With apologies to Robert Frost
The beautiful Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse has an inspiring story.
Bette Midler sensed the need back in the 1990’s and founded New York Restoration Project’s. Robert A.M. Stern Architects was hired in 1998 to plan and design while Sharp came up with the cash.
The Swindler Cove Park site was a polluted construction dumping ground along the Harlem River. It was meticulously cleaned and since 2004 has featured this Victorian-inspired shed, the centerpiece of the Harlem River’s rowing program.
Taking their cue from oars and waves, rudders and the passing river traffic...
...the architects designed this house to float atop a 300 pound barge. The walkway is hinged so it can rise and fall with the tides. When I visited the tide was out.
The barge was conditioned in Vancouver and the house was built in Maine. They were assembled in Norwalk Connecticut and then floated through the Long Island Sound to the East River, then down around the Battery past the Statue of Liberty, up the Hudson River, in through Spuyten Duyvil and then back down the Harlem River to where it is docked at Dykeman Street.
aerial courtesy Bing
Miles "to row" Davis provides the 3:45 sound track.
It’s the first new community boathouse on the river
in over 100 years.
Hope Floats.
No comments:
Post a Comment