Amsterdam Houses
The Amsterdam Houses is a housing project in New York City that was established in the borough of Manhattan in 1948. The project consists of 13 buildings with over 1,000 apartment units. It covers a 9-acre expanse of the Upper West Side, and is bordered by West 61st and West 64th Streets, from Amsterdam Avenue to West End Avenue, with a 175-apartment addition that was completed in 1974 on West 65th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and West End Avenue. It is owned and managed by New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).[3][4]
Amsterdam Houses | |
---|---|
Location in New York City | |
Coordinates: 40.797569°N 73.964661°W | |
Country | United States |
State | New York |
City | New York City |
Borough | Manhattan |
Area | |
• Total | 0.001 sq mi (0.003 km2) |
Population | |
• Total | 334 [2] |
ZIP codes | 10025 |
Area code(s) | 212, 332, 646, and 917 |
Website | my |
About
The Amsterdam Houses were created on land that was once tenement buildings and were created for residents to have a higher standard of living. Three playgrounds were built for children of various ages and the development housed a nursery, gymnasium, clinic and a community center. With the opening of Lincoln Center in the 1960s, the neighborhood began to gentrify and saw many older residents retaining their apartments with 70% of heads of households over the age of 62.[5] The demographics living in this development were initially mixed, as it served to house post-war families in affordable housing. Today, mostly black families occupy the Amsterdam Houses.[6]
In 2016, NYCHA announced that a new residential tower, containing entirely affordable units, would be built on the development's open space in the center. The land would be leased to a developer, who would also operate the building, for 99 years, while the land would continue to be owned by NYCHA.[7] After the announcement, the tenant association began working with lawyers and city-wide NYCHA residents to bring about a class action lawsuit and draft a formal response to the proposal.[8][9]
Notable people
- Erik Estrada (born 1949), actor known for his role on CHiPs[10]
- Daphne Maxwell Reid (born 1948), actress known for her role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air[10]
References
- "Amsterdam Houses Area". Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- "Amsterdam Houses Population".
- "MyNYCHA Developments Portal". my.nycha.info. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
- "Amsterdam & Amsterdam Addition" (PDF).
- Bloom, Nicholas Dagen; Lasner, Matthew Gordon (2016). Affordable Housing in New York: The People, Places, and Policies That Transformed a City. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691167817.
- Kilgannon, Corey (August 2, 2004). "The Neighborhood Ties That Still Bind". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
- Smith, Anthony Izaguirre, Greg B. "NYCHA putting its 'underutilized' land in hands of developers to build more affordable housing". nydailynews.com. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
- "Frederick Douglass residents vow lawsuit as NYCHA details development timeline". Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
- "NYC Alliance to Preserve Public Housing Response to NYCHA Draft FY2017 Annual Plan". www.cssny.org. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
- "Which NYC Housing Projects Have Produced the Most Famous People?Amsterdam Houses". Complex. Retrieved October 27, 2016.