George Washington Bridge: A “Bare All” Story
The George Washington Bridge, most would agree, is an architectural masterpiece and a feat to American ingenuity. Showcasing its pair of soaring steel laced towers, the bridge has become an iconic addition to the majestic New York City skyline. The bridge, once the World’s largest, maintains a history that is well known, however, there is one interesting tidbit in the bridge’s narrative that many are unaware of.
You see, the bridge was never actually completed as planned — The structure we see spanning the Hudson River today is but a scantily clad version of a grand bridge design that was never destined to be.
The structure we see today is but a scantily clad version of a grand bridge design that was never destined to be.
Two questions:
- Which element of the original design was not included in the current version?
- What occurrence ultimately brought about the decision to alter the final bridge design?
In 1923 an architect named, Othmar H. Ammann submitted a design for what would become the World’s longest bridge, to a panel of city officials. Ammann’s bridge, the George Washington Bridge as it is called today, was cleared for construction with great excitement and little delay.
Although Ammann was the overall designer, his plans called for the collaboration with an architect named, Cass Gilbert. Gilbert had recently completed the World’s tallest building, the neo-gothic, “Cathedral of Commerce” formally known as the Woolworth Building. No stranger to mega-projects, Gilbert was tasked to come up with a design for the facade — yes, a facade — of the pair of steel towers suspending the bridge.
The great towers were to be encased in concrete and granite (much like the neighboring, Brooklyn Bridge) and detailed with Beaux Arts flourishes and trimmings. The design, which was widely accepted by the public as elegant and refined, was designed for a grand era whose days were numbered and whose fate would be met with a crash heard around the World.
The Stock Market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed, left Ammann and Gilbert in a difficult situation having to complete the work in progress as well as finance the project’s heavy expenditures. It was determined that cost reductions were needed to the bridge’s overall design. It was a decision between function and aesthetics — in this case function won. Cass Gilbert’s beautifully designed facade was of little importance to the bridge’s overall functioning and was the obvious sacrifice– Gilbert’s plans were sidelined.
Over the decades that followed, there have been those calling for the actualization of the original plans along with petitions to finish the George Washington Bridge as Gilbert imagined — granite, concrete and all. However, for the most part, people have come to admire and love the open latticework, cross bracing and the transparency of the bridge’s towers, especially at night when the towering structures are accentuated by the soft lighting. Perhaps, some things are better left unfinished.
The truth is, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As for the case of this bridge, I think all would agree — there is much to behold!
