Riis Houses

Last updated

Jacob Riis Houses
NYCHA property
Riis Houses central plaza & flagstaff jeh.jpg
Riis Houses in 2008
Riis Houses
Location in New York City
Coordinates: 40°43′26″N73°58′29″W / 40.723917°N 73.974659°W / 40.723917; -73.974659
Country United States
State New York
City New York City
Borough Manhattan
Area
[1]
 • Total
0.018 sq mi (0.047 km2)
Population
 • Total
2,738 [2]
 • Density152,000/sq mi (58,700/km2)
ZIP codes
10009
Area codes 212, 332, 646, and 917
Website my.nycha.info/DevPortal/

The Jacob Riis Houses are a public housing project managed by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan. The project is located between Avenue D and FDR Drive, spanning two superblocks from 6th Street to 13th Street. The project consists of thirteen buildings, between six and 14 stories each, containing 1,191 apartment units. [3]

Contents

Development

The area to become the Riis Houses was destroyed through urban renewal beginning in August 1943 but construction was delayed because of World War II. [4] [5] The Riis Houses were completed on January 17, 1949 and named for photographer Jacob Riis, who exposed the living conditions of tenement dwellers on the Lower East Side. [3]

The playground was designed to have four "outdoor rooms" for a variety of activities and was designed by Pomerance & Breines with M. Paul Friedberg & Associates as landscape architects. [6] It was financed through a grant from the Victor Astor Foundation and opened in 1966 with Ladybird Johnson attending its opening. [7] Later that year, it received a First Honor Award for design excellence by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. [6] Four new playgrounds throughout the city were modeled from it in 1967. [8] In 2018, its playground was inspected by NYCHA and found to be hazardous. [9]

During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the development was hit by a storm surge that left it without electricity and other services. [10] [11] In 2018, NYCHA received a grant for $71 million to fund necessary infrastructure repairs from Sandy anticipated to begin in 2022. Upgrades include: emergency generators, electrical distribution equipment, waterproofing of structures and finishes, upgrades to sewer/storm management systems, new roadways, pedestrian lighting, rehabilitation of building entrances and lobbies. [12]

Riis Houses (2020).jpg
Riis Houses (2020)

Notable residents

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Jacon Riis Houses Area" . Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Jacob Riis Houses Population".
  3. 1 2 "MyNYCHA Developments Portal". my.nycha.info. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  4. ↑ "THE LOWER EAST SIDE CHANGES". The New York Times. November 5, 1946. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  5. ↑ "CORNERSTONE LAID AT THE RIIS HOUSES; Renewal of Federal Aid Urged at Last Project Under Way Here With Help of FPHA". The New York Times. September 4, 1947. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  6. 1 2 Ennis, Thomas W. (September 25, 1966). "Designers of 7 Developments Honored by U.S. Agency; JACOB RIIS HOUSES GAIN AWARD HERE". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  7. ↑ Weinraub, Bernard (May 24, 1966). "Mrs. Johnson Opens Riis Playground; Mrs. Johnson Comes Here to Help Open the Experimental Riis Playground". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  8. ↑ Huxtable, Ada Louise (January 28, 1967). "City Is Building 12 Movable Playgrounds; Designs Allow for Freedom in Shaping". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  9. ↑ Otterman, Sharon (April 4, 2018). "Audit Finds Playground Perils in Housing Authority Developments". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  10. ↑ Buckley, Cara; Wilson, Michael (November 2, 2012). "In Public Housing After Hurricane Sandy, Fear, Misery and Heroism". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  11. ↑ Schwartzman, Paul (November 2, 2012). "Life after Sandy remains hard for New York's poor". The Independent.
  12. ↑ "WDF Announces $71 Million Jacob Riis Houses Restoration Project". www.businesswire.com. December 5, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  13. ↑ Kleinfield, N. R.; Sengupta, Somini (March 8, 2012). "Hacker, Informant and Party Boy of the Projects". The New York Times. "Hector Xavier Monsegur, or Sabu, lived in Apartment 6F at 90 Avenue D in the Jacob Riis complex in Manhattan."
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.