High Line

At the Gansevoort Street end (which runs north-south), the stub over Gansevoort Street is named the Tiffany and Co. Foundation Overlook[4] and was dedicated in July 2012; the foundation was a major supporter of the park.[8][9] The route then passes under The Standard, High Line hotel[10][11] and through a passage at 14th Street.[4] At 14th Street, the High Line splits into two sides at different elevations;[12] the Diller-Von Furstenberg Water Feature (opened in 2010) is on the lower side, and a sundeck is on the upper side.[13]

The route passes under the Chelsea Market, a food hall, at 15th Street.[4][14] A spur, connecting the viaduct to the National Biscuit Company building and closed to the public, splits off at 16th Street.[12] The railroad tracks on the spur are left in situ but the trackbeds are planted with greenery. The Tenth Avenue Square, an amphitheater on the viaduct, is at 17th Street where the High Line crosses over Tenth Avenue from southeast to northwest.[4][12] At the 23rd Street Lawn, visitors can rest.[4][15] Between 25th and 26th Streets a ramp takes visitors above the viaduct, with a scenic overlook facing east at 26th Street. The Philip Falcone and Lisa Maria Falcone Flyover, named after two major donors to the park,[4][12] was based on plans for a Phase 1 flyover which was never built.[16]

The park then curves west to Phase 3 and merges into the Tenth Avenue Spur, which stretches over 30th Street to Tenth Avenue.[17][18] The Tenth Avenue Spur is composed of three parts: the Coach Passage, with 60-foot-tall (18 m) ceilings; the High Line's largest planted garden; and a plaza with temporary art exhibitions that get replaced every 18 months.[19] Phase 3 has another ramp taking visitors above the viaduct at 11th Avenue and a play area with rail ties and the Pershing Beams (modified, silicone-covered beams and stanchions coming out of the structure), a gathering space with benches, and a set of three railroad tracks where one can walk between the rails.[20][21][22] The play area also has a seesaw-like bench and a "chime bench", with keys which make sounds when tapped.[1] The Interim Walkway, from 11th Avenue and 30th Street to 34th Street divides the viaduct into two sides: a gravel walkway and an undeveloped section with rail tracks. The temporary walkway will close for renovation when the Tenth Avenue Spur is completed.[23] The High Line turns north to a point just east of Twelfth Avenue. At 34th Street it curves east and descends, ending at street level midway between 12th and 11th Avenues.[4]

The center section, opened in June 2011

The square at Tenth Avenue and 17th Street, where the "10th Avenue Square & Overlook" provides views of the street from a window placed in the space created by removing the structure's steel beams.[24]

The park's attractions include naturalized plantings, inspired by plants which grew on the disused tracks,[25] and views of the city and the Hudson River. The pebble-dash concrete walkways swell and constrict, swing from side to side, and divide into concrete tines which meld the hardscape with plantings embedded in railroad-gravel mulch. "By opening the paving, we allow the plants to bleed through," said landscape architect James Corner, "almost as if the plants were colonizing the paved areas. There's a sort of blending or bleeding or suturing between the hard paving, the surface for people to stroll on, and the planting ... "[26] Stretches of track and ties recall the High Line's former use, and portions of track are re-used for rolling lounges positioned for river views.[27] The 120-species plant palette, curated by Dutch landscape architect Piet Oudolf, includes sturdy meadow plants (such as clump-forming grasses, liatris, and coneflowers) and scattered stands of sumac and smokebush and is not limited to native plants. At the Gansevoort Street end, a grove of mixed species of birch provides shade by late afternoon. Ipê timber for the built-in benches came from a managed forest certified by the Forest Stewardship Council to ensure sustainability and the conservation of biological diversity, water resources, and fragile ecosystems.[28] According to James Corner Field Operations, the High Line's design "is characterized by an intimate choreography of movement."[29]

The High Line also has cultural attractions as part of a long-term plan for the park to host temporary installations and performances. Creative Time, Friends of the High Line, and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation commissioned The River That Flows Both Ways by Spencer Finch as the inaugural art installation. The work is integrated into the window bays of the former Nabisco factory loading dock as a series of 700 purple and gray glass panes. Each color is calibrated to match the center pixel of 700 digital pictures (one taken every minute) of the Hudson River, making up an extended portrait of the river. Creative Time worked with Finch to realize his site-specific concept after he saw the rusted, disused mullions of the old factory, with metal-and-glass specialists Jaroff Design helping to prepare and reinstall.[30][31]

A summer 2010 sound installation by Stephen Vitiello was composed from bells heard throughout New York. Lauren Ross, former director of the alternative art space White Columns, was the High Line's first curator.[32] During the construction of the second phase (between 20th and 30th Streets) several artworks were installed, including Sarah Sze's Still Life with Landscape (Model for a Habitat): a steel-and-wood sculpture near 20th and 21st Streets built as a house for fauna such as birds and butterflies. Kim Beck's Space Available[33] was installed on the roofs of three buildings visible from the southern end. Three 20-by-12-foot (6.1 by 3.7 m) sculptures, resembling the armature of empty billboards and constructed like theater backdrops, looks three-dimensional from a distance.[34][35] Also installed during the second phase of construction was Julianne Swartz's Digital Empathy, a work utilizing audio messages at restrooms, elevators, and water fountains.[36] In 2012-13 the Ghanaian born Nigerian artist El Anatsui's large scale sculpture "Broken Bridge ll" (at the time his largest work to date) fashioned from recycled pressed tin and broken mirrors was positioned on a wall on the west side of the street between West 21st and West 22nd street facing and sidelining the High Line.[37][38] In 2016 Tony Matelli's controversial sculpture "Sleepwalker" was exhibited upon the High Line.[39] In 2017 Max Hooper Schneider's aquarium was displayed on the passageway.[40] In 2018 the High Line hosted the British sculptor Phyllida Barlow's first public commission "Prop" which has been described as a concrete colossus.[41]

Train passing through the Bell Laboratories Building, seen from Washington Street in 1936. Only the track segment that runs through the third level of the building, and atop its two story extension, still exists.[42]

Bell Laboratories Building in 2017

In 1847, the City of New York authorized the construction of railroad tracks along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues on Manhattan's West Side. The street-level tracks were used by the New York Central Railroad's freight trains, which shipped commodities such as coal, dairy products, and beef.[43][44] For safety the railroad hired "West Side cowboys", men who rode horses and waved flags in front of the trains.[45] However, so many accidents occurred between freight trains and other traffic that the nickname "Death Avenue" was given to Tenth[46][47] and Eleventh Avenues.[43] In 1910, one organization estimated that there had been 548 deaths and 1,574 injuries over the years along Eleventh Avenue.[43]

Public debate about the hazard began during the early 1900s.[48] In 1929 the city, the state, and New York Central agreed on the West Side Improvement Project,[44] conceived by New York City park commissioner Robert Moses.[49] The 13-mile (21 km) project eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings, added 32 acres (13 ha) to Riverside Park, and included construction of the West Side Elevated Highway.[50] The plans also included the construction of the St. John's Freight Terminal at Spring Street,[51] which was completed in 1936[52] and replaced the street-level St. John's Park Terminal in present-day Tribeca.[53] The West Side Improvement cost more than $150 million,[50] worth about $2.23 billion in 2019 dollars.[54] The last stretch of street-level track was removed from Eleventh Avenue in 1941.[48]

The first train on the High Line viaduct, part of New York Central's West Side Line, ran along the structure in 1933.[55] The elevated structure was dedicated on June 29, 1934, and was the first part of the West Side Improvement Project to be completed.[56] The High Line, which originally ran from 35th Street to St. John's Freight Terminal,[57] was designed to go through the center of blocks rather than over an avenue.[56][45] As a result, the viaduct's construction necessitated the demolition of 640 buildings.[56][48] It connected directly to factories and warehouses, allowing trains to load and unload inside buildings. Milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods could be transported and unloaded without disturbing street traffic.[45] This reduced the load on the Bell Laboratories Building (which has housed the Westbeth Artists Community since 1970)[58] and the former Nabisco plant in Chelsea Market, which were served from protected sidings in the buildings.[47][59]

The line also passed under the Western Electric complex at Washington Street. Although the section still existed as of May 2008, it is not connected to the developed park.[47][42]

Abandoned High Line tracks in 2009 (current phase 3 section at 34th Street)

Reconstructed tracks at 20th Street, 2010

The growth of interstate trucking during the 1950s led to a drop in rail traffic throughout the U.S.[55] St. John's Freight Terminal was abandoned in 1960,[60] and the southernmost section of the line was demolished in the following decade due to low use.[61] The West Village Apartments were then built on part of the former segment's right of way.[62] The demolished section began at Bank Street and ran down Washington Street to Spring Street (just north of Canal Street).[63]

By 1978, the High Line viaduct was used to deliver just two carloads of cargo per week. The viaduct was shut down in 1980, when owner Conrail had to disconnect the viaduct from the rest of the national rail system for a year. The closure was necessitated as a result of the construction of Javits Center at 34th Street, which required that the curve at 35th Street be rebuilt.[55] The last train on the viaduct was a three-car consist carrying frozen turkeys.[45][47][62] During the time the viaduct was disconnected, two large customers along the route moved to New Jersey.[55] The curve to the viaduct from 35th Street was demolished during the construction of Javits Center and was replaced by the current curve at 34th Street.[57] The tracks leading to the High Line were reconnected in 1981, but as there were no more customers along the route, the curve at 34th Street was never completed, and the viaduct did not see any further usage.[55] At this point, Conrail still owned the right of way and the tracks.[45][47][62]

During the mid-1980s, a group of property owners with land under the line lobbied for the demolition of the entire structure. Peter Obletz, a Chelsea resident, activist, and railroad enthusiast, challenged the demolition efforts in court and tried to re-establish rail service on the line.[45][62][64] Obletz offered to buy the viaduct for $10 in order to run a small amount of freight trains on the line, and Conrail accepted, mainly because demolition would have cost $5 million. However, this offer was also disputed in court. By 1988, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was negotiating with Conrail for the possibility for using the line's right of way to construct a light rail route.[55] These negotiations did not proceed further, and by the end of the 1980s, it was expected that the High Line would be demolished.[65]

As part of the construction of the Empire Connection to Penn Station, which opened in spring 1991, the West Side Line tracks north of 35th Street were routed to the new Empire Connection tunnel to Penn Station. A small section of the High Line in the West Village, from Bank to Gansevoort Streets, was taken apart in 1991 despite objections by preservationists.[66] The remaining riveted-steel elevated structure was unused and in disrepair during the 1990s, but it remained structurally sound. Around this time, it became known to urban explorers and local residents for the tough, drought-tolerant wild grasses, shrubs (such as sumac) and rugged trees which had sprung up in the gravel along the abandoned railway. The administration of mayor Rudy Giuliani planned to demolish the structure.[47][67] The Interstate Commerce Commission approved plans to demolish the structure in 1992, but demolition was delayed due to disputes between various city government agencies and the railroad companies. Ownership of the viaduct ultimately passed to CSX Transportation in 1999.[68]

A nonprofit organization called Friends of the High Line[45] was formed in October 1999 by Joshua David and Robert Hammond.[68] They advocated its preservation and reuse as public open space, an elevated park or greenway similar to the Promenade Plantée in Paris.[69][70][71] The organization was initially a small community group advocating the High Line's preservation and transformation when the structure was threatened with demolition during Rudy Giuliani’s second term as mayor.[72] In 2000,[68] CSX Transportation gave photographer Joel Sternfeld permission to photograph it for a year. Sternfeld's photographs of its meadow-like natural beauty, discussed in an episode of the documentary series Great Museums, were used at public meetings when the subject of saving the High Line was discussed.[73] Mary Boone's art gallery, as well as Martha Stewart and Edward Norton, hosted fundraising benefits for the High Line in 2001 and 2002 respectively.[68] Fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg (who had moved her New York City headquarters to the Meatpacking District in 1997) and her husband, Barry Diller, also organized fundraising events in her studio.[73]

In 2003, Friends of the High Line sponsored a design competition that attracted more than 720 participants from 38 countries.[61][74] Proposals included a sculpture garden, an elongated swimming pool, and a linear amusement park/campground.[61][75] In July 2003, Edward Norton and Robert Caro hosted a benefit event at Grand Central Terminal, where the submissions for the design contest were exhibited.[68] The same month, a bipartisan group of city officials began petitioning the federal Surface Transportation Board to hand over title to the viaduct for park use.[76] In anticipation of this handover, the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans for a High Line park that September.[77] The following year, the New York City government committed $50 million to establish the proposed park. Mayor Bloomberg and City Council speakers Gifford Miller and Christine C. Quinn were among the major supporters. Fundraising for the park raised a total of over $150 million (equivalent to $178,758,000 in 2019).[78] The Surface Transportation Board issued a certificate of interim trail use on June 13, 2005, allowing the city to remove most of the line from the national rail system.[79] Ownership officially passed from CSX to the city that November.[80]

On April 10, 2006, Mayor Bloomberg presided over a ceremony to mark the beginning of construction. The park was designed by James Corner's New York-based landscape architecture firm Field Operations and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with garden design by Piet Oudolf of the Netherlands, lighting design from L'Observatoire International,[81] and engineering design by Buro Happold[82] and Robert Silman Associates.[83] New York City Department of City Planning director and city planning commission chair Amanda Burden contributed to the project's development.[84][85] Major supporters included Philip Falcone,[86] Diane von Fürstenberg, Barry Diller, and von Fürstenberg's children Alexander and Tatiana von Fürstenberg.[87] Hotel developer Andre Balazs, owner of the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, built the 337-room Standard Hotel straddling the High Line at West 13th Street.[10]

The southernmost section, from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, opened as a city park on June 8, 2009.[88] The section includes five stairways and elevators at 14th Street and 16th Street.[4] Around the same time, construction of the second section began.[89] A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on June 7, 2011 to open the second section (from 20th Street to 30th Street), with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Congressman Jerrold Nadler in attendance.[90][91] CSX Transportation, owner of the northernmost section from 30th to 34th Streets, agreed in principle to donate the section to the city in 2011;[87] the Related Companies, which owns development rights for the West Side Rail Yards, agreed not to tear down the spur crossing 10th Avenue.[92] Construction on the final section was started in September 2012.[93][94]

The Whitney Museum of American Art opened its new building on Gansevoort Street, next to the south end of the High Line, in 2015.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the High Line's third phase was held on September 20, 2014,[95][96] followed the next day by the opening of its third section and a procession down the park.[97][98][95] The third phase, costing $76 million, was divided into two parts.[6] The first part (costing $75 million)[99] is from the end of phase 2 of the line to its terminus at 34th Street, west of 11th Avenue.[6][100][101] The second part, a spur above Tenth Avenue and 30th Street, has room to install artworks curated by the public art program.[102][103][104] The spur was scheduled to open by 2018,[17] but was then delayed to April 2019,[18] and later to June 2019.[105] It opened on June 4, 2019, with the installation of a plinth as its initial artwork.[106][19] It contains entrances to 10 Hudson Yards,[107] built above the spur.[108]

The High Line closed temporarily in early 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City; while most parks remained open during the pandemic, the High Line is a linear park with few means to spread out for social distancing measures.[109][110] The High Line reopened on July 16, 2020, with limited capacity: the section between Gansevoort and 23rd streets were only open to visitors with timed-entry passes, and were only able to walk northbound from Gansevoort Street, with the other access points being for egress only.[111] As of January 2021, weekend admissions still required a pass but weekday admissions did not.[112]

On January 11, 2021, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced proposals to extend the High Line east to Moynihan Train Hall and north to Hudson River Park.[113][114] The 1,200-foot (370 m) Moynihan Train Hall spur, planned to cost $60 million, would run east along 30th Street for one block to Dyer Avenue, then turn north to 31st Street, connecting to a public space within Manhattan West that ends at the west side of Ninth Avenue directly across from Moynihan Train Hall. A second spur would diverge from the Phase 3 walkway at 34th Street, running north to the Javits Center and then turning west to cross the West Side Highway to Hudson River Park.[115][114] At the time of the spurs' announcement, neither of the projects had been funded.[114]

The recycling of the rail line into an urban park and tourist attraction has revitalized Chelsea, which was "gritty" and in generally poor condition during the late twentieth century.[124] It has also spurred real-estate development in the neighborhoods along the line.[125] According to mayor Bloomberg, by 2009 more than 30 projects were planned or under construction nearby,[88] and by 2016 more than 11 projects were under construction.[126] It has also helped raise the value of properties directly adjacent to the High Line by an average of 10 percent over properties a few blocks away. At least 20 properties abutting the High Line have sold for at least $10 million since the park's opening in 2009, with an apartment in a building directly adjacent to the park selling for an average of $6 million.[126] Apartments located near Phase 1 of the High Line are, on average, more than twice as costly as those between Seventh and Eighth Avenues (two blocks east).[127] In August 2016, the park continued to increase real-estate values along it in an example of the halo effect.[128]

The third phase, by 30th Street, in 2015

Residents who have bought apartments next to the High Line adapted to its presence in various ways, but most responses were positive.[15] However, many established businesses in west Chelsea have closed due to loss of their neighborhood customer base or rent increases.[129] Chelsea has significant minority communities, many of whom live in two large public housing developments.[130] In a 2017 interview, Friends of the High Line co-founder Robert Hammond said that he "failed" the community; the High Line did not fulfill its original purpose of serving the surrounding neighborhood, which had become demographically divided around the park.[131]

Due to the High Line's popularity, several museums were proposed or built along its path. The Dia Art Foundation considered (but rejected) a proposal to build a museum at the Gansevoort Street terminus.[132] On that site, the Whitney Museum has built a new home for its collection of American art. The building, designed by Renzo Piano, opened on May 1, 2015.[133]

Crime has been low in the park. Shortly after the second section opened in 2011, The New York Times reported that there had been no reports of major crimes (such as assault or robbery) since the first phase opened two years earlier. Parks Enforcement Patrols have written summonses for infractions of park rules such as walking dogs or riding bicycles on the walkway at a lower rate than in Central Park. Park advocates attributed this to the visibility of the High Line from surrounding buildings, a feature of urban life espoused by author Jane Jacobs nearly fifty years before. According to Joshua David, "Empty parks are dangerous ... Busy parks are much less so. You're virtually never alone on the High Line."[134] In a review of the Highliner restaurant – which has now reverted to its previous name, the Empire Diner – Ariel Levy wrote in The New Yorker that... "The new Chelsea that is emerging on weekends as visitors flood the elevated park ... [is] touristy, overpriced, and shiny."[135]

The High Line's success in New York City has encouraged leaders in other cities such as Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, who sees it as "a symbol and catalyst" for gentrifying neighborhoods.[136] Several cities nationwide have plans to renovate railroad infrastructure into parkland,[137] including Philadelphia's Rail Park, Atlanta's Belt Line, and Chicago's Bloomingdale Trail.[138] The High Line has helped pioneer the creation of elevated parks worldwide.[138][139][140] In Queens, the Queensway (a proposed aerial rail trail) is being considered for reactivation along the right-of-way of the former Long Island Rail Road Rockaway Beach Branch.[141] Other cities around the world are planning elevated rails-to-trails parks in what a writer has called the "High Line effect".[142][143]

According to some estimates, it costs substantially less to redevelop an abandoned urban rail line into a linear park than to demolish it.[136] Landscape architect James Corner (who led the High Line's design team) noted that "The High Line is not easily replicable in other cities," however, observing that building a "cool park" requires a "framework" of neighborhoods around it to succeed.[136]

In 2016, Friends of the High Line launched the High Line Network to support similar infrastructure re-use projects being developed in other cities.[144] As of 2017, there are 19 projects in the network, including River LA, the Atlanta Beltline, Crissy Field, Dequindre Cut, the Lowline, Klyde Warren Park, the Bentway, Bergen Arches, Destination Crenshaw and the Trinity River Project.[145][146][147]