Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
The "Terrifically Bad" Idea To Build A City UNDER New York City In The 1960s
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 8, 2013
Modified Jan 9, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 8, 2013
Modified Jan 9, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
We have revisited plenty of terrible plans that have been proposed for our fine city in the past—like the time they were going to fill the Hudson, and drain the East River, to name a few—but how about this one that would have had a bizarro NYC built under the real NYC?
The plan was proposed by Oscar Newman in 1969, and has been called a "terrifically bad idea"... and even that seems like somewhat of an understatement.
Newman's idea was based on clearing out "massive underground caverns [under Manhattan] with nuclear explosions." If everyone survived that, the next step was to place an underground sphere containing a miniature version of the city above. But why stop there? Newman wrote:
"Manhattan could have a half-dozen such atomic cities strung under the city proper... the real problem in an underground city would be the lack of views and fresh air, but its easy access to the surface and the fact that, even as things are, our air should be filtered and what most of us see from our window's is somebody else's wall. [sic?]"
The top half of the sphere would somewhat solve the view problem, containing a "cinerama" for image projection (in the case of the rendering this is used for a Coca-Cola ad).
John F. Ptak once calculated that the structure would have had "a volume of 1.2 cubic miles... with its top beginning some 1,200′ under Times Square. The hole needed to be excavated to reach a 1.2 mile diameter of this sphere some 3,500 feet under the surface would be, um, big—like needing to divert the Hudson and the East rivers, and extending the digging into Jersey, which would be a, well, a task."
Tagged
1969
bad ideas
flashback
history
oscar newman
underground city
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
"Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger," says the co-owner of Art of Play.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 13, 2026 at 3:17 p.m. ET
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
Thanks to Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet and more, the rideshare program is having a moment.
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Arts & Entertainment
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
Thanks to Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet and more, the rideshare program is having a moment.
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
By
James Ramsay
What happens when NYC kids take lessons in rock music? Really good bands.
By
Jayson Greene
Inside a photographer's journey to visit every neighborhood in New York City
By
Sonia Rao
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .