Doin' the Brooklyn Bridge

Went down to lower Manhattan on Sunday.  It was a flawless day; bright sun, 80 degrees, low humidity.  Here's a shot of the Woolworth Building.  Constructed in 1913, this 57 story Gothic tower was the tallest skyscraper in the world when it was finished (though the Eiffel Tower was taller).  Skyscrapers evolved rapidly in NYC during the early 20th century.  The 1902 Flatiron Building, at 21 stories, was the city's tallest at that time; just 11 years later the Woolworth was almost three times as high.  After another 18 years passed, the Empire State was opened, 102 floors of Art Deco splendor.    

It was a fine day to walk the Brooklyn Bridge!  Last year, I read David McCullough's excellent book about the bridge's construction while I was on the road.  I walked across John Roebling's prototype, the Roebling bridge across the Ohio River in Cincinnati, completed in 1866.  That's about a third the size of the Brooklyn Bridge, constructed in a very similar fashion.  Roebling designed the Brooklyn span, but died just before construction began in 1869.  His son, Washington Roebling, officially supervised the entire construction process, which didn't end until the grand opening in 1883.  Washington was seriously injured by contracting the bends when inspecting caisson work early in the project, when the piers were being laid at the bottom of the East River.  He never completely recovered, but his wife Emily learned bridge engineering in his stead, and actually did most of the supervision and planning during much of the construction.

The Roeblings built the bridges in both Cincinnati and Brooklyn using a complex but very effective cable structure using wire strung diagonally from the bridge towers, and vertically from the main cables.  The result is a myriad of geometric forms.  From reading the book, I got the impression that the toughest part of the construction was sinking the caissons down to the bottom of the East River, then through the mud into bedrock to establish a base on which to construct the bridge piers, then the towers.  Once that was done, the work of stringing cable and laying the roadbed went more smoothly, not taking into consideration cost overruns, funding issues, and, in the early going, the meddling of Boss Tweed and his notorious ring.  The engineers had to deal not only with NYC politics, but also with those of Brooklyn, which was a separate city at the time.  It was annexed by New York in 1898. 

Here's Wendy, hangin' at the bridge.  Once we got into Brooklyn, she found a pizza place that was to die for!  Front Street Pizza has awesome New York pizza, with rich sauce, a fine, foldable crust, and superb flavor.  And it was authentic...the staff were Brooklyn locals, as were most of the customers.  Everyone was gorging on pizza and pasta and watching the Yankee game.  Great scene!  I liked Brooklyn a lot!

And I'm not the only one.  Check out the sign!

This is Brooklyn Heights, just south of the east end of the bridge.  Very cozy 'hood.  During the bridge construction, Washington and Emily Roebling lived in a home here, with a good view of the bridge...so they could check out the construction progress from their window.  As Washington was a semi-invalid, he would frequently have meetings of the bridge's chief engineers at his home, while Emily did the on site supervision at the bridge.

There's a fine pedestrian promenade along the East River in Brooklyn Heights...with a great view of lower Manhattan.

The east tower of the bridge, from the Brooklyn side.  Front Street Pizza...highly recommended!  is just a few blocks away on the other side of the bridge approach.

Walkin' the bridge on a Sunny Sunday.