Municipal Asphalt Plant

The Municipal Asphalt Plant is on the east side of York Avenue, north of 91st Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Built under the supervision of public works commissioner Walker D. Binger, the plant was one of the first projects designed by the firm of Kahn and Jacobs. while Kahn and Jacobs collaborated with engineer Shamoon Nadir in the design of the building. Form and facade The mixing plant was the first parabolic-arched building in the United States to use reinforced concrete, The arches were more efficient than the more-conventional form of a rectangle, and they further reduced stresses and the need for extraneous reinforced steel. A sundial sculpture by Robert Adzema was installed outside the building's main entrance in 1984. The walls and roof are made of cast-in-place concrete panels, which were created by pouring concrete around the ribs. Features Asphalt plant When the asphalt plant was in operation, river barges delivered sand and stone to a hopper above the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt carried materials from the East River shoreline under FDR Drive, then traveled diagonally above ground to the storage facility. The raw materials were then transferred to a secondary belt inside the storage facility. The storage building included large containers for storing raw materials, as well as catwalks and conveyor belts on an upper level, which were illuminated by ribbon windows. The plant was capable of creating 120 tons of asphalt concrete per hour, which could be increased to 160 tons per hour during peak times. Originally, the building was supposed to be a three-story structure; the ground floor was to include offices, storage rooms, locker rooms, and an assembly room and theater. The second floor was to include physical-education space and an art studio, while the third story was to include a multipurpose space that could be used as an auditorium or a gymnasium. In the final plans, four levels were added to the Murphy Center, rather than three. The lowest three stories had low ceilings, while the top floor contained a gym with a suspended running track. known as the Paul Mazur Theater. North of the Murphy Center is the AquaCenter, a three-story swimming complex designed in a similar style to the Murphy Center. The AquaCenter's main swimming pool measures across and up to deep; part of the pool's floor can be moved hydraulically to accommodate disabled guests. The main pool is covered by a curved skylight. There is also a pool for swimming lessons, measuring , as well as a set of bleachers that can accommodate up to 700 people. The aquatic center was also planned with offices for Asphalt Green officials, The play area is named for Hungarian military officer Michael Kovats. A truck ramp runs across the Asphalt Green complex, connecting York Avenue with a waste transfer station operated by the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY). == History ==

An asphalt plant had existed on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, along the East River near 91st Street, since March 1914. The site was roughly equidistant from the northernmost and southernmost points of Manhattan, reducing the need for trucks to transport raw materials, and its waterfront location allowed barges to deliver raw materials easily. By the late 1930s, that asphalt plant had become outdated, and the neighborhood had evolved from a partly commercial to a largely residential area. Isaacs wished to develop a new asphalt plant in conjunction with construction on the East River Drive. Furthermore, DSNY operated an ash dump on a neighboring pier at 92nd Street, and fumes from the ash dump had caused land values in the surrounding area to decrease. Many of Manhattan's streets were paved in Belgian blocks at the time, but Isaacs wished to repave the borough's streets in asphalt, which was less expensive than Belgian blocks. That November, Isaacs announced plans to add an enclosed sanitation facility for DSNY on the neighboring pier. The tunnel was completed by mid-1940; at the time, the Manhattan borough president's office had also installed pipes for asphalt concrete, as well as conveyor belts for sand and stone. The plan tentatively called for a concrete structure made of several large arches, similar to a bridge arch. Isaacs predicted that the new plant would further reduce pollution. The New York City Planning Commission approved the installation of dust-elimination equipment in May 1944, just before the plant opened, at a cost of $97,000. The existing equipment already removed 85 percent of dust, but the remaining dust often drifted over the East River and into the nearby Gracie Mansion, the New York City mayor's residence. The Municipal Asphalt Plant was dedicated on May 24, 1944. Despite initial concerns that local residents would object to the asphalt plant, an apartment building had been developed nearby after construction of the asphalt plant had commenced. During this four-year period, the plant produced 150,000 tons of asphalt in total. The plant supplied all of the asphalt used to repave roads in Manhattan; between 1945 and 1948, over 80 percent of repaving projects in Manhattan used asphalt. and the conveyor belt under FDR Drive was repaired in 1963. City highway commissioner Harry J. Donnelly awarded a $14,200 contract for the installation of new dust-removing equipment in 1966; the new equipment could remove 90 percent of the plant's dust emissions. At that point, Donnelly said the plant was "one of the air-polluting offenders of Manhattan's East Side". Closure and redevelopment plans In 1968, the New York City government constructed a new asphalt plant in Queens, serving all five of the city's boroughs, and the separate asphalt plants in each borough were closed. The Manhattan asphalt plant's storage facility and conveyor were torn down. By 1969, there were plans to redevelop the site with an 830-seat school and 1,000 apartments for middle-class residents. The school on the Municipal Asphalt Plant's site would be the first of four new schools in the Yorkville neighborhood. The new development would temporarily house displaced families who were being displaced from the other three sites. The New York City government announced in September 1971 that it would convert the mixing plant into a gymnasium and cafeteria for the new development. The gym and cafeteria were to be shared by a 640-seat elementary school and a 230-seat special education school. Further details of the $50 million project were announced in December 1971. The site would have contained 200 low-income, 300 moderate-income, and 700 middle-income apartments, spread across three towers of 20, 41, and 46 stories. Opponents of the plan formed the Neighborhood Committee of the Asphalt Project, led by local doctor George Murphy, in April 1972. The Neighborhood Committee said the neighborhood lacked recreational areas and that several local schools were under-enrolled. The Neighborhood Committee asked the New York City Board of Estimate to rezone the site for recreational use, soliciting the support of 80 percent of nearby buildings' owners. and the Board of Estimate narrowly vetoed the original plan for the site that December. Local politicians almost unanimously supported the redevelopment project, except for then-City Council president Sanford Garelik, who endorsed the committee's alternate proposal. In March 1974, the city allocated an additional $1.5 million to the redevelopment project. Due to continued opposition from residents, the Educational Construction Fund officially canceled plans for the Municipal Asphalt Plant development in August 1974. Conversion to recreation center In the 1970s, the city government constructed a temporary recreation field and two basketball courts outside the mixing plant; the recreation complex became known as Asphalt Green. Work on the turf field began in May 1973, and the field was completed that September. At the time, it was described as the East Side's only recreation field between 15th and 112nd Streets. Initial renovation After Asphalt Green opened, the Heckscher and Vincent Astor foundations continued to fund the recreation center, and other organizations also provided monetary support. Architectural firm HOK (the successor to Kahn and Jacobs), in collaboration with Giovanni Pasanella and Arvid Klein, were hired to design the renovation. As part of the project, Asphalt Green's operators had acquired a fireboat pier on 90th Street the same year; the fireboat pier had housed the New York City Fire Department's Marine Division 5 until 1976. The pier was rebuilt in 1978 but was subsequently struck by a passing boat, then further damaged by arson; City officials announced plans in May 1979 to convert the former mixing plant into a community center with a gymnasium, theater, and other facilities. The city government contributed $1.6 million in Federal Community Development Funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the local community raised $800,000. A wind turbine on Mill Rock, solar panels on the pier, and a cogeneration plant was to provide much of the mixing plant's electricity. In 1980, Asphalt Green received $92,000 from the NYSERDA and $82,000 from the Vincent Astor Foundation to fund the establishment of an educational center devoted to energy conservation. The energy-conservation center opened in May 1981, providing wind and solar power for both the pier and the former mixing plant. At the time, the renovation of the mixing plant was slated to begin later that year. The Neighborhood Committee had raised $1 million from foundations and $300,000 from local residents, but the committee needed to raise another $300,000. Glenwood Management, which was constructing two buildings directly across York Avenue, agreed to give Asphalt Green $325,000 in exchange for a 20 percent floor area bonus for both buildings. The complex reopened in October 1984 Later modifications The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation formally licensed Asphalt Green's operators to use Mill Rock in early 1986. By then, the temporary outdoor field had begun to deteriorate, having been in near-constant use for 11 years. As a result, the Neighborhood Committee received a $600,000 city grant and raised $900,000 to fund the restoration of the field. Murphy was planning to add an aquatic center with an Olympic-size swimming pool; at the time, New York City had no Olympic-size indoor swimming pools, leading him to say that "the greatest city in the world doesn't have the pools for [Olympic athletes] to train". The Board of Estimate gave Asphalt Green a $4 million grant in August 1990 to help fund the swimming center's construction. As a condition for receiving the grant, Asphalt Green had to allow free or reduced-free access to its facilities 30 percent of the time. known as the AquaCenter. The Murphy Center's roof had deteriorated by the late 1990s due to water damage. The State Division for Youth gave a $190,000 grant to fund repairs to the roof, although Asphalt Green officials estimated that a full roof replacement would cost $1.2 million. The complex also continued to host other sports such as football, soccer, softball, and baseball, as well as programs such as martial arts, Pilates, and yoga. The complex gave free swimming lessons to 5,000 students a year by the early 2010s; among its students was 2012 Olympic medalist Lia Neal. Meanwhile, the neighboring DSNY waste transfer station had closed in 1999 and city officials proposed reopening it in 2006, though local residents opposed this plan for several years. The reopening proceeded and City officials announced in late 2014 that Asphalt Green would have to be closed temporarily while an access ramp to the waste transfer station, bisecting the complex at 91st Street, was built. The city government agreed to build another ramp after Asphalt Green officials and residents expressed concerns that the ramp would endanger children crossing the street. Asphalt Green replaced the Murphy Center's fourth-floor basketball courts in 2015 with a soccer field. At the end of that year, Asphalt Green officials announced plans to renovate the other three floors of the Murphy Center for $2.2 million. The filters in the main swimming pool were replaced in 2017 for $700,000. The outdoor field was renamed Litwin Field in 2019 after Glenwood Management chief executive Leonard Litwin, a longtime donor to Asphalt Green. == Impact ==

Critical reception Robert Moses, New York City's parks commissioner at the time of the asphalt plant's completion in 1944, had a negative view of what he dubbed the "Cathedral of Asphalt", deriding it as a "freakish experiment". In a 1943 op-ed for The New York Times, Moses described the plant as one instance of the "horrible modernistic stuff" being built around New York City. Moses's comments prompted Binger to defend the design in a New York Times article. MoMA also defended the plant in Built in U.S.A., 1932-1944, a book that accompanied the exhibition. Ralph Gardner Jr. of The Wall Street Journal wrote in 2011 that, after the Municipal Asphalt Plant was converted into Asphalt Green, it had "become singularly successful, something of a town square, its facilities attracting everyone from children arriving for swimming lessons to the elderly." Landmark designations The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the mixing plant as a New York City landmark in January 1976; At the time, Goldberger wrote that the mixing plant was a "crucial modern monument in the city" and that "it has been doing unofficial landmark duty for a long time". Conversely, some critics of the LPC questioned whether the mixing plant was even worthy of landmark status. Kent Barwick of the LPC said that, by giving landmark status to such structures as the Municipal Asphalt Plant, sidewalk clocks, and the interiors of several New York City Subway stations, the LPC was "getting closer to [...] a complete package" with regards to the types of structures that received landmark status. The mixing plant was also placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. == Management ==

Asphalt Green Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, operates the former Municipal Asphalt Plant. George Murphy founded the organization in 1975, while he was advocating to convert the plant into a recreation center. The organization operates youth and adult sports programs, one-third of which are free to the public. the Battery Park City facility contains a swimming pool, gymnasium, fitness center, and outdoor fields. ==See also==