1784

1784

New York was made the first capital of New York State and of the United States in 1784, a distinction which stimulated improvements to the city's parks, especially Battery Park. Trees were planted along its sea wall, fences built, and the shoreline extended through landfill. Open access to the waterfront and magnificent harbor views made the Battery New Yorkers' favorite spot for an afternoon stroll or an evening promenade. George Washington mentions frequent walks "round the Battery" in the diaries he kept during his residence in New York at this time.

Left: Attack on Fort Washington, November 16, 1776
In the fall of 1776 several battles were fought in what are now parks, including Prospect, Inwood Hill, Fort Tryon, Bennett and Fort Washington Parks. In this view of the Battle of Washington Heights, the Morris-Jumel Mansion (1765), now in Roger Morris Park, is visible on top of the hill to the left.

Stokes Collection, New York Public Library

6

Inwood
Planning
Study

Yale School of Architecture
Spring 1975

••• Indian Trails

Contours in 50 Foot Intervals

The flat land of Inwood is bordered by the Harlem River along the north and east. To the west and south the terrain rises steeply to heights over 200 feet. Further west the hills descend to the Hudson River. Starting from the southern boundary of Inwood two parallel ridges continue through Washington Heights. The early Indian trails follow the lowlands along the river and the valley between the major ridges of Washington Heights.

Indian Trails
Before 1600

Inwood
Planning
Study

Hudson River R.R.

By the middle 1800's most of the farm land holdings in Inwood had been turned into suburban residences and spacious country estates. The rough terrain and relative inaccessibility tended to maintain this lifestyle until early 1900. Tubby Hook started as a fishing village along the present day Dyckman Street where it leads to the Hudson River. A railroad station was established in 1847 upon the completion of the Hudson River R.R. and the village changed its name to Kingsbridge Park. In 1870 it changed again to Inwood. In 1857 the first school was built at Broadway and Academy. By the 1800's the first trace of Manhattan's grid appeared in Inwood. Broadway and Dyckman continued to follow along the route of the original Indian trails and a new street, Tenth Avenue, was extended from the Manhattan grid. East of Tenth the grid developed according to the intersection of Dyckman and Broadway and west of Tenth the streets followed the Manhattan grid. These developments become clear in the 1908 plan.

1860

Inwood
Planning
Study

Hudson River R.R.

1860

Inwood
Planning
Study

With the exception of an
expanded industrial zone along
the Harlem River and slightly
fewer blocks zoned commer-
cially, Inwood's 1961 zoning
follows closely that of 1916.
The industrial zone, somewhat
underutilized, has been devel-
oped mainly as a city facility
for transit and sanitation and a
Con-Ed site. The commercial
zone, a vital part of Inwood,
consists mainly of neighbor-
hood retail businesses. Little
has been built in Inwood in the
past thirty years. In 1952 the
Dyckman Houses, public hous-
ing, were built and in 1936 the
Henry Hudson Parkway, which
allows traffic to bypass
Inwood, was completed. The
major building boom was dur-
ing the 1920's and 1930's. In the
twenties dense blocks of walk-
ups and six-story elevator
buildings were erected to
house a growing middle-class.
The 1930's development west
of Broadway and above Isham
Park came with the comple-
tion of the Independent sub-
way in 1932. This consisted in
large part of six-story "semi-
fireproof" elevator apartment
houses, with a few higher
buildings and several large
groups.

1961 Zoning

Inwood
Planning
Study

8+ Quarters

1-7 Quarters

In New York City, in rem
foreclosure proceedings are
initiated against a building
when it becomes more than
twelve quarters in arrears. One
purpose of analyzing tax ar-
rears is thus to identify any
properties whose ownership
the City might assume in the
near future. Another purpose is
to determine whether landlords
have begun to disinvest in the
area. Tax arrears is an indicator
of disinvestment and ultimate
abandonment by a landlord
seeking to "milk" his property
for maximum short-term profit.
Because very few properties in
Inwood are in arrears, there is
no evidence of advanced disin-
vestment. Landlords obviously
still feel there is profit to be
made and do not want to risk
losing their properties through
tax foreclosure.

1975

Tax

Arrears

Inwood
Planning
Study

*1970 U.S. Census defines persons of Spanish language as all persons in a family of which the head or wife reported Spanish as his or her mother tongue.

Inwood was 19.2% Spanish speaking in 1970, 5.3% Cuban, 5.7% Puerto Rican and 8.2% other Spanish speaking (includes Dominicans)

Spanish
Language
Population,
1970

Inwood
Planning
Study

Frequently, a large number of welfare families in a building coincides with deterioration and incipient disinvestment. Large, AFDC families often exert an abnormal amount of wear and tear on a building. In many cases their presence drives out other tenants, whose places can only be filled by other welfare families. In the day of Vacancy Decontrol this pattern was often a conscious strategy on the part of the landlord who wanted to charge higher decontrolled rents, which welfare clients, with their relatively high categorical housing grants, could afford. In inwood the bulk of the welfare families are east of Broadway. Special attention must be given, however, to concentrations in isolated buildings west of Broadway because of the effect they might have on the stable, predominantly white and elderly population. One building in particular, 26-32 Cooper Street, contains both a concentration of welfare families and of code violations.

1973
Welfare
Cases

Inwood
Planning
Study

In Inwood, especially west of Broadway, there are a significant number of large apartments occupied by one and two person households, a large number of which are undoubtedly elderly. These apartments are a valuable resource for accommodating the influx of younger, larger families which Census data indicates will occur as the elderly pass away. Perhaps these apartments can presently be viewed as underutilized housing, but to induce elderly tenants to move from them would be a difficult task at best in light of the long controlled, low rents. In any case, the good conditions of the blocks west of Broadway refutes the possibility that housing maintenance is suffering because rental revenues from elderly tenants are insufficient to cover expenses. In many cases, landlords probably use low rents as a means of keeping stable, reliable tenants.

1973

⅔ of 1 & 2

Pers Hsehld &
Med Apt Size

In Census Rms

Introduction

Inwood, N.Y. is a geographically separate and historically distinct community of approximately 55,000 (1970 census) located at the northern tip of Manhattan Island. The area is well serviced by transportation facilities and is only ten minutes driving time from sub-regional and regional shopping centers at 181st Street to the south and Fordham Road to the north east. Culturally Inwood is in a state of transition from a predominately Irish and Jewish population to a Spanish speaking one. Based upon interviews Inwood apparently has a strong sense of place and community, influenced to some degree by its location and the distinction of its primary asset, Inwood Park. Personal contact with residents and merchants during interviews revealed consistent evidence of a proud and self reliant population with a strong commitment to the community as a whole.

Commercial Analysis

In the mid 1960's neighborhood and community shopping strips were experiencing 16-20 percent vacancy rates in many large cities throughout the United States due to migration of the middle class to the suburbs and the resultant growth in regional shopping centers. Inwood, apparently was no exception with a reduction in the total number of retail establishments from 642 in 1958 to 498 in 1967 at a time when population peaked at 62,000 people. This reduction in the number of stores was also representative of a trend from the traditional Ma & Pa store to the larger chain store.

Many studies made in the late sixties to evaluate and remedy the failure of small shopping strips recommended the following actions:

Consolidation of stores, creation of Business Advancement Associations, Small Business Administra-

RETAIL SUMMARY - INWOOD N.Y.

<table><tr><td>Year</td></tr><tr><td>Total Retail Stores</td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td>1975</td><td>percent</td></tr><tr><td>764</td><td></td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td>1967</td><td>percent</td></tr><tr><td>498</td><td></td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td>1958</td><td>percent</td></tr><tr><td>642</td><td></td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td>Food Group</td></tr><tr><td>Eating - Drinking</td></tr><tr><td>Gen. Merchandise</td></tr><tr><td>Apparel Group</td></tr><tr><td>Furniture - Appliance</td></tr><tr><td>Automotive</td></tr><tr><td>Lumber - Hardware</td></tr><tr><td>Drug Store</td></tr><tr><td>Liquor</td></tr><tr><td>Other Retail</td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td>117</td><td>15.3</td><td>145</td><td>29.0</td><td>203</td><td>32.0</td></tr><tr><td>138</td><td>18.1</td><td>103</td><td>20.0</td><td>142</td><td>22.0</td></tr><tr><td>103</td><td>13.5</td><td>12</td><td>2.4</td><td>26</td><td>4.0</td></tr><tr><td>70</td><td>9.2</td><td>57</td><td>12.2</td><td>48</td><td>7.5</td></tr><tr><td>39</td><td>5.2</td><td>28</td><td>5.7</td><td>40</td><td>6.2</td></tr><tr><td>32</td><td>4.2</td><td>28</td><td>5.7</td><td>55</td><td>8.5</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>1.9</td><td>10</td><td>2.0</td><td>23</td><td>3.6</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>1.8</td><td>20</td><td>4.0</td><td>26</td><td>4.0</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>1.7</td><td>14</td><td>2.8</td><td>17</td><td>2.6</td></tr><tr><td>223</td><td>29.1</td><td>81</td><td>16.0</td><td>62</td><td>9.6</td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td>Vacancies</td><td>%</td></tr></table>

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>15</th><th>16</th><th>17</th><th>18</th><th>19</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Food Group</td><td>15</td><td>16</td><td>17</td><td>18</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>Eating - Drinking</td><td>13</td><td>16</td><td>12</td><td>9</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>Gen. Merchandise</td><td>20</td><td>6</td><td>17</td><td>9</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Apparel Group</td><td>19</td><td>8</td><td>10</td><td>4</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>Furniture - Appliance</td><td>6</td><td>7</td><td>10</td><td>3</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>Automotive</td><td>0</td><td>9</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>Lumber - Hardware</td><td>4</td><td>0</td><td>9</td><td>0</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>Drug Store</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>0</td><td>1</td><td>0.5</td></tr><tr><td>Liquor</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>0.5</td></tr><tr><td>Other Retail</td><td>18</td><td>32</td><td>20</td><td>32</td><td>30</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><tr><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>22</td><td>17</td></tr></table>

* Fifty five percent of "other retail stores" are barbers, beauty shops, cleaners, laundries, travel agencies and photo stores.

THE WEST SIDE IMPROVEMENT—AND AN ALTERNATIVE. Below: The Henry Hudson Parkway (left) and Seventy-ninth Street boat basin in Riverside Park (right). Above: The Henry Hudson Bridge and Parkway as Moses built them through Inwood Hill Park and Spuyten Duyvil in Riverdale. The dotted line indicates the route that urban planners suggested to avoid harming the park and Riverdale: along the open corridor next to Inwood Hill, across the Harlem River on a less-expensive, low-level span, through Marble Hill Valley (uninhabited at the time except for a shantytown) to Van Cortlandt Park, where it could also have run along the edge. (The Harlem River now follows an essentially straight path to the Hudson because Moses in effect moved the light-colored land jutting into the river to the left, joining it to Inwood Hill Park.)