Project 2 Choice
ENG 1101 10/10/2013
Project 2
The Landmark I chose was the Brooklyn Bridge. It is a scenic but short walk from City Tech. It is such a magnificent sight that it catches my eye instantly as I passed it every time I travel from Brooklyn to Manhattan and back. It was the longest bridge of its time when it was first opened on May 24, 1883 and it’s the first steel-wire suspension bridge. You can see the Staten Island Terminal, The Statue of Liberty, and the development of the new piers when you are on the bridge itself. I have been living in New York for all my life. I have seen most of the city itself. But I haven’t been to downtown Brooklyn until I was enrolled to my college, New York City College of Technology. It’s quite the walk to the Brooklyn Bridge from City Tech. From the Jay St. Metrotech train station you walk up Jay St. and take a left on Tillary Street. On Tillary Street you walk up the block and there it is the Brooklyn Heights Promenade where you can see the magnificent Brooklyn Bridge itself.
On the walk itself you can see important buildings such as the Supreme Court, The Walt Whitman Park, and the NYC office of Emergency. After seeing the area from Jay St. to the Brooklyn Bridge I can relate between the juxtaposition of the park that was made by nature and the manmade building which is the Supreme Court 320 and the NYC Emergency building. A juxtaposition is the fact that two things being seen or placed together with contrasting effect. The park was inevitably edited by man. This added benches and bathrooms. The manmade building such as the Supreme Court 320 is made with limestone, glass windows, spinning doors. This clearly resembles the difference between the manmade and the natural landmarks and also how we humans are able to use our ideas and resources we have gathered from around the world to create glamorous buildings such as the Supreme Court 320.
After 10-20 minutes of hiking from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade was at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was an amazing experience to be walking on the bridge I’ve been crossing via public transportation all my life. Since the Brooklyn Bridge is connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn, you have an amazing view; you can see the Staten Island Ferry, the Statue of liberty. The experience of walking without a doubt beats passing the bridge by car or public transportation are very different as you cannot miss any of the details of the view if you are rushing past in a vehicle.
The Brooklyn Bridge was designed by a German immigrant John Augustus Roebling. The Bridge is made of Iron and Steel coupled with steel cables and stone masonry piers while the towers are built of limestone, granite and Rosendale cement. The towers are of a neo-Gothic style with pointed arches above the passageways through the towers. The Brooklyn Bridge took a grand total of thirteen years to build (January 3rd, 1870 – May 24, 1883). The bridge cost 15.5 million dollars to construct and an estimated number of twenty seven people died constructing the bridge including its original designer. The bridge’s main span over the East River is 1,595 feet and 6 inches. After a recent safety inspection the bridge was deemed in need of repairs by the federal government which led to the Brooklyn Bridge Rehabilitation project, a four year plan, 500 million dollar safety and aesthetic improvement program that began 2010.
“You start building your own New York the time you lay your eyes on the city itself” was once said by the author of The Colossus of New York: “City Limits”. This quote means that you start to develop your own way of how you interpret the city of New York the moment you see something in the city that catches your eye, or the city itself. This quote relates to my reason of choosing the Brooklyn Bridge as the main idea of my project because not only does the bridge allow people to cross over to other boroughs of New York, it allows people to perform their duties such as their jobs or to allow people to visit their relatives whom reside in either of the boroughs.
“The New York City you live in is not my New York City” is another quote also once said by Colson Whitehead which also relates to another reason that why I chose the Brooklyn Bridge for my project. It relates because I see the Brooklyn Bridge as a gateway to the other parts of New York, without it the city would not function how it does with it. As some people might not share that vision with me because they live elsewhere.
I may have read about the Brooklyn Bridge, wrote about it, seen it but never have walked on it until this project. Colson Whitehead’s passage has taught me to view New York and it’s landmarks with a different perspective. It has made me more interested in the history and what the landmarks really represent. Now I want to know if there are plans to create more bridges that are similar to Brooklyn Bridge thus, increasing the number of tourist that come every year to sight see and to allow alternate routes into Manhattan other than taking the crowded Brooklyn Bridge every morning. Now THAT would be exciting!
Works Cited
“Brooklyn Bridge.” History.com. Ed. History. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.
Whitehead, Colson. “City Limits.” The Colossus of New York [New York City] n.d.: n. pag. Print.
