Nice illo, though. Where would the bridge at the lower left actually go?
As shown, out to sea via the Narrows. I suspect it was supposed to be a rail link to Staten Island. The huge bridge on the lower right goes to Governor’s Island, which is 170 acres in extent.
But they’re Governor’s acres.
~
And thus, a Governor’s Bridge. Can’t have a puny little commoner’s bridge.
Where should I load the coal, guv?
As shown, out to sea via the Narrows.
Would help with trash and body disposal, wouldn’t it?
Are there no workhouses routes to New Jersey?
The attempts to build a bridge (or two) from the Battery to Brooklyn all sank upon contact with the objection, “It will ruin the skyline!” In their times, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, and the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel all started as the bridge across Governor’s Island, with the latter coming closest in route.
(The British variant of this image has young Sir John Walpole Higgensbotham IV arriving — VIA AIRSHIP, but you knew that already — fresh from The City to his newly-appointed post as sub-Secretary to the Imperial Vice-Roy. As his not-a-balloon-AIRSHIP glides over the infinite fields comprising the tea plantations of Assam, the locals wave up happily at their new overlord from their eager toiling in the burning sun.)
I prefer to think of it as a bridge to Gov’s Island. But honestly, a bridge over the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel route (ala Moses) would dominate the skyline.
“The suspension bridge would have cast a shadow across Battery Park and would have called for the demolition of Castle Clinton (1812), which housed the New York Aquarium at the time.”
In other words, it would have been one of Moses’ least-destructive and least-ugly ideas. And still really, really bad. (I take solace from knowing he’s permanently stuck on I-95 on an August afternoon with his car’s radiator overflowing, if there really is a just God.)
I have a personal attachment to Castle Clinton and my grandmother was uprooted by the Cross-Bronx construction. But the BBB would still have sucked big time in terms of destroying or damaging historic chunks of downtown.
“But the BBB would still have sucked big time in terms of destroying or damaging historic chunks of downtown.”
You’ll get no argument from me, Brooklyn boy that I am. And my Jersey-girl of a mom still blames Moses for destroying the community in Da Bronx by ramming I-95 through their heart.
Mega buildings (shudder)
Nice illo, though. Where would the bridge at the lower left actually go?
As shown, out to sea via the Narrows. I suspect it was supposed to be a rail link to Staten Island. The huge bridge on the lower right goes to Governor’s Island, which is 170 acres in extent.
But they’re Governor’s acres.
~
And thus, a Governor’s Bridge. Can’t have a puny little commoner’s bridge.
Where should I load the coal, guv?
As shown, out to sea via the Narrows.
Would help with trash and body disposal, wouldn’t it?
Are there no
workhousesroutes to New Jersey?The attempts to build a bridge (or two) from the Battery to Brooklyn all sank upon contact with the objection, “It will ruin the skyline!” In their times, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, and the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel all started as the bridge across Governor’s Island, with the latter coming closest in route.
(The British variant of this image has young Sir John Walpole Higgensbotham IV arriving — VIA AIRSHIP, but you knew that already — fresh from The City to his newly-appointed post as sub-Secretary to the Imperial Vice-Roy. As his not-a-balloon-AIRSHIP glides over the infinite fields comprising the tea plantations of Assam, the locals wave up happily at their new overlord from their eager toiling in the burning sun.)
I prefer to think of it as a bridge to Gov’s Island. But honestly, a bridge over the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel route (ala Moses) would dominate the skyline.
“The suspension bridge would have cast a shadow across Battery Park and would have called for the demolition of Castle Clinton (1812), which housed the New York Aquarium at the time.”
In other words, it would have been one of Moses’ least-destructive and least-ugly ideas. And still really, really bad. (I take solace from knowing he’s permanently stuck on I-95 on an August afternoon with his car’s radiator overflowing, if there really is a just God.)
I have a personal attachment to Castle Clinton and my grandmother was uprooted by the Cross-Bronx construction. But the BBB would still have sucked big time in terms of destroying or damaging historic chunks of downtown.
“But the BBB would still have sucked big time in terms of destroying or damaging historic chunks of downtown.”
You’ll get no argument from me, Brooklyn boy that I am. And my Jersey-girl of a mom still blames Moses for destroying the community in Da Bronx by ramming I-95 through their heart.