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Riverside Drive Viaduct

Posts & Stories(5)

NYFW: Historical OOTD image

NYFW: Historical OOTD
Story

In honor of #nyfw (New York Fashion Week), we present the city's hottest #ootd's (outfit of the day) from our partner's collections. New York has hosted NYFW, first known as "Press Week," since 1943. It was created to pivot the spotlight from Paris fashion designers and showcase New York's homegrown talent.
Riverside Drive Viaduct image

Riverside Drive Viaduct
Post

125th Street and Twelfth Avenue, under the Riverside Drive Viaduct, November 10, 1937.
Riverside Drive Viaduct image

Riverside Drive Viaduct
Post

The Riverside Drive Viaduct was built in 1901. The 50-foot tall elevated roadway is an extension of Riverside Drive. The Drive splits into two paths at the terminus of Riverside Park which converge at the entrance to the Viaduct. Aside from a masonry approach on both the north and south entrance, the structure is entirely steel. At the time of its construction, the girders over 125th street were the largest ever built. F. Stuart Williamson was the chief engineer of the project, which was regarded as a civic monument. The Scientific American referred to Riverside Drive as "a continuous drive of ten miles along the picturesque banks of the Hudson and Harlem Rivers."
Gas Tanks: Looming Landmarks of the Five Boroughs image

Gas Tanks: Looming Landmarks of the Five Boroughs
Story

They were built over the first half of the 20th century. They dotted (some might say dominated) the landscape from Alphabet City to Harlem, Greenpoint to Elmhurst to Coney Island. Most were more than 200 feet in diameter and more than 200 feet tall. The ones on Maspeth Avenue in Greenpoint were more than 400 feet tall. They most often came in pairs. Sometimes you could catch a glimpse of them in movies filmed in New York. The natural gas tanks of New York City were the large storage facilities for local utility companies, including the massive Brooklyn Union Gas Company, Consolidated Edison, and a number of smaller companies. In the very late 19th and early 20th century these utility companies began building facilities all over the city, some in areas already densely populated, others on land surrounded by potato fields. Generally speaking each tank or "holder" was constructed of riveted steel plates that inside looked like five face-down cups or levels. The levels telescoped up as natural gas was pumped in by engine-driven compressors. The bottom of the tank was a shallow pool of water, which, is some cases, was used to float a small rowboat for internal inspections. The holders provided constant pressure in residential gas lines during high demand. In 1992 the entire Brooklyn Union Gas system used 906 million cubic feet of gas on its busiest day. The few holders that remained functioning at that time (all in Brooklyn or Queens) were able to hold less than one percent of that total. They had outlived their usefulness. Most of the holders in more densely populated neighborhoods had been dismantled in the previous decades, but a few remained. They were decommissioned and then deconstructed piece by piece. The final two tanks, the twin, red-and-white checkered, 400-foot-tall ones, in Greenpoint along the Newtown Creek, had quite a different send off. On the morning of July 8, 2001, a Sunday, at 7:00 A.M., with the nearby Brooklyn-Queens Expressway closed down, the towers were imploded and in less than 10 seconds came crumbling down, with tens of thousands of New Yorkers watching.
622 West 131st Street image

622 West 131st Street
Post

"622 West 131st Street, south side, between Broadway and Twelfth avenue. This is a three-story frame house. The first story has a brick front and the two upper stories are of wood, 1932." This brick and wood-frame structure survived until sometime between 2011 and 2013 (when it disappears from Google streetview).

Photos(10)

Riverside Drive Viaduct image

Riverside Drive Viaduct

125th St. Viaduct viewed from below, New York City, undated (ca. 1890-1910).
Riverside Drive Viaduct image

Riverside Drive Viaduct

The Riverside Drive Viaduct, New York City, January 19, 1902.
Riverside Drive Viaduct image

Riverside Drive Viaduct

Automobile (Cars). Two women seated in a 1902 Franklin roadster on Riverside Drive.
Riverside Drive Viaduct image

Riverside Drive Viaduct

Changing New York; Under Riverside Drive Viaduct 125th Street and Twelfth Avenue.
654 West 130th Street image

654 West 130th Street

130th Street and 12th Avenue. Shell Co. gas station.
622 West 131st Street image

622 West 131st Street

Riverside Drive Viaduct image

Riverside Drive Viaduct

Manhattan: southern end of the Riverside Viaduct, undated. Grant's Tomb visible.
659 West 125th Street image

659 West 125th Street

Manhattan: 125th Street (West) - 12th Avenue (1) 659-675 West 125th Street, east of, adjoining, and at the N.E. corner of Twelfth Avenue, showing the frame structures at Nos. 67 1932\. J. Clarence Davies Collection, Museum of the City of New York. Negative No. 337. (2) The same. 1932\. J. Clarence Davies Collection, Museum of the City of New York. Negative No. 360.
659 West 125th Street image

659 West 125th Street

Manhattan: 125th Street (West) - 12th Avenue (1) 659-675 West 125th Street, east of, adjoining, and at the N.E. corner of Twelfth Avenue, showing the frame structures at Nos. 67 1932\. J. Clarence Davies Collection, Museum of the City of New York. Negative No. 337. (2) The same. 1932\. J. Clarence Davies Collection, Museum of the City of New York. Negative No. 360.
639 West 131st Street image

639 West 131st Street

Manhattan: 131st Street (West) - 12th Avenue G57-639 West 131st Street, adjoining nd east of the N.E. corner of Twelfth avenue. June 2, 1933. P.L. Sperr.
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