High Line
Encyclopedia
The High Line is a 1 miles (1.6 km) New York City
linear park
built on a 1.45 miles (2.3 km) section of the former elevated freight railroad spur called the West Side Line
, which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan
; it has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway
. The High Line Park currently runs from Gansevoort Street, one block below West 12th Street, in the Meatpacking District
, up to 30th Street, through the neighborhood of Chelsea to the West Side Yard
, near the Javits Convention Center
.
The recycling of the railway into an urban park has spurred real estate development in the neighborhoods which lie along the line.
After years of public debate about the hazard, in 1929 the city and the state of New York and the New York Central Railroad
agreed on the West Side Improvement Project, which included the High Line. The 13 miles (20.9 km) project eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings and added 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) to Riverside Park
. It cost over $150 million, about $2 billion in 2009 dollars.
The High Line opened to trains in 1934. It originally ran from 34th Street
to St. John's Park
Terminal, at Spring Street. It was designed to go through the center of blocks, rather than over the avenue, to avoid the drawbacks of elevated subways. It connected directly to factories and warehouses, allowing trains to roll right inside buildings. Milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods could be transported and unloaded without disturbing traffic on the streets. This also reduced pilferage for the Bell Laboratories Building
, now the Westbeth Artists Community
, and the Nabisco
plant, now Chelsea Market
, which were served from protected sidings within the structures.
The train also passed underneath the Western Electric
complex at Washington Street. This section has survived until today and is not connected with the rest of the developed park.
The growth of interstate trucking in the 1950s led to a drop in rail traffic throughout the nation. In the 1960s, the southernmost section of the line was demolished. This section started at Gansevoort Street and ran down Washington Street as far as Clarkson Street, representing almost half of the line. The last train ran in 1980 with three carloads of frozen turkeys.
In the mid-1980s, a group of property owners with land under the line lobbied for the demolition of the entire structure. Peter Obletz, a Chelsea resident, activist, and railroad enthusiast, challenged the demolition efforts in court and tried to re-establish rail service on the Line. In the 1990s, as the line lay unused, it became known to a few urban explorers and local residents for the tough, drought-tolerant wild grasses, shrubs, and trees that had sprung up in the gravel along the abandoned railway.
In 1999, the non-profit Friends of the High Line was formed by Joshua David and Robert Hammond, residents of the neighborhood the High Line ran through. They advocated for the Line's preservation and reuse as public open space. Broadened community support of public redevelopment for the High Line for pedestrian use grew, and city funding was allocated in 2004. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
and City Council Speakers Gifford Miller
and Christine C. Quinn
were important supporters. The southernmost section, from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, opened as a city park on June 8, 2009. The middle section opened in June 2011, while the northernmost section's future remains uncertain, depending on a development project currently underway at the Hudson Yards.
grew along most of the route. It was slated for demolition under the administration of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani
.
In 1999, neighborhood residents Robert Hammond and Joshua David created the community group Friends of the High Line to push the idea of turning the High Line into an elevated park or greenway
, similar to the Promenade Plantée
in Paris
.
In 2004, the New York City
government committed $50 million to establish the proposed park. On June 13, 2005, the U.S. Federal Surface Transportation Board
issued a certificate of interim trail
use, allowing the City to remove most of the line from the national railway system. On April 10, 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg
presided over a ceremony that marked the beginning of construction. The park was designed by the James Corner
's New York-based landscape architecture
firm Field Operations and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro
, with planting design from Piet Oudolf
of the Netherlands and engineering design by Buro Happold
. Major backers have included Philip Falcone
and Diane von Furstenberg
, her husband Barry Diller
, and her children Alexander von Furstenberg and Tatiana von Furstenberg
. Hotel developer Andre Balazs
, owner of the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles
, built the 337-room Standard Hotel
straddling the High Line at West 13th Street.
The southern section of the park, running from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, opened to the public on June 8, 2009. This southern section includes five stairways and elevators at 14th Street and 16th Street.
The park's attractions include naturalized plantings that are inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the disused tracks and new, often unexpected views of the city and the Hudson River
. Pebble-dash concrete walkways unify the trail, which swells and constricts, swinging from side to side, and divides into concrete tines that meld the hardscape with the planting embedded in railroad gravel mulch. Stretches of track and ties recall the High Line's former use. Portions of track are adaptively re-used for rolling lounges positioned for river views. Most of the planting, which includes 210 species, is of rugged meadow plants, including clump-forming grasses, liatris
and coneflower
s, with scattered stands of sumac and smokebush, but not limited to American natives. At the Gansevoort end, a grove of mixed species of birch
already provides some dappled shade by late afternoon. Ipê
timber for the built-in benches has come from a managed forest certified by the Forest Stewardship Council
, to ensure sustainable use, conservation of biological diversity, water resources, and fragile ecosystems.
In addition to the integrated architecture and plant life, the High Line has cultural attractions as well. As part of a long-term plan for the park to host temporary installations and performances of various kinds, Creative Time, Friends of the High Line, and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation commissioned The River That Flows Both Ways by Spencer Finch as the inaugural art installation. The work is integrated into the window bays of the former Nabisco Factory loading dock, as a series of 700 purple and grey colored glass panes. Each color is exactly calibrated to match the center pixel of 700 digital pictures, one taken every minute, of the Hudson River, therefore presenting an extended portrait of the river that gives the work its name. Creative Time worked with the artist to realize the site-specific concept, which emerged when he saw the rusted, disused mullions of the old factory, which metal and glass specialists Jaroff Design helped to prepare and reinstall. The summer of 2010 featured a sound installation by Stephen Vitiello, composed from bells heard through New York. Lauren Ross, formerly director of the alternative art space White Columns, is serving as the first curator for the High Line.
The park extends from Gansevoort Street north to 30th Street where the elevated tracks turn west around the Hudson Yards development project to the Javits Convention Center on 34th Street. The northernmost section, from 30th to 34th Streets, is still owned by the CSX railroad company, but the New York City Planning Commission has announced a move toward City ownership of this section.
In 2010 a minor controversy came about concerning the High Line's policy of not allowing artists to sell their works in the park.
On Tuesday June 7, 2011 a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the High Line second section from 20th Street to 30th Street was held with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer
, and Congressman Jerrold Nadler
in attendance.
Crime has been extraordinarily low in the park. Shortly after the second section opened, The New York Times
reported that there have been no reports of major crimes such as assault
s or robberies
since it opened. Parks Enforcement Patrols had written summons
es for various infractions of park rules, such as walking dogs or bicycles on the walkway, but at a rate lower than Central Park
. Park advocates attributed that to the high visibility of the High Line from the surrounding buildings, a design feature inspired by the writings of urbanist Jane Jacobs
. "Empty parks are dangerous", David told the newspaper. "Busy parks are much less so. You’re virtually never alone on the High Line."
A New Yorker
columnist was of the opinion, when reviewing the diner re-named for the High Line
, that "the new Chelsea
that is emerging on weekends as visitors flood the elevated park ... [is] touristy, overpriced, and shiny."
The success of the High Line in New York City
has inspired other cities to investigate the feasibility of replicating it in their cities, "including Chicago
, Philadelphia, and St. Louis
..." It has encouraged other large cities' leaders, such as Mayor Rahm Emanuel
of Chicago, who see it as "a symbol and catalyst" for gentrifying neighborhoods
. It costs substantially less to redevelop an abandoned urban rail line into a linear park, rather than to demolish it. James Corner, one of its designers, said, "The High Line is not easily replicable in other cities," observing that building a "cool park" requires a "framework" of neighborhoods around it in order to succeed.
considered but rejected a proposal to build a museum at the Gansevoort Street terminus. The Whitney Museum plans to build on the site, with a design by Renzo Piano
, rather than its initial plan of expanding its existing building by Marcel Breuer
uptown.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
linear park
Linear park
A linear park is a park that is much longer than wide. It is often formed as a part of a rails-to-trails conversion of railroad beds to rail trail recreational use...
built on a 1.45 miles (2.3 km) section of the former elevated freight railroad spur called the West Side Line
West Side Line (NYCRR)
The West Side Line, also called the West Side Freight Line, is a railroad line on the west side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Penn Station, from 34th Street, the line is used by Amtrak passenger service heading north via Albany to Toronto, Montreal and Chicago...
, which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
; it has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway
Greenway (landscape)
A greenway is a long, narrow piece of land, often used for recreation and pedestrian and bicycle user traffic, and sometimes for streetcar, light rail or retail uses.- Terminology :...
. The High Line Park currently runs from Gansevoort Street, one block below West 12th Street, in the Meatpacking District
Meatpacking District, Manhattan
The Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan which runs roughly from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street, although recently it is sometimes considered to have extended north to West 16th Street and east...
, up to 30th Street, through the neighborhood of Chelsea to the West Side Yard
West Side Yard
The West Side Yard is a rail yard owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on the west side of Manhattan in New York City...
, near the Javits Convention Center
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center is a large convention center located on Eleventh Avenue, between 34th and 38th streets, on the West side of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed by architects I. M. Pei and partners. The revolutionary space frame structure was undertaken in 1979 and...
.
The recycling of the railway into an urban park has spurred real estate development in the neighborhoods which lie along the line.
History
In 1847, the City of New York authorized street-level railroad tracks down Manhattan’s West Side. For safety, the railroads hired men – the "West Side Cowboys" – to ride horses and wave flags in front of the trains. Yet so many accidents occurred between freight trains and other traffic that 10th Avenue became known as "Death Avenue".New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
agreed on the West Side Improvement Project, which included the High Line. The 13 miles (20.9 km) project eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings and added 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) to Riverside Park
Riverside Park (Manhattan)
Riverside Park is a scenic waterfront public park on the Upper West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park consists of a narrow four-mile strip of land between the Hudson River and the gently...
. It cost over $150 million, about $2 billion in 2009 dollars.
The High Line opened to trains in 1934. It originally ran from 34th Street
34th Street (Manhattan)
34th Street is a major cross-town street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, connecting the Lincoln Tunnel and Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Like many of New York City's major crosstown streets, it has its own bus routes and four subway stops serving the trains at Eighth Avenue, the trains at...
to St. John's Park
St. John's Park
St. John's Park is a square in TriBeCa, Manhattan, New York City. It is currently bounded by Laight, Varick, Beach and Hudson Streets. The square has been used for many different purposes since the colonization of New Amsterdam in the early 17th century....
Terminal, at Spring Street. It was designed to go through the center of blocks, rather than over the avenue, to avoid the drawbacks of elevated subways. It connected directly to factories and warehouses, allowing trains to roll right inside buildings. Milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods could be transported and unloaded without disturbing traffic on the streets. This also reduced pilferage for the Bell Laboratories Building
Bell Laboratories Building (Manhattan)
463 West Street is a 13 building complex located on the block between West Street, Washington Street, Bank Street, and Bethune Street in Manhattan, New York. It was originally the home of Bell Telephone Laboratories between 1898 and 1966. For a time, it was the largest industrial research center...
, now the Westbeth Artists Community
Westbeth Artists Community
Westbeth Artists Housing, located at 463 West Street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan, is the largest such community in the world. This low- to middle-income rental housing project was developed with the assistance of the J.M...
, and the Nabisco
Nabisco
Nabisco is an American brand of cookies and snacks. Headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey, the company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Kraft Foods. Nabisco's plant in Chicago, a production facility at 7300 S...
plant, now Chelsea Market
Chelsea Market
thumb|267px|The Ninth Avenue entrance to Chelsea MarketChelsea Market is an enclosed urban food court, shopping mall, office building and television production facility located in the Chelsea neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
, which were served from protected sidings within the structures.
The train also passed underneath the Western Electric
Western Electric
Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...
complex at Washington Street. This section has survived until today and is not connected with the rest of the developed park.
The growth of interstate trucking in the 1950s led to a drop in rail traffic throughout the nation. In the 1960s, the southernmost section of the line was demolished. This section started at Gansevoort Street and ran down Washington Street as far as Clarkson Street, representing almost half of the line. The last train ran in 1980 with three carloads of frozen turkeys.
In the mid-1980s, a group of property owners with land under the line lobbied for the demolition of the entire structure. Peter Obletz, a Chelsea resident, activist, and railroad enthusiast, challenged the demolition efforts in court and tried to re-establish rail service on the Line. In the 1990s, as the line lay unused, it became known to a few urban explorers and local residents for the tough, drought-tolerant wild grasses, shrubs, and trees that had sprung up in the gravel along the abandoned railway.
In 1999, the non-profit Friends of the High Line was formed by Joshua David and Robert Hammond, residents of the neighborhood the High Line ran through. They advocated for the Line's preservation and reuse as public open space. Broadened community support of public redevelopment for the High Line for pedestrian use grew, and city funding was allocated in 2004. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
and City Council Speakers Gifford Miller
Gifford Miller
A. Gifford Miller is the former Speaker of the New York City Council, where he represented Council District 5. Barred from seeking reelection due to term limits, the Democrat ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for the opportunity to run against incumbent Republican Mayor, Michael...
and Christine C. Quinn
Christine C. Quinn
Christine Callaghan Quinn is a Democratic politician and the current Speaker of the New York City Council. The third person to hold this office, Quinn is the first female and first openly gay speaker....
were important supporters. The southernmost section, from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, opened as a city park on June 8, 2009. The middle section opened in June 2011, while the northernmost section's future remains uncertain, depending on a development project currently underway at the Hudson Yards.
Redevelopment
Before it was turned into a park, the line was in disrepair, although the riveted steel elevated structure was basically sound. Wild grasses, plants, shrubs, and rugged trees such as sumacSumac
Sumac is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, especially in Africa and North America....
grew along most of the route. It was slated for demolition under the administration of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
.
In 1999, neighborhood residents Robert Hammond and Joshua David created the community group Friends of the High Line to push the idea of turning the High Line into an elevated park or greenway
Greenway (landscape)
A greenway is a long, narrow piece of land, often used for recreation and pedestrian and bicycle user traffic, and sometimes for streetcar, light rail or retail uses.- Terminology :...
, similar to the Promenade Plantée
Promenade Plantée
The Promenade plantée or the Coulée verte is a narrow, 4.7 km parkway in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France.- Overview :The Promenade plantée is a extensive green belt that follows the old Vincennes railway line...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
In 2004, the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
government committed $50 million to establish the proposed park. On June 13, 2005, the U.S. Federal Surface Transportation Board
Surface Transportation Board
The Surface Transportation Board of the United States is a bipartisan, decisionally-independent adjudicatory body organizationally housed within the U.S. Department of Transportation. The STB was established in 1996 to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the...
issued a certificate of interim trail
Rail trail
A rail trail is the conversion of a disused railway easement into a multi-use path, typically for walking, cycling and sometimes horse riding. The characteristics of former tracks—flat, long, frequently running through historical areas—are appealing for various development. The term sometimes also...
use, allowing the City to remove most of the line from the national railway system. On April 10, 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
presided over a ceremony that marked the beginning of construction. The park was designed by the James Corner
James Corner
James Corner is a Landscape Architect and theorist with numerous works to his credit which explore the contemporary meaning of architectural landscaping, with a focus on "developing innovative approaches toward landscape architectural design and urbanism." His designs of note include Fresh Kills...
's New York-based landscape architecture
Landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
firm Field Operations and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Diller Scofidio + Renfro is a New York City-based interdisciplinary design studio that integrates architecture, the visual arts, and the performing arts. Originally founded by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio in 1979, the firm is particularly well known for its interdisciplinary approach to...
, with planting design from Piet Oudolf
Piet Oudolf
Piet Oudolf is an influential Dutch garden designer, nurseryman and author. He is a leading figure of the "New Perennial" or "New Wave Planting" movement, using bold drifts of herbaceous perennial plants and grasses which are chosen for their structure as much as for their flower colour .His books...
of the Netherlands and engineering design by Buro Happold
Buro Happold
Buro Happold is a professional services firm providing engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of buildings, infrastructure and the environment, with its head office in Bath, Somerset...
. Major backers have included Philip Falcone
Harbinger Capital
Harbinger Capital Partners is a private hedge fund based in New York City, New York.-Background:Harbinger was founded by its Senior Managing Director Philip Falcone and Harbert Management Corporation, a Birmingham, Alabama-based investment company that provided much of the original funding. Falcone...
and Diane von Furstenberg
Diane von Fürstenberg
Diane von Fürstenberg, formerly Princess Diane of Fürstenberg , is a Belgian-American fashion designer best known for her iconic wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon of Fürstenberg...
, her husband Barry Diller
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
, and her children Alexander von Furstenberg and Tatiana von Furstenberg
Tatiana von Fürstenberg
Tatiana Desirée Prinzessin zu Fürstenberg or Princess Tatiana Desirée zu Fürstenberg ) is an American rock singer and filmmaker - and daughter of fashion designers Diane and Egon von Fürstenberg-External links:...
. Hotel developer Andre Balazs
Andre Balazs
Andre Balázs is an American hotelier and residential developer. He created the Standard Hotels line of hotels and operates many hotels and residences in New York and other U.S...
, owner of the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, built the 337-room Standard Hotel
Standard Hotel
The Standard Hotel brand is a part of Andre Balazs Properties. It is a group of four boutique hotels in Los Angeles , Miami and New York.- History :...
straddling the High Line at West 13th Street.
The southern section of the park, running from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, opened to the public on June 8, 2009. This southern section includes five stairways and elevators at 14th Street and 16th Street.
The park's attractions include naturalized plantings that are inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the disused tracks and new, often unexpected views of the city and the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. Pebble-dash concrete walkways unify the trail, which swells and constricts, swinging from side to side, and divides into concrete tines that meld the hardscape with the planting embedded in railroad gravel mulch. Stretches of track and ties recall the High Line's former use. Portions of track are adaptively re-used for rolling lounges positioned for river views. Most of the planting, which includes 210 species, is of rugged meadow plants, including clump-forming grasses, liatris
Liatris
Liatris is a genus of ornamental plants in the Asteraceae family, native to North America, Mexico, and the Bahamas. These plants are used as a popular summer flowers for bouquets.They are perennials, surviving the winter in the form of corms....
and coneflower
Asteraceae
The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...
s, with scattered stands of sumac and smokebush, but not limited to American natives. At the Gansevoort end, a grove of mixed species of birch
Birch
Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...
already provides some dappled shade by late afternoon. Ipê
IPE
Ipe or IPE can refer to:* Ipê, trees in the genus Tabebuia and their wood* Ipe , an extensible drawing editor* Individual Plant Examination in nuclear power plant probabilistic risk assessment* Institute of Public Enterprise in India...
timber for the built-in benches has come from a managed forest certified by the Forest Stewardship Council
Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Council is an international not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world’s forests. Its main tools for achieving this are standard setting, independent certification and labeling of forest products...
, to ensure sustainable use, conservation of biological diversity, water resources, and fragile ecosystems.
In addition to the integrated architecture and plant life, the High Line has cultural attractions as well. As part of a long-term plan for the park to host temporary installations and performances of various kinds, Creative Time, Friends of the High Line, and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation commissioned The River That Flows Both Ways by Spencer Finch as the inaugural art installation. The work is integrated into the window bays of the former Nabisco Factory loading dock, as a series of 700 purple and grey colored glass panes. Each color is exactly calibrated to match the center pixel of 700 digital pictures, one taken every minute, of the Hudson River, therefore presenting an extended portrait of the river that gives the work its name. Creative Time worked with the artist to realize the site-specific concept, which emerged when he saw the rusted, disused mullions of the old factory, which metal and glass specialists Jaroff Design helped to prepare and reinstall. The summer of 2010 featured a sound installation by Stephen Vitiello, composed from bells heard through New York. Lauren Ross, formerly director of the alternative art space White Columns, is serving as the first curator for the High Line.
The park extends from Gansevoort Street north to 30th Street where the elevated tracks turn west around the Hudson Yards development project to the Javits Convention Center on 34th Street. The northernmost section, from 30th to 34th Streets, is still owned by the CSX railroad company, but the New York City Planning Commission has announced a move toward City ownership of this section.
In 2010 a minor controversy came about concerning the High Line's policy of not allowing artists to sell their works in the park.
On Tuesday June 7, 2011 a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the High Line second section from 20th Street to 30th Street was held with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer
Scott Stringer
Scott M. Stringer is a New York Democratic politician and currently the 26th Borough President of Manhattan.-Life and career:...
, and Congressman Jerrold Nadler
Jerrold Nadler
Jerrold Lewis "Jerry" Nadler is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1992. He is a member of the Democratic Party.The district includes the west side of Manhattan from the Upper West Side down to Battery Park, including the site where the World Trade Center stood...
in attendance.
Impact
The recycling of the railway into an urban park has spurred real estate development in the neighborhoods that lie along the line. Mayor Bloomberg noted that the High Line project has helped usher in something of a renaissance in the neighborhood: by 2009, more than 30 projects were planned or under construction nearby.Crime has been extraordinarily low in the park. Shortly after the second section opened, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that there have been no reports of major crimes such as assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
s or robberies
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
since it opened. Parks Enforcement Patrols had written summons
Summons
Legally, a summons is a legal document issued by a court or by an administrative agency of government for various purposes.-Judicial summons:...
es for various infractions of park rules, such as walking dogs or bicycles on the walkway, but at a rate lower than Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. Park advocates attributed that to the high visibility of the High Line from the surrounding buildings, a design feature inspired by the writings of urbanist Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs, was an American-Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities , a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States...
. "Empty parks are dangerous", David told the newspaper. "Busy parks are much less so. You’re virtually never alone on the High Line."
A New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
columnist was of the opinion, when reviewing the diner re-named for the High Line
Empire Diner
The Empire Diner was a restaurant in New York City that launched a vogue for upscale retro diners, and whose Art Moderne exterior became an iconic image in numerous films and television programs....
, that "the new Chelsea
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
that is emerging on weekends as visitors flood the elevated park ... [is] touristy, overpriced, and shiny."
The success of the High Line in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
has inspired other cities to investigate the feasibility of replicating it in their cities, "including Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Philadelphia, and St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
..." It has encouraged other large cities' leaders, such as Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
of Chicago, who see it as "a symbol and catalyst" for gentrifying neighborhoods
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
. It costs substantially less to redevelop an abandoned urban rail line into a linear park, rather than to demolish it. James Corner, one of its designers, said, "The High Line is not easily replicable in other cities," observing that building a "cool park" requires a "framework" of neighborhoods around it in order to succeed.
Museum site
The Dia Art FoundationDia Art Foundation
Dia Art Foundation is a non-profit organization that initiates, supports, presents, and preserves art projects. It was established in 1974 as the Lone Star Foundation by Philippa de Menil, the daughter of Houston arts patron Dominique de Menil and an heiress to the Schlumberger oil exploration...
considered but rejected a proposal to build a museum at the Gansevoort Street terminus. The Whitney Museum plans to build on the site, with a design by Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano is an Italian architect. He is the recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, AIA Gold Medal, Kyoto Prize and the Sonning Prize...
, rather than its initial plan of expanding its existing building by Marcel Breuer
Marcel Breuer
Marcel Lajos Breuer , was a Hungarian-born modernist, architect and furniture designer of Jewish descent. One of the masters of Modernism, Breuer displayed interest in modular construction and simple forms.- Life and work :Known to his friends and associates as Lajkó, Breuer studied and taught at...
uptown.
In popular culture
- 1988: The protagonistProtagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
and his boyfriend trespassTrespassTrespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels and trespass to land.Trespass to the person, historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, mayhem, and maiming...
onto the High Line, before it was converted into a park, in Fun Down ThereFun Down ThereFun Down There is a 1988 drama film directed by Roger Stigliano. It stars Michael Waite, who co-wrote the script with Stigliano. It premiered at the 1989 Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film...
. - 2001: In Walking the High Line photographer Joel SternfeldJoel SternfeldJoel Sternfeld, , is a fine-art color photographer noted for his large-format documentary pictures of the United States and helping establish color photography as a respected artistic medium. He has many works in the permanent collections of the MOMA in New York City and the Getty Center in Los...
documented the dilapidated conditions and the natural flora of the High Line between 2000 and 2001. The book also contains essays by Adam GopnikAdam GopnikAdam Gopnik, is an American writer, essayist and commentator. He is best known as a staff writer for The New Yorker—to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir and criticism—and as the author of the essay collection Paris to the Moon, an account of five years that Gopnik, his wife...
and John R. StilgoeJohn R. StilgoeJohn R. Stilgoe is an award-winning historian and photographer who is the Robert and Lois Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape at the Visual and Environmental Studies Department of Harvard University, where he has been teaching since 1977. He is also a fellow of the Society of American...
. - 2007: The High Line is discussed in Alan WeismanAlan WeismanAlan H. Weisman is an American author, professor, and journalist.- Education and career :Weisman holds both a bachelor's and master's degree in literature from Northwestern University...
's The World Without UsThe World Without UsThe World Without Us is a non-fiction book about what would happen to the natural and built environment if humans suddenly disappeared, written by American journalist Alan Weisman and published by St. Martin's Thomas Dunne Books. It is a book-length expansion of Weisman's own February 2005 Discover...
as an example of the reappearance of the wild in an abandoned area. - 2007: Some chase scenes in the film I Am LegendI Am Legend (film)I Am Legend is a 2007 post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith. It is the third feature film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name, following 1964's The Last Man on Earth and 1971's The Omega Man. Smith plays virologist Robert...
were filmed under the High Line and in the Meatpacking District. - 2011: The High Line appears in a scene in the second season of LouieLouie (TV series)Louie is an American comedy television series on the FX network that began airing in 2010. It is written, directed, edited and produced by the show's creator, stand-up comedian Louis C.K., who stars as a fictionalized version of himself, a comedian and newly divorced father raising his two...
as the site of one of the title character's dates.
See also
- West Side Line (NYCRR)West Side Line (NYCRR)The West Side Line, also called the West Side Freight Line, is a railroad line on the west side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Penn Station, from 34th Street, the line is used by Amtrak passenger service heading north via Albany to Toronto, Montreal and Chicago...
- Meatpacking District, ManhattanMeatpacking District, ManhattanThe Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan which runs roughly from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street, although recently it is sometimes considered to have extended north to West 16th Street and east...
- Promenade plantéePromenade PlantéeThe Promenade plantée or the Coulée verte is a narrow, 4.7 km parkway in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France.- Overview :The Promenade plantée is a extensive green belt that follows the old Vincennes railway line...
- The proposed Bloomingdale Trail
- Reading ViaductReading ViaductThe Reading Viaduct is the common name for an abandoned railroad viaduct in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formerly owned by the Philadelphia and Reading Railway...
External links
- Official website
- Map of the High Line
- Photographs of the High Line by Jonathan Flaum
- Write up on Livehoboken.com
- Guardian article and gallery on history of High Line by Paul Owen
- Architectural review and video by a+t architecture publishers
- The Imaginative Beauty of New York's High Line by Faith and John Stern
- Forgotten New York
- NYC High Line photo tour and guide
- History of the New York High Line and interview with the founders of Friends of the High Line, CNN, March 2007
- Miracle Above Manhattan, National Geographic, April 2011
- BBc video report on the High Line