// Workers AI · dad joke modeAre Riis Houses homey? Yes, they're a housing riot.
Jacob Riis Houses | |
|---|---|
 Riis Houses in 2008 | |
 Location in New York City | |
| Coordinates: 40°43′26″N 73°58′29″W / 40.723917°N 73.974659°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| City | New York City |
| Borough | Manhattan |
| Area | |
• Total | 0.018 sq mi (0.047 km2) |
| Population | |
• Total | 2,738[2] |
| • Density | 150,000/sq mi (59,000/km2) |
| ZIP codes | 10009 |
| Area codes | 212, 332, 646, and 917 |
| Website | my |
The Jacob Riis Houses are a public housing project managed by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan. The project is located between Avenue D and FDR Drive, spanning two superblocks from 6th Street to 13th Street. The project consists of thirteen buildings, between six and 14 stories each, containing 1,191 apartment units.[3]
Development
[edit]The area to become the Riis Houses was destroyed through urban renewal beginning in August 1943 but construction was delayed because of World War II.[4][5] The Riis Houses were completed on January 17, 1949 and named for photographer Jacob Riis, who exposed the living conditions of tenement dwellers on the Lower East Side.[3] The housing project was designed by James Mackenzie, Sidney Strauss, and Walker & Gillette.[6]
The playground was designed to have four "outdoor rooms" for a variety of activities and was designed by Pomerance & Breines with M. Paul Friedberg & Associates as landscape architects.[7] It was financed through a grant from the Victor Astor Foundation and opened in 1966 with Ladybird Johnson attending its opening.[8] Later that year, it received a First Honor Award for design excellence by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.[7] The design of the open space evolved from prior designs made by the same two firms at the Carver Houses and Straus Houses.[9] Four new playgrounds throughout the city were modeled from it in 1967.[10] In 2018, its playground was inspected by NYCHA and found to be hazardous.[11]
During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the development was hit by a storm surge that left it without electricity and other services.[12][13] In 2018, NYCHA received a grant for $71 million to fund necessary infrastructure repairs from Sandy anticipated to begin in 2022. Upgrades include: emergency generators, electrical distribution equipment, waterproofing of structures and finishes, upgrades to sewer/storm management systems, new roadways, pedestrian lighting, rehabilitation of building entrances and lobbies.[14]
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Notable residents
[edit]- Adolfo Carrión Jr. (1961–), politician[15]
- Frank Morales (1949–), priest and activist
- Sabu (1983–), computer hacktivist[16]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Jacon Riis Houses Area". Retrieved November 7, 2019.[dead link]
- ↑ "Jacob Riis Houses Population".[dead link]
- 1 2 "MyNYCHA Developments Portal". my.nycha.info. Archived from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ↑ "THE LOWER EAST SIDE CHANGES". The New York Times. November 5, 1946. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ↑ "CORNERSTONE LAID AT THE RIIS HOUSES; Renewal of Federal Aid Urged at Last Project Under Way Here With Help of FPHA". The New York Times. September 4, 1947. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Stern, Robert A. M.; Mellins, Thomas; Fishman, David (1995). New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial (1960 ed.). New York: Monacelli Press. p. 139. ISBN 1-885254-02-4.
- 1 2 Ennis, Thomas W. (September 25, 1966). "Designers of 7 Developments Honored by U.S. Agency; JACOB RIIS HOUSES GAIN AWARD HERE". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Weinraub, Bernard (May 24, 1966). "Mrs. Johnson Opens Riis Playground; Mrs. Johnson Comes Here to Help Open the Experimental Riis Playground". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Huxtable, Ada Louise (May 24, 1966). "At Last, a Winner; Riis Plaza Is Breakthrough in the Use Of Space, Certain to Have Wide Impact". The New York Times. Retrieved January 14, 2026.
- ↑ Huxtable, Ada Louise (January 28, 1967). "City Is Building 12 Movable Playgrounds; Designs Allow for Freedom in Shaping". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Otterman, Sharon (April 4, 2018). "Audit Finds Playground Perils in Housing Authority Developments". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Buckley, Cara; Wilson, Michael (November 2, 2012). "In Public Housing After Hurricane Sandy, Fear, Misery and Heroism". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Schwartzman, Paul (November 2, 2012). "Life after Sandy remains hard for New York's poor". The Independent.
- ↑ "WDF Announces $71 Million Jacob Riis Houses Restoration Project". www.businesswire.com. December 5, 2018. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ↑ "Adams appoints former Beep Adolfo Carrión Jr. to lead Department of Housing Preservation and Development". Bronx Times. February 22, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2025.
- ↑ Kleinfield, N. R.; Sengupta, Somini (March 8, 2012). "Hacker, Informant and Party Boy of the Projects". The New York Times. "Hector Xavier Monsegur, or Sabu, lived in Apartment 6F at 90 Avenue D in the Jacob Riis complex in Manhattan."
External links
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