Riverside Drive (Manhattan)
Riverside Drive is a scenic north–south boulevard in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The road runs on the west side of Upper Manhattan, generally paralleling the Hudson River and Riverside Park between 72nd Street and the vicinity of the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street. North of 96th Street, Riverside Drive is a wide divided roadway. At several locations, a serpentine service road diverges from the main road, providing access to the residential buildings. The avenue was opened in 1880, and several viaducts were completed over the subsequent decades to connect the various segments of Riverside Drive.
For other uses, see Riverside Drive (disambiguation).Namesake
181st Street in Washington Heights
Dyckman Street in Inwood (disconnected segment)
West End Avenue (72nd–107th Sts)
Broadway (107th–116th, 127–159th Sts)
Claremont Avenue (116th–127th Sts (Tiemann Pl))
Fort Washington Avenue (159th–168th Sts)
Haven Avenue (168th–181st Sts)
1910[1]
History[edit]
Development[edit]
The 191 acres (0.77 km2) of land in the original park between 72nd to 125th Streets were originally inhabited by the Lenape people, but by the 18th century were used for farms by the descendants of European colonists.[2]: 68 In 1846, the Hudson River Railroad (later the West Side Line and Hudson Line) was built along the waterfront, connecting New York City to Albany.[3]: 3 [4] In 1865, Central Park commissioner William R. Martin put forth the first proposal for a riverside park along the Hudson River.[3]: 3 [4][5] An act providing for such was presented to the Legislature by commissioner Andrew Haswell Green in 1866 and approved the same year.[6]: 9 The first segment of Riverside Park was acquired through condemnation in 1872.[1] The park also included the construction of Riverside Drive (then known as Riverside Avenue), a tree-lined drive curving around the valleys and rock outcroppings, overlooking the future park and the waterfront. The avenue was laid out in 1868 and was 100 feet (30 m) wide for its entire length.[6]: 9 [7] The plans for Riverside Park and Avenue brought the attention of William M. Tweed, who bought several lots adjacent to the park in anticipation of its construction.[6]: 9
A selection process for the designers of Riverside Park followed, and in 1873 the commissioners selected Frederick Law Olmsted, a park commissioner who had also designed Central Park.[3]: 4 [4] Initially, Riverside Avenue had been planned to run in a straight line, which would have required a retaining wall and extensive fill.[2]: 69 By then, the difficult topography of the area had come to the attention of the Manhattan park commissioners, and in 1873 Olmsted was given the authorization to redesign the grade of Riverside Avenue. To accommodate this, Olmsted devised a new plan that would create a main road extending from 72nd to 123rd Streets, with overpasses at 79th and 96th Streets, as well as "carriage roads" to serve the nearby neighborhood. The grade of the road was not to exceed 1:27.[2]: 71 [6]: 10 [7] Riverside Avenue's main road would contain two roadways, one for each direction, separated by a median. A pedestrian path and a horse path would run alongside the avenue, and trees would provide shade along the route.[2]: 71
Over the following years, work proceeded on Riverside Avenue, with various ramps and stairs to the park as well as a bridle path between 104th and 120th Streets. In 1876 Olmsted was asked to create plans for the design of the avenue as a country drive, but ultimately it was paved. In late 1876, bids were accepted for the paving of Riverside Avenue.[6]: 10 Olmsted was ousted as parks superintendent in December 1877.[8] From 1875 to 1910, architects and horticulturalists such as Calvert Vaux and Samuel Parsons laid out the stretch of park/road between 72nd and 125th Streets according to the English gardening ideal, creating the appearance that the park was an extension of the Hudson River Valley.[1]
The avenue was opened in 1880 and was well used by pedestrians, bikers, and drivers;[6]: 11 it had cost nearly $10 million.[9] By the end of the 19th century, nearly every lot on the eastern side of Riverside Drive had been developed with private mansions and apartment buildings. By comparison, there had been fewer than 10 houses between 72nd and 125th Streets on the shoreline before construction of the avenue began.[9]
Late 19th and early 20th centuries[edit]
Riverside Drive's original northern terminus was at Grant's Tomb near 122nd Street.[9][10] In January 1897, state lawmakers proposed extending Riverside Drive northward to the Boulevard Lafayette near 157th Street, with a viaduct above Manhattan Valley from 122nd to 134th Street.[11][12] The original plans, which were to cost $10 million and included four viaducts, were quickly downsized to $2 million and one viaduct.[13] Shortly afterward, a similar bill with a reduced budget was proposed in the state legislature.[14] The revised bill called for the avenue to be narrowed in the vicinity of Trinity Cemetery at 153rd Street.[14][15] The governor of New York signed both bills in May 1897,[16][17] but work on the viaduct was delayed for several months.[18] That November, the city's Board of Street Opening and Improvement agreed to lengthen the viaduct slightly so that it ran from 122nd to 135th Street. The extension was budgeted at $3.6 million, with the viaduct alone costing $840,000.[19][20] At 153rd Street, Riverside Drive would be cantilevered over the West Side Line railroad tracks to avoid Trinity Church Cemetery.[10] The extension plans also involved demolishing several old mansions.[21]
125th Street Viaduct
Under construction
Below, facing north
Below, facing south
Near 165th Street
At 158th Street
At 145th Street
At 96th Street, which passes under Riverside Drive
Riverside Drive's southern end at 72nd Street, looking north from the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Plaza
Notes
Bibliography
