Glenny Drive Apartments

Last updated
Glenny Drive Apartments
Kensington heights close.JPG
2012 photograph
Glenny Drive Apartments
General information
Location Buffalo, New York
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Coordinates 42°55′33.54″N78°50′12.85″W / 42.9259833°N 78.8369028°W / 42.9259833; -78.8369028 Coordinates: 42°55′33.54″N78°50′12.85″W / 42.9259833°N 78.8369028°W / 42.9259833; -78.8369028
StatusDemolished
Construction
Constructed1958
Demolished2009 – 2018
Other information
Governing
body
Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority
decayed buildings (2012) Glenny Drive Apartments.JPG
decayed buildings (2012)

The Glenny Drive Apartments (also known as Kensington Heights or Kensington Towers) were a Buffalo, New York, public housing project built during the expansion of public housing in the United States in the 1950s.

Contents

History

The complex was finished in 1958 on the site of a former quarry, and consisted of six seven-story brick apartment buildings, each containing approximately 67 units. The housing complex was spread across 12 acres and located next to the Kensington Expressway (New York State Route 33) and behind Erie County Medical Center. The site was built by New York State using bonds and managed & maintained by the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority.

During the construction of the Kensington Expressway, any family displaced was given priority in the complex. [1]

End of use

With reduced federal funding and increased operating and utility cost, maintenance of the buildings began to suffer and living conditions of the Glenny Drive Apartments began to decline. By the end of the 1970s, Kensington Heights had a vacancy rate of 64.7% (240 vacant units out of 371 available units). [2] In 1980, a relocation plan was approved and the remaining residents were relocated. The site remained vacant for nearly three decades, becoming significantly deteriorated and vandalized in the process. Demolition began in 2009 but was quickly stopped after concerns about asbestos removal in the buildings. [3] Demolition resumed in 2012. The Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority put the property for sale in July 2016 with one tower still standing. Erie County Medical Center purchased the property in 2017 and plan to use the site for parking. The last tower was demolished in October 2018.

See also

Related Research Articles

Pruitt–Igoe Demolished housing project in St. Louis, US

The Wendell O. Pruitt Homes and William Igoe Apartments, known together as Pruitt–Igoe, were joint urban housing projects first occupied in 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The complex consisted of 33 eleven-story high rises, designed in the modernist architectural style by Minoru Yamasaki. It was constructed with federal funds on the site of a former slum as part of the city's urban renewal program. The project was originally intended to be racially segregated; a Supreme Court ruling forced the project to be integrated on opening, but from the beginning it almost exclusively accommodated African Americans. When it opened, it was one of the largest public housing developments in the country.

Apartment Self-contained housing unit occupying part of a building

An apartment, or flat, is a self-contained housing unit that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are many names for these overall buildings, see below. The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing, to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium, to tenants renting from a private landlord.

Sursum Corda (Washington, D.C.) Neighborhood in the US federal district

Sursum Corda is a small neighborhood located in Washington, D.C., bounded by North Capitol Street on the east, K Street NW to the south, New Jersey Avenue NW to the west, and New York Avenue NW to the north.

Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects Public housing development located in Detroit, Michigan, United States

The Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects were the largest residential housing project owned by the city of Detroit, located in the Brush Park section on the east side of Detroit, Michigan, United States, near the Chrysler Freeway, Mack Avenue and St. Antoine Street. The housing project is named after Brewster Street, which ran through the area, and Frederick Douglass, African American abolitionist, author, and reformer.

Downtown Cleveland Neighborhood of Cleveland in Cuyahoga, Ohio, United States

Downtown Cleveland is the central business district of Cleveland, Ohio. The economic and symbolic center of the city and the Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH Combined Statistical Area, it is Cleveland's oldest district, with its Public Square laid out by city founder General Moses Cleaveland in 1796. Downtown's diverse architecture includes the Cleveland Mall, one of the most complete examples of City Beautiful design in the United States.

Buffalo Public Schools School system in New York, United States

Buffalo Public Schools serves approximately 34,000 students in Buffalo, New York, the second largest city in the state of New York. It is located in Erie County of western New York and operates nearly 70 facilities.

Snyder, New York Hamlet in New York, United States

Snyder is a hamlet within the town of Amherst in Erie County, New York, United States that is part of the Buffalo – Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The hamlet was established in 1837. It was named for Michael Snyder, its first postmaster, who also operated a store at the corner of Harlem Road, which is also known as New York State Route 240, and Main Street, which is also known as New York State Route 5. The hamlet blossomed due to retail activity demand created along the Main Street transportation route between Buffalo and points to the east in the 19th and early 20th century.

Lafayette Park, Detroit United States historic place

Lafayette Park is a historic urban renewal district east of Downtown Detroit and contains the largest collection of residential buildings designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The northern section planned and partially built by Mies is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2015 it was designated a National Historic Landmark District. Lafayette Park is located on the city's lower east side directly south of the Eastern Market Historic District. In general, the neighborhood, including portions developed by other architects, has been regarded as an incubator of progressive architecture and one of the few historically stable urban renewal zones in the United States.

Penn South Residential buildings in Manhattan, New York

Penn South, officially known as Mutual Redevelopment Houses and formerly Penn Station South, is a limited-equity housing cooperative development located between Eighth and Ninth Avenues and West 23rd and 29th Streets, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The complex has 2,820 units in ten 22-story buildings. Penn South is so named because of its location southwest of New York Penn Station.

Canalside Neighborhood of Buffalo in Erie County, New York, United States

Canalside, formerly known as Canal Side and Erie Canal Harbor, is the recreation of the western terminus of the Erie Canal in Buffalo, New York. Canalside is situated on the Buffalo River, where the area was historically home to the Seneca people.

Kensington Gardens Apartment Complex United States historic place

Kensington Gardens Apartment Complex is a historic apartment complex located at Buffalo in Erie County, New York. It was built in 1941–1942 and is a multi-unit apartment complex containing a total of 280, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in a variety of detached and semi-attached buildings in the Colonial Revival style. The 59 contributing buildings are grouped around grassed courts. There are 10 court areas created on the site and three building types within courts. It is an example of a World War II-era worker housing community built with financing by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

In 1994 the Atlanta Housing Authority, encouraged by the federal HOPE VI program, embarked on a policy created for the purpose of comprehensive revitalization of severely distressed public housing developments. These distressed public housing properties were replaced by mixed-income communities.

Lincoln Place Apartment Homes United States historic place

Lincoln Place Apartment Homes is a historic apartment community owned by a subsidiary of Apartment Investment and Management Co. (Aimco). Inspired by the garden city movement, it is located at 1050 Frederick Street on a 35-acre site in the Venice community of Los Angeles, one mile east of Venice Beach. Built from 1949-1951, the property is just off Lincoln Boulevard, bound by Lake Street and Penmar Avenue with Elkgrove Avenue and Elkgrove Circle within its interior.

NEMA (San Francisco) Residential apartments in San Francisco, California

NEMA, also known as Tenth and Market, is a 754-unit luxury residential apartment complex in the Mid-Market neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States, across the street from Twitter's corporate headquarters. The complex consists of a 24-story, tower at Jessie and Tenth Streets and a 37-story, tower at Market and Tenth Streets, connected by a nine-story podium along Tenth Street.

Essex Crossing Multi-use structure in the United States of America

Essex Crossing is an under-construction mixed-use development in New York City's Lower East Side, part of the existing area known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA). The development, at the intersection of Delancey Street and Essex Street just north of Seward Park, will comprise nearly 2,000,000 square feet (200,000 m2) of space on 6 acres. The development will cost an estimated US$1.1 billion. It will sit on a total of nine city blocks, most of them occupied by parking lots that replaced tenements razed in 1967.

Cedar Glen Apartments United States historic place

The Cedar Glen Apartments is a historic apartment building located in the University Circle neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. Designed by prominent local architect Samuel H. Weis and completed in 1927, the building originally contained luxury apartments and served as a gateway to the more exclusive neighborhood of Cleveland Heights, on whose border the building is located. Threatened with demolition in 1992, the building was purchased by new owners and converted into condominiums.

WaHu Student Apartments is a luxury residential apartment building located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was first announced in 2012 with intent to cater to the campus population of the nearby University of Minnesota. The complex comprises 327 residential units within three apartment towers. It also contains designated retail space, currently leased by tenants such as Bank of America, Blaze Pizza, and local restaurants.

References

  1. "The Buffalo You Should Know: The slow death of Humboldt Parkway in building the 33 & 198".
  2. "BMHA Resumes Demolition of Kensington Heights". WGRZ. 10 May 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  3. Jolly, Kevin (10 July 2011). "Demolition to continue at Kensington Heights". YNN. Retrieved 22 July 2013.