Watch Fascinating Video Of RIHS Lecture About Redevelopment Of Roosevelt Island From Blackwell's & Welfare Island To Visionary Phillip Johnson/John Burgee 1969 Master Plan To Present Day Deviations

Last Tuesday, March 19, the Roosevelt Island Historical Society (RIHS) hosted a presentation by Hunter College Urban Policy and Planning graduate student Dylan Brown. He is currently working on a research project with RIHS President Judy Berdy exploring the history of Roosevelt Island's development  from its beginning as Blackwell's Island to Welfare Island to the 1969 Roosevelt Island Master Plan by architects Phillip Johnson/John Burgee and continuing to the present day. Approximately 30 residents attended his very interesting and informative lecture at the Roosevelt Island NYPL branch.

RIHS President Judy Berdy introduced Dylan and reported he:

... has been working with us the last few weeks going through our treasure chest and it is a treasure chest. We have things from the from the 60s the welfare Island days the early development days...

According to Mr Brown:

... Last semester I started a research project on Roosevelt Island and that is how I met Judy. That research project has still not finished ... because it is so detailed and in depth. I really felt like I could not wrap myself around how much history has happened on Rosevelt Island ... to focus on just one aspect is almost impossible. What I'm going to try to do to you guys today is explain a very long history about probably one of the most interesting places in New York City...

My research prompt for this was: How did Roosevelt Island deviate from its master plan in 1969 and why?

... I'm a nerd. I like urban planning. I knew about Rosevelt Island beforehand and I read the Master Plan. I thought it was fascinating but I never really dove into it until this project. I noticed that there was a lot of things that either happened or didn't happen or were altered so basically the presentation we're going to go through will be in four sections. 

The first section is going to be history. We're going to be looking at the history of Roosevelt Island pre-development and post-development.

Then we're going to be looking at the Island That Nobody Knows. That's the 1969 plan devised for the Island.

Then we're going to be looking at building Northtown which is where you're sitting in right now... 

... Finally we're going to look at the deviations and how, what you experienced of Roosevelt Island from the 1969 plan that was laid out.

Here's video of Dylan Brown's Redeveloping Roosevelt Island lecture,

his slide presentation

and the Phillip Johnson/John Burgee Roosevelt Island Master Plan.

RIHS President Judy Berdy adds:

Over the last 40 years we have collected all sorts of island artifacts Luckily we have storage unit in the Octagon as well as our office. We have hundreds of photos and paper documents that can be used for research. Here a some of our unique collection...

And:

TREASURES REDISCOVERED 

This is an original poster that publicized the exhibit “Welfare Island: An Interim Report” which was presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for two weeks October 6 through October 19, 1970 

Did you know that there was a scale model of the future island exhibited at the Met in 1970? This is just one historical item that is stored in our office/archive in the Octagon 

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO FUND OUR ARCHIVAL WORK TO MAKE OUR COLLECTIONS MORE AVAILABLE AND EASY TO USE. PLEASE USE OUR DONATION LINK BELOW TO MAKE A DONATION FOR OUR ARCHIVES AND AN EXHIBIT OF OUR COLLECTION IN UPCOMING MONTHS. ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTABLE AND WILL BE ACKNOWLEDGED.

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Photographic Portrait Of Roosevelt Island Residents Project Would Like To Take Your Picture - Neighbor Cecile Kranzer-Walschaerts Inspired By 1969 Phillip Johnson & John Burgee Roosevelt Island Master Plan To Create Portrait Of Residents

Cecile Kranzer-Walschaerts is a photographer and Roosevelt Island resident. Her upcoming exhibit is a photographic portrait of Roosevelt Island residents.

 Image From Cecile Kranzer-Walschaerts

 Ms. Kranzer-Walschaerts writes:

Portraits of Residents
A Photographic Project on Roosevelt Island

Dear neighbors,

I have lived on Roosevelt Island for several years. As part of a photography course at NYU, I have tried to portray residents of Roosevelt Island.

These photographs will be discussed with other students during the class and some of them will be on display at a graduation exhibition at a gallery in Lower Manhattan, August 11, 2015.

I'm looking for people from Roosevelt Island who will agree to be photographed in the course of this project, at their homes or on the island.

I only have a few weeks to complete the project.

If you would like to participate, you can contact me by e-mail: walschaerts@gmail.com

Give my thanks to everyone on the island. And thank you for your help.

Cécile

Ms. Kranzer-Walschaerts adds:

In 1969, American architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee accomplished the dream of turning an inaccessible island, located in the heart of New York City, into a modern metropolis of 20,000 inhabitants.

This island, which lies next to the island of Manhattan, was to become a place of joyous tranquillity surrounded by water and trees, a car-free zone dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists. Residents who the designers hoped would live in this place included families with children, single people, seniors, the middle class and the poor. It was a dream of social diversity in the heart of the city.

On this site, residents would find new housing, of course, but also offices, shops, a hotel, a nursery, a fire station, a library, two hospitals and a chapel. The place is romantic and its insularity would make it a separate territory.

This documentary photography work is inspired by the text and plans that the architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee presented in 1969 to New York City’s mayor at the time, John V. Lindsay. This is a document of about twenty pages, entitled, The Island Nobody Knows. Nearly fifty years later, I confront the imagination of these two visionaries in the daily lives of the residents of Roosevelt Island.

Tuesday August 11, 2015
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
@ Soho Photo Gallery
15 White Street
TriBeCa, New York City
http://sohophoto.com/

Image Of Island Nobody Knows From Metropolitan Museum Of Art

The Island Nobody Knows is available in the Metropolitan Museum Of Art Digital Collection.

Please contact Ms. Kranzer-Walschaerts if you would like to participate in the photographic portrait of Roosevelt Island residents project.

More information on the Phillip Johnson and John Burgee Roosevelt Island Master Plan at this previous post.

Roosevelt Island Master Plan Drawing From Architect Philip Johnson Up For Sale - Read First Main Street 1973 Report Of Roosevelt Island Dedication

Image of left, Raj Ahuja, John Burgee and Philip Johnson in 1987 from NY Times Via Atlanta Journal Constitution

Interested in Roosevelt Island history?

According to Architectural Record, among the drawings from architect Philip Johnson's archives being put up for sale is his Roosevelt Island Master Plan drawing.

The NY Times has more on the Phillip Johnson archive sale including:

A huge and previously unknown trove of archival material from Philip Johnson’s architectural practice — including his hand-drawn sketches for towers that helped define postmodern architecture — is to be put up for sale by one of Johnson’s former partners, who has had them in storage for years....

and:

... Mr. Robinson was especially struck, he said, by the degree to which the drawings concern themselves with the surrounding context.

“Nobody thinks of Johnson as a planner,” Mr. Robinson said. “They think of him as an antiurbanist. He really was concerned with how life interacted with these buildings. You get elaborate plans for walkways, roads, the works.”...

Below is very first issue of the Roosevelt Island Main Street newspaper (via RIOC) with a front page article and pictures of the 1973 dedication of Roosevelt Island including the receipt by Philip Johnson of a Diamond Jubilee Award for his work on the Roosevelt Island Master Plan by then Mayor John Lindsey.
Roosevelt Island Dedication 1973 Main Street WIRE

RIOC, (the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp) is celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the signing of the Roosevelt Island Development Plan and has more on the Island's development history here.

For more information on Philip Johnson, check out this You Tube Video of Philip Johnson interview from American Architecture Now.