grishutovamuhy: Brooklyn Bridge

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

In legend and story, in painting and photo, in poetry and prose, the Brooklyn Bridge has inspired and evoked more praise and comment than any other bridge in America. The first to span the East River, this beautiful suspension Bridge is even today the most picturesque of all the bridges spanning the rivers and harbors of New York. The majestic stone towers with their buttresses and pointed Gothic arches are a remarkably clear statement of structural design and stand in sharp contrast to the graceful sloping sweep of the cables.

It is a milestone in the history of American engineering. This great structure, with its arcaded stone approaches, was the longest suspension bridge in the world from the time of its completion in 1883 until 1903. It has an overall length of 6,016 feet, and the Bridge itself is 133 feet above mean high water. It was structural triumph attributable to the genius of John Roebling, the designer, and to the construction skill of his son, Washington Roebling.

One of the ingenious methods introduced by the Roeblings in the construction of the Bridge was the pulley-and-reel system which made possible the spinning of the great cables supporting the Bridge.

The great masonry pylons and the Gothic arched towers which carry the cables, arc a visual expression of the vital function they perform in carrying the four great cables from shore to shore. Due to the diminution of buttresses as they go up the towers, Ne notice the general pylon effect of sloping or battered walls, -, crowned by II cavetto type cornice, producing an almost Egyptian effect.

- From the 1967 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

grishutovamuhy

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Brooklyn Bridge

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