Modernizing
the Lower East Side's Built Environment
| With
the assistance of the relatively new
discipline of city planning, the real estate
sector and the city set out to "fix"
the ghetto. One of the more important actors
in this venture was the Regional Plan
Association (RPA). The RPA produced studies
on land use, transportation, parks and
housing in the thirty-one county New York
region. Together, these studies comprised the
regional master plan. |
 Above: One
'utopian' vision of NYC
|
According to RPA
documents, the Lower East Side desperately needed to
be integrated into the modern metropolis. Tenements
were to be replaced with modern housing. One popular
idea was the creation of a district to house white-collar
employees of nearby Wall Street banks and stock
exchanges.
The RPA also called
for the modernization of roads, parks and the
waterfront. The plan for a Second Avenue "speedway"
envisioned a below-ground automobile highway from
Houston Street to the Harlem River. Another project
— the proposed East River Drive — would run
the length of the Lower East Side along the river
front connecting the relatively inaccessible eastern
streets and avenues to Wall Street and midtown
Manhattan. Yacht basins were to anchor each end of
Corlears Hook Park, at the foot of East 3rd
Street and of Montgomery Street.
Architecturally,
modern skyscrapers would replace the tenements.
Wealthy and moderate-income residents who would
commute to work by automobile from high-rise
apartment towers surrounded by open green spaces. An
architectural exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art
exhibited plans for modern high-rise apartments to be
erected along a widened Chrystie Street in the heart
of the Lower East Side. Such plans were shelved with
the onset of the Great Depression.
Links (click to follow)
Click here to read more about
NYC bridges.
Click here to read about the Regional
Plan Association (RPA).
Click here to read about the
Russell Sage Foundation.
Click here to read about the NYC subway.
Click here to visit the Museum of Modern
Art.
Images
(click to enlarge)
 Click here for proposed
development of 2nd Ave. in Manhattan.
|
 Here is an image of the
Lower East Side in 1939.
|
 A vision of the 'new'
Lower East Side.
|
 Here are the zones used
for the economic and industrial survey.
|
Here
is a proposed apartment for the 'average wage
earner.'
|
Another
map by the Lower East Side Planning
Association.
|
