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Photos: Pier 57 Was Dubbed "SuperPier" In 1952
By
Jen Carlson
Published Sep 4, 2013
Modified Sep 4, 2013
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Sep 4, 2013
Modified Sep 4, 2013
Share
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This morning Pier 57 was renamed SUPERPIER (emphasis ours), which sort of sounds like a kitschy monster movie but is really just the name of a waterfront luxury mall/hotel/spa/restaurant type place. But the name actually comes from a February 1952 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, which dubbed it the SuperPier when the shipping terminal was originally constructed in place of an old burned down pier. Since then, the pier—built on floating concrete caissons—"has had a storied history as an engineering marvel."
"SuperPier’s construction was inspired by the successful use of floating concrete breakwaters for the invasion of Normandy during World War II. A major and enduring achievement in engineering, Pier 57 was built to be an indestructible pier—a pier built on three giant buoyant and hollow concrete boxes, not wooden piles. Today, Pier 57 stands alone as the only pier to be built on floating concrete caissons in New York City."
You can click through to look at the Popular Mechanics article from 1952, where it's called an "unusual pier" that will contain "more than twice the cargo and passenger space of its predecessor."
The pier used to house the Hudson Pier Depot for the New York City Transit Authority, until 2003. But most controversially it was used one year later as a makeshift detention center during the 2004 Republican National Convention, when around 1,200 anti-RNC protesters were arrested and kept there. Eventually many needed to be treated for burns and rashes after prolonged exposure to "the motor oil, asbestos, and other contaminants from its days as a bus garage." Some referred to it as Gitmo on the Hudson but anyway LALALA hope there's a Brookstone there!
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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
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