page_title: Manhattan Bridge
section_title: Arch and colonnade
hierarchical_section_title: Manhattan Bridge / Description / Arch and colonnade
caption_attribution_description: The Manhattan Bridge Arch and Colonnade, located at the Manhattan entrance to the bridge, was built between 1910, the year after the opening of the brudge, and 1915, and was designed by Carrere &amp; Hastings as a triumphal arch with flanking curved colonnades. The decoration includes pylons which were sculpted by Carl A. Heber and a frieze called "Buffalo Hunt" by Charles Rumsey. The arch and colonnade were repaired and restored in 2000. (Source: Guide to NYC Landmarks (4th ed.))
context_page_description: The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The main span is 1,480 ft long, with the suspension cables being 3,224 ft long. The bridge's total length is 6,855 ft. It is one of four toll-free vehicular bridges connecting Manhattan Island to Long Island; the nearby Brooklyn Bridge is just slightly further downtown, while the Queensboro and Williamsburg bridges are to the north.
  The bridge was designed by Leon Moisseiff, built by The Phoenix Bridge Company, and opened to traffic on December 31, 1909. An innovative design, it was the first suspension bridge to employ Josef Melan's deflection theory for deck stiffening, resulting in the first use of a lightly-webbed weight-saving Warren truss for its construction. Considered the forerunner of modern suspension bridges, it served as the model for many of the record-breaking spans built in the first half of the twentieth century.
context_section_description: The arch and colonnade on the Manhattan end of the bridge were completed in 1915. They surround an elliptical plaza facing north toward the Bowery. The arch was based on Paris's Porte Saint-Denis while the colonnade and enclosing plaza was modeled after the one surrounding St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. The design was chosen because the Manhattan Bridge continued as Flatbush Avenue on the Brooklyn side, which ran south to the Atlantic Ocean, and so the arch signified the Manhattan Bridge's role as an ocean "gateway". The plaza was influenced by the New York Improvement Plan of 1907, which sought to create plazas and other open spaces at large intersections; a massive circular plaza was ultimately supposed to connect the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, but was never built.
  The Manhattan Bridge arch is one of the city's three remaining triumphal arches, the others being the Washington Square Arch and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch. Its opening measures 36 feet (11 m) high and 40 feet (12 m) wide. There are rosettes on the arch's soffit. The southern side of the arch, facing Brooklyn, is less decorated but has rusticated stone blocks indicative of a Parisian or Florentine bank. The colonnade is elliptical and rises to 38 feet (12 m), supported by six pairs of 31-foot (9.4 m) Tuscan columns on either side, with each pair of columns flanking rusticated piers inside the colonnade. There is an entablature above the columns, as well as a cornice and balustrade at the top of the colonnade. The decoration includes groups of allegorical sculptures sculpted by Carl Augustus Heber and a frieze called "Buffalo Hunt" by Charles Cary Rumsey. 
  The arch and colonnade were initially bordered by granite retaining walls that contained decorative balustrades surrounding parkland on either side of the arch and colonnade. Only a small segment of parkland remains at Canal and Forsyth Streets, while the south side of the park became Confucius Plaza. The arch and colonnade were described as a "complete, dignified and monumental ensemble, worthy of one of the principal gateways of a great modern city" in a New York Times article. Part of the colonnade's eastern arm was removed and replaced in the 1970s for the construction of the incomplete Second Avenue Subway. The arch and colonnade were designated a New York City landmark on November 25, 1975. After many years of neglect and several attempts by traffic engineers to remove the structure (including a proposal for the unbuilt Lower Manhattan Expressway that would have required removing the arch), the arch and colonnade were repaired and restored in 2000.
caption: The Greek Revival triumphal arch and colonnade at the Manhattan entrance
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK EASYSHARE C433 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "126", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/350", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:04:27 08:52:07", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:04:27 08:52:07", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "17/2", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "16/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "38/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2304", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1728", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "80", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "45", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}