Holmes Towers

Last updated
Holmes Towers
NYCHA property
John Haynes and Holmes Towers John Haynes Holmes Towers NYCHA New York City Yorkville East Harlem.jpg
Holmes Towers in 2019
Holmes Towers
Location in New York City
Coordinates: 40°46′53″N73°56′53″W / 40.781319°N 73.948110°W / 40.781319; -73.948110
Country United States
State New York
City New York City
Borough Manhattan
Area
[1]
 • Total0.004 sq mi (0.01 km2)
Population
 • Total951 [2]
ZIP codes
10128
Area code(s) 212, 332, 646, and 917
Website my.nycha.info/DevPortal/

The John Haynes Holmes Towers is a public housing project for low income residents of the Yorkville section of the Upper East Side located just south of the neighborhood's northern limit at 96th Street, in New York City, New York, United States. The neighboring Isaacs Houses and the Holmes Towers border East Harlem, which has the second highest concentration of public housing in the United States. The two public housing buildings, designed by Architects Eggers and Higgins, were completed in 1969, are 25 stories tall and contain 537 apartments. The project is located between 92nd and 93rd Streets from 1st Avenue to York Avenue and the FDR Drive. [3]

Contents

The development was named for the founder of the Community Church of New York. John Haynes Holmes was known as a pacifist, social organizer, and social justice pioneer. [3]

History

As of 1973, the Towers were described as being home to white, elderly residents. [4] 60 percent of the apartments in Holmes Towers are set aside for tenants over the age of 62.[ citation needed ]

The Isaacs Houses projects are located just north of the Holmes Towers. Both developments are considered one complex totaling 5 buildings having the same Development Management Office managed by New York City Housing Authority. They represent the only public housing on the Upper East Side. [5] Both housing projects, as a whole, have been designated a "high crime zone" by the New York City Police Department's 19th precinct. [6] Crime, however, is considered to be relatively minimal compared to the projects further north. [5]

In 2018, the Holmes Towers along with Isaacs Houses and Robbins Plaza ranked the worst in the nation after federal inspections by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. [7]

Public private partnership pilot

In 2015 it was announced that the complex's playground would be razed for a new mixed-use building under New York's NextGen program to help meet the capital needs of NYCHA. [8] [9] The 47-story tower was intended to be half affordable housing and half market rate housing with the lower-income tenants on the lower floors. Holmes Towers residents decried the plan, citing the lack of sunlight would lower their quality of life and lacked input in the plans, later staging a protest. [10] [11]

In order to build the towers, property developer and de Blasio donor Fetner Properties would lease the land from NYCHA for $25 million for 99-years, pocketing all rent, qualifying for $13 million in subsidies, and paying no property taxes. [12] In 2019, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer sued Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYCHA to block the new tower. The lawsuit accused de Blasio of trying to use his power to push the towers through illegally by skirting zoning laws and not having the project go through Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). [13]

NYCHA withdrew the plan in 2019. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Housing Authority</span> Public development corporation responsible for New York Citys public and leased housing

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public development corporation which provides public housing in New York City, and is the largest public housing authority in North America. Created in 1934 as the first agency of its kind in the United States, it aims to provide decent, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. NYCHA also administers a citywide Section 8 Leased Housing Program in rental apartments. NYCHA developments include single and double family houses, apartment units, singular floors, and shared small building units, and commonly have large income disparities with their respective surrounding neighborhood or community. These developments, particularly those including large-scale apartment buildings, are often referred to in popular culture as "projects."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fulton Houses</span> Public housing development in Manhattan, New York

The Robert Fulton Houses is a housing project located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, owned and operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The 6.27-acre (2.54 ha) site is located between West 16th and 19th Streets and bounded by Ninth and Tenth Avenues. The project consists of 945 apartments in eleven buildings; three of the developments are 25 stories, while the others are 6 stories high.

The Prospect Plaza Houses was a 4.53-acre (18,300 m2) complex owned by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) in the Ocean Hill section of Brooklyn and was bordered by St. Marks and Sterling Place, Howard and Saratoga Avenues. It was the first NYCHA development to be completely demolished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest Hills Co-op Houses</span> Co-op development in Queens, New York

The Forest Hills Co-operative Houses are located on an 8.5-acre (34,000 m2) site at 108-03 62nd Drive on the border of the Queens neighborhoods of Forest Hills and Corona in New York City, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenwood Houses</span> Public housing development in Brooklyn, New York

The Glenwood Houses is a 22.39-acre (9.06 ha) moderate to low income public housing development operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) in the Flatlands section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The development is bordered by Ralph Avenue on the east, East 56th Street on the west, Glenwood Road/Avenue H on the south, and Farragut Road on the north side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Nicholas Houses</span> Public housing development in Manhattan, New York

St. Nicholas Houses or "Saint Nick," is a public housing project in Central Harlem, in the borough of Manhattan, New York City and are managed by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The project is located between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, spanning a superblock from 127th Street to 131st Street. The project consists of thirteen 14-story buildings containing 1,523 apartment units.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manhattanville Houses</span> Public housing development in Manhattan, New York

Manhattanville Houses is a public housing project in the Manhattanville section of West Harlem, in the borough of Manhattan, New York City. The project is located between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, spanning a superblock from 129th Street to 133rd Street and is managed by the New York City Housing Authority. The project consists of six 20-story buildings containing 1,272 apartment units. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaacs Houses</span> Public housing development in Manhattan, New York

The Stanley M. Isaacs Houses is a public housing project for those of low-to-moderate incomes located just south of 96th Street in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The Isaacs Houses and the Holmes Towers border East Harlem, which has the second highest concentration of public housing in New York City. The three public housing buildings are 24 stories tall and contain 635 apartments. The project is located between 93rd and 95th Streets with playground & ball courts from 95th-97th street, stretching from 1st Avenue to the FDR Drive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baruch Houses</span> Public housing development in Manhattan, New York

Bernard M. Baruch Houses, or Baruch Houses, is a public housing development built by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Baruch Houses is bounded by Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive to the east, E. Houston Street to the north, Columbia Street to the west, and Delancey Street to the south. The complex, the largest NYCHA development in Manhattan, occupies 27.64 acres (111,900 m2), of which buildings cover 13.4%, a percentage similar to that of most "tower in the park" project designs. It has 2,194 apartments, which house an estimated 5,397 people. These apartments are distributed throughout 17 buildings. Baruch Houses I is seven stories tall, Baruch Houses XI, XIII, and XV are thirteen stories tall, and the rest are fourteen stories tall. Combined, these buildings have 2.9 million square feet (270,000 m2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bracetti Plaza</span> Public housing development in Manhattan, New York

Bracetti Plaza, or Mariana Bracetti Plaza, is a public housing development built and maintained by the New York City Housing Authority in Alphabet City, a section of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The development is named after Mariana Bracetti (1825–1903), a legendary Puerto Rican woman who was known as the "Arms of Gold", and who was the first to craft the Boriquas Latin Cross, Puerto Rico's first flag. The flag was designed by Dr. Ramon Emeterio Betances, and is still a symbol of the Puerto Rican independence movement.

Samuel Gompers Houses, also known as Gompers Houses, is a public housing development built and maintained by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on Pitt Street between Delancey and Stanton Streets. Gompers Houses is composed of two 20-story buildings with 474 apartments that house approximately 1,116 people. It is built on a 3.7 acres (15,000 m2) site bordered by Stanton Street to the north, Columbia Street to the east, Delancey Street to the south, and Pitt Street to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hernandez Houses</span> Public housing development in Manhattan, New York

Rafael Hernandez Houses, also known as Hernandez Houses, is a public housing development built and maintained by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LaGuardia Houses</span> Public housing development in Manhattan, New York

Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia Houses, also known as LaGuardia Houses, is a public housing development built and maintained by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia Houses is composed of thirteen buildings, all of which are sixteen stories tall. The buildings have 1,093 apartments and house approximately 2,596 people. The complex occupies 10.96 acres (4.44 ha), and is bordered by Madison Street to the north, Montgomery Street to the east, Cherry Street to the south, and Rutgers Street to the west. LaGuardia Houses Addition is a sixteen-story tower for elderly people at the corner of Jefferson Street and Cherry Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morrisania Air Rights</span> Public housing development in the Bronx, New York

Morrisania Air Rights is a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) public housing project in Melrose and Morrisania, Bronx, consisting of three buildings, 19, 23, and 29 stories tall. There are 843 apartments housing some 1,952 residents. It was designed by the architectural firm The Eggers Partnership also known as Eggers & Higgins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliott-Chelsea Houses</span> Public housing development in Manhattan, New York

The Elliott-Chelsea Houses is a combined housing project of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), located between West 25th and 27th Streets and Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It consists of two contiguous projects which were originally separate but have been combined for administrative purposes: the John Lovejoy Elliott Houses, named after the founder of the Hudson Guild, has four 11- and 12-story buildings which accommodate over 1400 residents in 589 apartments. The Chelsea Houses has over 1,000 residents in 426 apartments within two 21-story buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farragut Houses</span> Public housing development in Brooklyn, New York

The Farragut Houses is a public housing project located in the downtown neighborhood of northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, bordering the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Farragut Houses is a property of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The houses contain 3,272 residents who reside in ten buildings that are each 13 to 14 stories high.

The Forest Houses are a housing project in Morrisania, Bronx. The project consists of fifteen buildings, 9, 10 and 14-stories tall with 1,350 apartment units. It covers a 17.72-acre expanse, and is bordered by East 163rd and East 166th Streets, and Trinity and Tinton Avenues. It is owned and managed by New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

Oyeshola "Shola" Olatoye (o-LAH-twoh-yay) was the 22nd Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) before resigning due to a lead-paint poisoning and lack-of-heat scandals.

The Louis Heaton Pink Houses or Pink Houses are a housing project in New York City that were established in the East New York neighborhood in Brooklyn in 1959. It consists of 22 eight-storey buildings with 1,500 apartment units over a 31.1-acre expanse, bordered by Crescent Street, Linden Boulevard, Elderts Lane and Stanley Avenue. It is owned and managed by New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edenwald Houses</span> Public housing development in New York City

Edenwald Houses are a housing project in the Eastchester and Laconia neighborhoods of the Bronx, New York City. Established on October 30, 1953, the project consists of forty buildings, 3 and 14 stories tall with 2,039 apartment units. It covers a 48.88-acre development is bordered by Grenada Place, East 225th Street, Baychester Avenue, Schieffelin Avenue and Laconia Avenues. It is owned and managed by New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and is the largest development in the Bronx. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024.

References

  1. ↑ "Holmes TowersArea" . Retrieved November 7, 2019.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. ↑ "Holmes Towers Population".[ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 "MyNYCHA Developments Portal". my.nycha.info. Archived from the original on December 11, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Widow, 84, Found Stabbed to Death In 92d St. Project". New York Times. February 23, 1973. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  5. 1 2 Crow, Kelly (November 10, 2002). "NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: UPPER EAST SIDE; With Affluence All Around, A Little Crime Seems a Lot". New York Times. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  6. ↑ Paumgarten, Nick (February 6, 2017). "The Second Avenue Subway Is Here!". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  7. ↑ Gannon, Devin (September 11, 2018). "Three NYCHA developments on the Upper East Side ranked among the worst in the U.S." 6sqft. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Some Residents Of UES Housing Complex Worried About NYCHA Development Plans". CBS New York. September 14, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  9. ↑ Nahmias, Laura (September 9, 2015). "NYCHA selects Wyckoff Gardens, Holmes Towers for new development". Politico PRO. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  10. ↑ Smith, Greg B. (May 18, 2017). "NYCHA plans to stick lower-income residents on bottom floors of new building to give wealthier tenants the top market-rate homes". nydailynews.com. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  11. ↑ Fitzsimmons, Daniel (October 27, 2015). "Tenants Protest Housing Plan". www.nypress.com. Archived from the original on July 2, 2019. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  12. ↑ Smith, Greg B. (May 18, 2017). "EXCLUSIVE: Developer who won NYCHA bid to build apartment tower is big de Blasio donor, records reveal". nydailynews.com. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  13. ↑ Ali Kully, Sadef (July 9, 2020). "Residents Harbor Deep Misgivings About Mayor's Plan to Save NYCHA". City Limits. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  14. ↑ Spivack, Caroline (June 17, 2019). "NYCHA backtracks on 50-story Upper East Side infill tower". Curbed. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.