the cause of this? :? :? :?

[Gulcrapek]

Probably just bad photo quality.

[Kris]

http://www.gothamgazette.com/graphics/iotw.2003.10.13.inside.jpg

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/issueoftheweek/20031013/202/555

Someone should take us on a photo tour of epic Co-op City.

[Gulcrapek]

Anybody in mind? *cough*Zippy*cough

[ZippyTheChimp]

Anybody in mind? *cough*Zippy*cough
:shock:

Papa needs a new pair of shoes.

[Kris]

Both pairs are visible in this photo from Highbridge Park:

http://www.washington-heights.us/gallery/albums/HighbridgeParkFestival2003/HamiltonBridgeFromPark2.jpg

www.washington-heights.us

[kliq6]

only skyscrapers in BX are projects

[TLOZ Link5]

What about the prewar buildings on the Concourse?

[Kris]

only skyscrapers in BX are projects
Did you bother reading? The two tallest pairs, although partly subsidized, aren't projects. One is the equivalent of Waterside Plaza.

There are also some hospital highrises, including one by Philip Johnson in Norwood.

[kliq6]

i lived in th BX, believe me twaterside is a project

[ZippyTheChimp]

Why does this thread have a poll? :roll:

[DaCrystallineAngel79]

I just wanted to see everyone's opinion... but... I guess that's not really needed anymore :P If the mods can, they are welcome to delete the poll

[Kris]

i lived in th BX, believe me twaterside is a project
I don't.

[ASchwarz]

Christian is right. Tracey Towers and the other pair (University Towers or something?) are not projects. They're 1970's Mitchell-Lama housing, meaning they were built and managed by private developers who received state subsidies for their efforts.

Back in the 1970's, developers could not make a profit on the development of middle class housing in NYC, so the state stepped in. The program was soon abandoned, as it was extremely expensive.

I know Tracey Towers fairly well. It's in decent shape and has a fairly solid working class tenant base. On the downside, the complex appears rather poorly designed, and the parking garage is foreboding.

[Kris]

They're called the River Park Towers, ASchwarz (1975, by Davis, Brody & Associates). "Actually two pairs of buildings joined" (AIA Guide).

[DaCrystallineAngel79]

Ohhh... I always wondered why they looked like one building but the name was towers!

Thanx for clearing that up.

[Kris]

Second Look: Tracey Towers by Paul Rudolph, 1972 (http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature180.htm)
(http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature180.htm)

[Myron]

I see a tall clock tower in the Fordham area but I don't know what it is. Is it the old Sears Building? I thought it was Keating Hall at Fordham U but it's not. The Hall of Fame dome at Bronx Community College is a lovely building. There is a white building I see with a shape similar to the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan. What is this building? I also spot 2 colonial-looking houses just north of the Hall of Fame. What are they? I spot these buildings from the Lookout at Fort Tryon Park and at Highbridge Park. One can also see the Whitestone and Throgs Neck Bridgesas well as the WFUV antenna atop the Montefiore Residential Building. That coiuld be the highest point in the Bronx.

[Myra Hill]

Hey.. how come no one ever talks about Bronx skyscrapers? *snif* :cry: We're all left alone... in the dark... with no friends!! :(

I see several nice residential buildings with floor to glass ceiling windows in Riverdale, but not the rest of the Bronx, or at least not yet. I do see plenty of glass commercial buildings in the Bronx like the library at Kingsbridge Road, organizations, etc. However, I don't see glass residential buildings in the Bronx. I hope that will change in the future.

I see some nice glass apartments in Harlem, Long Island City, Jamaica, Flushing (Queens), Brooklyn and of course Manhattan. I haven't checked out Staten Island yet.