User:Djflem/Holland Tunnel Rotary

Coordinates: 40°43′16″N 74°00′27″W / 40.7212°N 74.0075°W / 40.7212; -74.0075
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1973 aerial view of rotary. Fifth exit added in 2004

The Holland Tunnel Rotary is a traffic circle at the eastern end of the Holland Tunnel in Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. Owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey it serves as an entryway into the city at the end of Interstate 78. The rotary is within the city block in Tribeca bounded by Laight, Varick, Beach and Hudson Streets.[1] The land which it is situated has undergone several significant transformations since the American colonial era, having been farmland, a city square, and a rail freight depot.[2]

New Netherland and the English crown[edit]

21.Plantation of the Predikant or the Domine’s Bouwery named for Everardus Bogardus, the 2nd husband of Anneke Jans who owner of the property in the New Netherland[3]

New Amsterdam was established as the capital of New Netherland at the tip of the island of Manhattan circa 1625. The land on which the rotary sits was originally part of a larger 62-acre (250,000 m2) land grant to the the Norwegian New Netherlander Roelof Jansen[4] in 1636 by Director of New Netherland Wouter van Twiller.[5][6] Jansen died a year later and left the land to his widow, Anneke Jans.[6] A contemporary manuscript describes the earliest development of the land in 1639, stating the "plantation [was] new and consist[ed] of recently cleared land [and had] a tobacco house and [was] fenced."[5] Jans's claim was renewed when Peter Stuyvesant granted her a patent in 1654.[6] Jans, who died in 1663, stipulated her last testament that the land should be liquidated, with the proceeds going to the children from her first marriage. The heirs sold the property in March 1670 to Francis Lovelace, but he lost it when the Dutch recaptured New Amsterdam in 1672. After England re-aquired the entire territory through treaty in 1674, and Governor Edmund Andros claimed the land for the Duke of York, who later became James II of England.

Hudson Square/St. John's Park[edit]

A drawing of St. John's Park in the winter of 1866

This property stayed in possession of the crown until 23 November 1705, when Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, then captain-general and Governor of the Province of New York and New Jersey, acting for Queen Anne, made it part of a larger 212 acre grant to Trinity Church[3][6]

Trinity held the parcel as farmland until 1800, when it began to develop the land as New York expanded northwards.[7] In 1803 Trinity built a new church, St. John's Chapel, on the Varick Street and staked out a new square. The park was intended to spur local residential development, which attracted many upscale residents.[7] By 1807, the park and the neighborhood that developed around it was known as Hudson Square and later as St. John's Park.[8][9][10] In 1827 the church granted use of square to the 64 landowners around the perimeter became an upscale neighborhood..[11] The name Hudson Square is used for the northern part of district above nearby Canal Street,[12] with much of the real estate owned still owned by the church[13]In addition to serving the local residents, the park was used for church events, including annual festivals for children of the parish.[14] During the coldest winters, the park trustees flooded the park to create a large public ice skating rink.[15]

St John's Park Terminal[edit]

The freight building constructed for the Hudson River Railroad

The Hudson River Railroad (HRR) from Chambers Street in New York to Albany was completed in 1851.[16] The track was laid at grade along Hudson, Canal, and West Streets, to Tenth Avenue and then north. As port and the city grew, an expanding warehouse district began to encroach on the neighborhood, and its seclusion was shattered with the laying of the rail line.[9] Rich homeowners moved elsewhere, and St John’s Chapel went into financial difficulty. Land in Lower Manhattan became increasingly valuable, and in 1867 Trinity sold the park to the HRR for $1 million, split between the church and the park users.[17][18] and built a 4-acre (16,000 m2), $2 million freight depot to terminate the new West Side Line.[19] The name "St. John's Park Terminal" was retained when the New York Central Railroad, successor to HRR, built a new terminal at Spring Street opened in 1934.[20] Portions of freight line have become an elevated linear park known as the High Line.[21]

Holland Tunnel[edit]

View to the southwest to Varick Street. Road sign reads "Welcome to Manhattan"

In 1920 the New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commission and the New York State Bridge and Tunnel Commission appropriated funds and began construction on what was then referred to as the Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel, and is now the Holland Tunnel.[22][23] Soon after it's opening in 1927, the freight terminal was removed to make room for the eastbound exits in the of the form a one -way circular road, or rotary.[24] Traffic patterns were re-assigned in 1958.[25] Renovations to the rotary which included adding an additional, or fifth, exit were completed in 2004.[26][27][28][29] The inner portion of the rotary is not accessible to pedestrians.

Sculpture[edit]

The interior of the rotary was the site of St. John's Rotary Arc, a sculpture by Richard Serra, from 1980 to 1987.[30][31][32]

Joie de Vivre, a sculpture by Mark di Suvero,[33] was situated in the rotary between 1998 and 2006.[22]

Exit list[edit]

Locationmi[34]kmExitDestinationsNotes
1 NY 9A (West Street)Via Laight Street
2Hudson Street – UptownAt the corner of Beach Street
3BrooklynVia Walker Street and Canal Street to the Manhattan Bridge
4DowntownVia Varick Street
0.901.455Canal Street eastVia Laight Street
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References[edit]

Notes 40°43′16″N 74°00′27″W / 40.7212°N 74.0075°W / 40.7212; -74.0075

  1. ^ "Holland Tunnel Rotary" (PDF). Ives Architecture Studio. Retrieved 2015-01-03.
  2. ^ "Park of the Past". New York Parks Department. October 8, 2005. Retrieved 2014-12-23.
  3. ^ a b Farms 8-12, 21, 41, (1639 Manatus Map), Early Manhattan History, November 2, 2013
  4. ^ Evjen, John Oluf (1972), Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630-1674 ..., Genealogical Publishing Company, ISBN 9780806305011
  5. ^ a b Zabriskie, George Olin (April 1973). Everitt, Rolland (ed.). "Anneke Jans in Fact and Fiction". The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  6. ^ a b c d "A Dutchwoman's Farm". The New York Times. 7 May 1879. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  7. ^ a b Gray, Christopher (27 April 2008). "St. John's Chapel - A Chapel the City Fought to Save". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  8. ^ New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Tribeca North Historic District Designation Report (PDF) (Report). NYC.gov. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
  9. ^ a b New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (May 7, 1991). Tribeca West Historic District Designation Report (PDF) (Report). NYC.gov. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
  10. ^ Jackson, Kenneth T., ed. (1995). The Encyclopedia of New York City. Yale University Press. p. 1035. ISBN 0-300-05536-6.
  11. ^ "St. John's Park". The New York Times. 9 March 1867. p. 4. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  12. ^ Mooney, Jake (August 20, 2010). "Living in Hudson Square". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
  13. ^ Sharon Otterman (April 24, 2013). "Trinity Church Split on How to Manage $2 Billion Legacy of a Queen". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  14. ^ "The St. John's Annual Festival". The New York Times. 5 June 1864. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  15. ^ Shookster, Linda (11 December 2005). "St. John's Park: NY's First Ice Skating "Rink"". OldNewYork. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  16. ^ Hudson River and the Hudson River Rail-Road. Boston: Bradbury & Guild. 1851. p. 12. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
  17. ^ "Sale of St. John's Park". The New York Times. 20 October 1866. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  18. ^ "St. John's Park; The Park to be Changed into a Railroad Freight Depot--Plans for the Construction of the Buildings, &c". The New York Times. 9 March 1867. p. 1. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  19. ^ "Local Intelligence: St. John's Park". The New York Times. 15 November 1867. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  20. ^ "NEW YORK'S LIFE-LINE An All-Freight Service Above City Streets". Mike's Rail History. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
  21. ^ Illustration: St. John's Terminal; Railroad.net: New York Central's 1934 West Side Improvement
  22. ^ a b Gillespie, Angus K (2011), Crossing Under the Hudson: The Story of the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels, Rutgers University Press, ISBN 9780813550039
  23. ^ Jackson, Robert Wendell (2011), Highway Under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel, NYU Press, ISBN 9780814745038
  24. ^ White, Norval (2010). AIA Guide to New York City. Oxford University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-19-538386-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ Bennett, Charles C. (January 24, 1958). "Holland Tunnel Rotary Adopted; City Approves Port Board Plan to Ease Traffic at Exit CITY ADOPTS PLAN FOR TUNNEL EXITS". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
  26. ^ "REHABILITATION OF HOLLAND TUNNEL NEW YORK EXIT PLAZA TO BEGIN THIS MONTH". PANYNJ. March 20, 2003. Retrieved 2014-12-29.
  27. ^ "PORT AUTHORITY COMPLETES HOLLAND TUNNEL ROTARY IMPROVEMENTS". PANYNJ. December 29, 2004. Retrieved 2014-12-29.
  28. ^ "HT-412 Rehabilitation of the NY Exit Plaza and Holland Tunnel Rotary". Amercom. Retrieved 2015-01-03.
  29. ^ "Holland Tunnel Rotary". Studio 5 Partnership. Retrieved 2015-01-03.
  30. ^ Penn, Emily (October 19, 2011). "RICHARD SERRA – ST JOHN'S ROTARY ARK, 1980, NEW YORK". Penn Research. Retrieved 2015-01-03.
  31. ^ Serra, Richard (1994), Writings/Interviews, University of Chicago Press, 15 aug. 1994, ISBN 9780226748801
  32. ^ Sauro, William (January 30, 1987). "Outdoor Exhibition Closes". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-01-03.
  33. ^ "Joie de Vivre". Alliance for the Arts. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
  34. ^ "New York County Inventory Listing" (CSV). New York State Department of Transportation. March 2, 2010. Retrieved November 6, 2010.

New York 78 Category:Expressways in New York City Category:Transportation in Manhattan Category:Squares in New York City Category:Tribeca Category:Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

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