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Revisiting the 77 Water Street Runway
By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 17, 2011
Modified Feb 18, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 17, 2011
Modified Feb 18, 2011
Share
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Earlier today a reader responded to our call for unique living spaces with a very unusual space, just not one you would live in. The space is the roof 77 Water Street in Manhattan, where a plane and runway are situated. We took a look at this via Google maps way back in 2006, but something so neat is worth revisiting. The reader also tells us, "at night, from the neighboring buildings you can see that it actually has functioning runway lights. It’s very strange." (A view of the scene from a neighboring building can be see here.)
The biplane "was designed by some guy named Rudolph de Harak and executed by the sculptor William Tarr in 1969," and according to the book New York 1960, Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial, it's a World War I Sopwith Camel fighter plane, set up there "solely for the delight of denizens of neighboring skyscrapers." One know-it-all on this aviation message board explains why it's only for fun, and not function—noting, it "isn't even wide enough for that plane. Besides, it isn't even 50m long. And it is green. Not even this special Pilatus plane could start or land on that." (What's wrong with green?)
A more recent Observer article about the building itself, they claim that it's unclear "for whom exactly [the plane] was intended... certainly not for the public, who never saw it, or for the employees who had no access to the roof." They also report it's been there for four decades—so it did crossover when there were real planes taking off from buildings.
If you know of any more secret rooftop spots out there, let us know... because we're sort of obsessed with viewing these things like this right now.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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