9. Robert Moses Praised the Design of the Whitestone Bridge

The Whitestone Bridge was contrived by Swiss-American engineer, Othmar Ammann, the mastermind behind several of New York City’s superstructures, including the George Washington Bridge and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. It was unique in that it did not utilize a stiffening truss system like other suspension bridges. Instead, I-beam girders gave the bridge a sleek, Art Deco-inspired design, which has long been admired by architects. Even Robert Moses, the city’s master planner, stated the following at the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge ribbon-cutting ceremony:

“[The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge] is architecturally the finest suspension bridge of them all, without comparison in cleanliness and simplicity of design, in lightness and absence of pretentious ornamentation. Here, if anywhere, we have pure, functional architecture.”