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
NYCHA property
Amsterdam Houses in 2008
Location in New York City
Coordinates: 40.797569°N 73.964661°W / 40.797569; -73.964661
CountryUnited States
StateNew York
CityNew York City
BoroughManhattan
Area
 • Total0.001 sq mi (0.003 km2)
Population
 • Total334 [2]
ZIP codes
10025
Area codes212, 332, 646, and 917
Websitemy.nycha.info/DevPortal/

History

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

See also

References
  1. "Amsterdam Houses Area". Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  2. "Amsterdam Houses Population".
  3. "MyNYCHA Developments Portal". my.nycha.info. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  4. "Amsterdam & Amsterdam Addition" (PDF).
  5. 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.
  6. Kilgannon, Corey (August 2, 2004). "The Neighborhood Ties That Still Bind". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  7. 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.
  8. "Frederick Douglass residents vow lawsuit as NYCHA details development timeline". Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  9. "NYC Alliance to Preserve Public Housing Response to NYCHA Draft FY2017 Annual Plan". www.cssny.org. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  10. "Which NYC Housing Projects Have Produced the Most Famous People?Amsterdam Houses". Complex. Retrieved October 27, 2016.


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