This week’s Fun Fact Friday gives a shoutout to the monumental gantries and industrial history of the LIC waterfront.
gantry noun a bridge-like overhead structure with a platform supporting equipment such as a crane, railroad signals, lights, or cameras.
Gantry Plaza State Park is named for the large restored gantries that stand as the centerpiece of the park. Although the area surrounding the gantries has been revitalized, the structures serve as a reminder of the area’s significant industrial history. Originally built in 1925, these industrial monuments were once used to load and unload rail car floats and barges for transport between Queens and Manhattan.
The Gantries & Long Island Power Station
Sitting just a few blocks from the gantries is another historic building; what we now know as the Powerhouse Condominium. Originally named the “Long Island Power Station”, the Powerhouse was built in 1906 with the purpose of providing power for the expansions of the Long Island Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad. The electrification of the Queens/Nassau Counties-portion of the railroad preceded the opening of the East River tunnels leading to the (at the time) new Penn Station, which would vastly expand New York City’s transportation network. The Power Station was even identifiable from across the river; the four smokestacks atop the building originally defined the Hunter’s Point skyline, but were taken down with the remodeling of the building in 2005. The four looming structures are even featured as a focal point in painter Georgia O’Keefe’s piece from 1928; East River from Shelton Hotel, where one can identify the monumental gantries just in front of the smokestacks, leading into the East River.
Georgia O’Keeffe East River from Shelton Hotel, 1928
Because of its rich industrial historical significance, Gantry Plaza State Park is one of only eight parks in NYC that are maintained by the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. It is one of two in Queens, the other being Bayswater Point State Park in Far Rockaway.
Sources: https://forgotten-ny.com/2011/02/gantry-fanciers-in-long-island-city/http://cargocollective.com/Uofanycstudioarch/LONG-ISLAND-POWERHOUSEhttp://thepowerhousecondolic.com/