Photo: Frank da Cruz, 26 June 2016.
See Whitestone Bridge gallery
The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge viewed
from Francis Lewis Park in Whitestone, Queens.
References:
- Henry Petroski, Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in
Engineering, Vintage Books (2005), pp.10-11: "Othmar H. Ammann, the
engineer who was responsible for the greatest number of major bridges in New
York City, retained professional architects to consult on aesthetics ...
For the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, he engaged the architect Aymar
Embury II to work with Allston Dana, the engineer of design."
- Museum
of Modern Art press release (undated but probably mid-to-late 1940s):
"...the Museum has selected as recent buildings which best represent progress,
design and construction during the past twelve years: THE BRONX-WHITESTONE
BRIDGE, Eastern Boulevard (East 177th Street), New York, N.Y. For the
Triborough Bridge Authority: 0. H. Ammann, chief engineer; Allston Dana,
engineer of design; Aymar Embury II, architect. 1939." A
passage from a soon-to-be released MOMA book, Built in U.S.A.,
1932-1944, is cited with this quotation: "Through its singleness of
purpose, made visible in daring, economical structure and unified form, a
bridge can achieve a spare and muscular beauty which is unique. There is no
one fine formula. The designer must to a great extent choose his conditions
and his forms. There is not only the choice of location, of material, of
general structural principle and its specific and harmonious development,
but there is the choice of detail - railings, lights, approaches, etc.,
which can either affirm or negate the clean economy of the essential form.
There are many paths to error. That great suspension bridge, the
Bronx-Whitestone, has a weightless grace which fairly sings."