The Arch & Colonnade of the Manhattan Bridge Approach

History and architecture

New York's first bridges were engineering marvels, but little thought was given to entrances and exits, instead focusing primarily on the river crossing. That changed with the evolution of the City Beautiful movement, and one of its crowning accomplishments was the Manhattan Bridge plaza, completed in 1916, seven years after the Manhattan Bridge itself, and designed by the architect team Carrère & Hastings, best known for their 1898 New York Public Library.

Over one thousand families were evicted to accommodate the plaza on a rectangle 400'x750' bounded by the Bowery, Canal, Bayard and Forsyth Streets. The plaza itself was dominated by a great oval plaza similar to Bernini's for St. Peter's in Rome, with colored mosaic walkways and granite colonnade, centered on a triumphal arch modeled after the one at Porte St. Denis in Paris. The sculptural decoration unites American and Classical traditions. On the sides of the arch, Carl Augustus Heber designed large sculptural panels, obelisk-shaped, with allegorical figures--"The Spirit of Industry" to the South, and the "Spirit of Commerce" to the north. At the top is "Buffalo Hunt" frieze of Indians hunting buffalo, designed by Charles Cary Rumsey. The soffit of the arch is covered with deeply cut rosettes.

Robert Moses' 1961 plans for a Lower Manhattan Expressway connecting the Manhattan Bridge and the Holland Tunnel called for the demolition of the entire plaza. Growing dissent for Moses' modernization/de-beautification ultimately sunk the project, but changes to accommodate increased auto traffic have chipped away at most of the plaza's outer landscaping. In 1968, the Department of Parks gave up land to the south for Confucius Plaza. Over the years, the manicured parkland has become a dumping ground for trash. The stonework of the colonnade and arch have fallen into disrepair. Slow-moving plans for ongoing renovation include restoration of the plaza.