The Whitehall Terminal is a

ferry terminal A passenger terminal is a structure in a port which services passengers boarding and leaving water vessels such as ferries, cruise ships and ocean liners. Depending on the types of vessels serviced by the terminal, it may be named (for example) ...

in the South Ferry section of

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, at the corner of South Street and Whitehall Street. It is used by the

Staten Island Ferry The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry ...

, which connects the island

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

. The Whitehall Terminal is one of the ferry's two terminals, the other being St. George Terminal on Staten Island. The Whitehall Terminal opened in 1903 as a terminal for municipal ferry operations. It was originally designed nearly identically to the

Battery Maritime Building The Battery Maritime Building is a building at South Ferry on the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City. Located at 10 South Street, near the intersection with Whitehall Street, it contains an operational ferry terminal at ground ...

; a connector between the two terminals was planned but never built. The Whitehall Terminal was renovated from 1953 to 1956 at a cost of $3 million, but it had deteriorated by the 1980s. It was gutted by a fire in 1991. The terminal was completely rebuilt and reopened in February 2005 as a major integrated

transportation hub A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips. F ...

History

Before the Whitehall Terminal was built, ferry service in

New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in ...

was provided as early as the 1700s by individuals (and later private companies) with their own boats. This included a ferry service from

South Ferry, Manhattan South Ferry is at the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City and is the embarkation point for ferries to Staten Island (Staten Island Ferry, through the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal) and Governors Island. Battery Park, abutting S ...

, to

St. George, Staten Island St. George is a neighborhood on the northeastern tip of Staten Island in New York City, along the waterfront where the Kill Van Kull enters Upper New York Bay. It is the most densely developed neighborhood on Staten Island, and the location of th ...

, which started operating in 1816. The route was operated by the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

Staten Island Railway The Staten Island Railway (SIR) is a rapid transit line in the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is owned by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, ...

after 1860. After four passengers died when a Staten Island ferry sank in 1901, New York City officials used the incident as a justification for their acquisition of the ferry lines to Staten Island. The B&O refused to sell their terminals to the city, prompting municipal officials to announce in 1904 that they would acquire the sites through

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

Municipal Ferry Terminal

Ferry lines from Manhattan to Staten Island began operating under the municipal authority of the Department of Docks and Ferries on October 25, 1905, seven years after the

City of Greater New York The City of Greater New York was the term used by many politicians and scholars for the expanded City of New York created on January 1, 1898, by consolidating the existing City of New York with Brooklyn, western Queens County, and Staten Is ...

was established. The following year, the city government acquired another route, which ran from South Ferry to 39th Street in

South Brooklyn South Brooklyn is a historic term for a section of the former City of Brooklyn – now the New York City borough of Brooklyn – encompassing what are now the Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Windsor Ter ...

(now the neighborhood of Sunset Park in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

). Under mayor George McClellan, the city sought to build a new terminal for both routes. The existing terminals at South Ferry were independently operated, with two slips for ferries to Staten Island and two slips for ferries to Brooklyn. The city also sought to operate a route from South Ferry to

Stapleton, Staten Island Stapleton is a neighborhood in northeastern Staten Island in New York City in the United States. It is located along the waterfront of Upper New York Bay, roughly bounded on the north by Tompkinsville at Grant Street, on the south by Clifton a ...

. Designed by the architectural firm of Walker and Morris, the Whitehall Street Ferry Terminal was to have room for seven slips. Nos. 1 and 2 would belong to the Staten Island Ferry terminal, serving ferries to St. George Terminal. The still-extant

was served by ferries traveling to 39th Street. Slips 3 and 4 were to serve ferries from both Staten Island and South Brooklyn. The three sections were designed to be independent of each other but visually identical in style. The former Municipal Ferry Terminal, like the Battery Maritime Building, was inspired by the Exposition Universelle. Plans for the terminal were approved by the city's Municipal Art Commission in July 1906. The westernmost Staten Island ferry slip burned down in December 1906, along with several temporary buildings nearby. Walker and Morris's plans were approved in February 1907, and a budget of $1.75 million was allotted to the work. Work started on the Brooklyn ferry slips first, followed by the Staten Island ferry slips in 1908. As built, the Staten Island Ferry terminal occupied slips 1 through 3. The building was completed by 1909. Ferry service from the Whitehall Terminal to Stapleton commenced on May 27, 1909. The terminal served

Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...

, and

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.elevated trains (nicknamed "els").Staten Island Museum website
retrieved February 22, 2011. The city banned other operators from the Terminal, so ferries from

Communipaw Terminal The Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, also known as Communipaw Terminal and Jersey City Terminal, was the Central Railroad of New Jersey's waterfront passenger terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey. The terminal was built in 1889, replacing ...

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Liberty Street Ferry Terminal Liberty Street Ferry Terminal or Liberty Street Terminal was the Central Railroad of New Jersey's passenger ferry slip in lower Manhattan, New York City and the point of departure and embarkation for passengers travelling on the Central Railroad of ...

in lower Manhattan.John F. Stover, ''History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad''. West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, 1987 (), pp. 172–176. In 1919, a fire on the South Ferry elevated station damaged slips 1 and 2.

Second terminal

After World War II, subways replaced the els, and cars began to travel through bridges and tunnels such as the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. By the early 1950s, the St. George–Whitehall and St. George–Bay Ridge ferries were the only routes that still operated as part of the city's once-extensive ferry network.

Design and construction

In 1951, Manhattan borough president Robert F. Wagner Jr. asked the

New York City Planning Commission The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...

to provide $132,000 for a footbridge between the terminal and Battery Park, crossing over West Street. The following August, the

New York City Board of Estimate The New York City Board of Estimate was a governmental body in New York City responsible for numerous areas of municipal policy and decisions, including the city budget, land-use, contracts, franchises, and water rates. Under the amendments effec ...

awarded a contract to Roberts & Schaefer for a renovation of the terminal. New York City Department of Marine and Aviation consulting engineer John M. Buckley, chief engineer Lewis H. Radbage, and deputy chief engineer Emil A. Verpillot were also involved in the construction of the new terminal. Marine and Aviation commissioner Edward F. Cavanagh Jr. announced plans for the terminal in January 1953. The existing ground-level waiting room would be relocated, and the second-story waiting room would be linked with the Battery Maritime Building. The renovated terminal would allow inbound and outbound pedestrian and vehicular traffic to be segregated. The Department of Marine and Aviation's ferry bureau, which had been housed on Whitehall Terminal's upper stories, relocated to St. George in January 1954. By the end of that year, the new slips had been completed, and work had started on the building itself. The second terminal reused some of the original 1906 building's steel framework, but the older building was otherwise completely demolished. Escalators led from the street to the waiting room, which could accommodate 3,200 people. There was a secondary waiting room in an adjacent building. Above the waiting room was a semicircular glass structure with 24 turnstiles. Ramps outside the terminal led to Battery Park. The second terminal contained three slips, with loading docks on two levels; pedestrians used the upper level, while vehicles used the lower level. Underneath the terminal were

caissons Caisson (French for "box") may refer to: * Caisson (Asian architecture), a spider web ceiling * Caisson (engineering), a sealed underwater structure * Caisson (lock gate), a gate for a dock or lock, constructed as a floating caisson * Caisson (p ...

that descended to the underlying bedrock, passing within of the New York City Subway tunnels under the building. Although the majority of ferry passengers transferred to the nearby South Ferry subway station after departing Whitehall Terminal, the

New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a New York state public-benefit corporations, public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York (state), New ...

had no plans to upgrade the station, which was frequently overcrowded because of its small capacity. Furthermore, the Department of Marine and Aviation did not construct any direct connection between the new terminal and the subway station. The new terminal ultimately cost $2.8 million and opened on July 24, 1956. The new terminal had a purely functional design. ''The New York Times'' described it as a "squat, washed-out green hulk in which function vanquished form"; the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...

called it "the world's most banal portal of joy''."'' The Whitehall Terminal's renovation was the first part of urban planner

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

's proposal to redevelop the area around South Ferry.

Operation

The NYCTA decided in early 1959 to overhaul the adjacent South Ferry subway station, adding a wide stairway that connected with one of the terminal's entrance ramps. The St. George–Whitehall ferry route continued to operate after the

Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and t ...

opened in 1964, as the bridge's opening was expected to spur an influx of residents to Staten Island. By 1967, the St. George–Whitehall route was the sole remaining ferry route in New York City. As early as 1972, city officials proposed replacing the St. George and Whitehall terminals with facilities that contained six slips, although officials did not plan to rebuild either terminal until 2000. After hundreds of ferry passengers were injured in a 1978 ferry collision, the Department of Marine Aviation upgraded the terminal's fog-lighting system. In January 1980, city officials began adding elevators and escalators to the Whitehall Terminal as part of a $5.75 million modernization program for the Staten Island Ferry. The federal government funded about 75 percent of the project's cost, while the state paid 20 percent and the city paid 5 percent. As part of the renovation, officials planned to add stores to the Whitehall Terminal. They relocated turnstiles and demolished a concession stand at the center of the terminal, allowing visitors to shop without having to pay fares. City officials formally opened the first store in the terminal, a cookie shop, in June 1981. The city government announced plans in 1985 to sell the Whitehall Terminal as part of the

South Ferry Plaza The South Ferry Plaza, also called A Lighthouse At The Tip Of The Island, was a supertall skyscraper proposed in 1987 to rise right next to the East River on Manhattan Island in New York City. The building would have sat on top of the South F ...

project. The Whitehall Terminal would be replaced, and the developer would restore the adjacent Battery Maritime Building, an official city landmark that could not be demolished. City officials received proposals from seven developers in August 1985. An eighth plan had been submitted by the end of that year. The Zeckendorf Company was selected in July 1986 to develop a 60-story tower above the Whitehall Terminal at a cost of about $400 million. The city government would retain ownership of the terminals and lease the site to Zeckendorf for 99 years. Several city agencies had to approve the plans for South Ferry Plaza, so construction could not start for another two years. KG Land was also a partner in the development project. The terminal was to be extended into New York Harbor, and new pilings would be constructed to support the weight of the office tower. After the

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressw ...

was closed for emergency repairs in April 1988, ferries to

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. As of the 2020 United ...

, were temporarily operated from Whitehall Terminal. The South Ferry Plaza plan had stalled by late 1990. South Ferry Plaza was canceled in January 1991 due to a decline in the real estate market, and the terminal's renovation was delayed as a result.

New terminal

Fire and early plans

Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal photo D Ramey Logan

The Whitehall Terminal's ceiling and roof were gutted by a major fire on September 8, 1991, rendering it unusable. City officials deemed the fire suspicious, citing the fact that the fire had spread quickly. The city saw an opportunity to rebuild the terminal, which it planned to complete by 1998. In May 1992, the

New York City Economic Development Corporation New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a nonprofit corporation whose stated mission is to "leverage the city’s assets to create beneficial jobs that drive growth. This ensures equitable and sustainable development across al ...

held an international

architectural design competition An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel ...

competition for a replacement facility. The same month, Congress proposed allocating federal funds for the project. The EDC selected six finalists that August:

Venturi Scott Brown Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...

, Rafael Vinoly,

Aldo Rossi Aldo Rossi (3 May 1931 – 4 September 1997) was an Italian architect and designer who achieved international recognition in four distinct areas: architectural theory, drawing and design and also product design. He was one of the leading expone ...

Polshek Partnership Ennead Architects LLP (/ˈenēˌad/) is a New York City-based architectural firm. The firm was founded in 1963 by James Polshek, who left the firm in 2005 when it was known as Polshek Partnership. The firm's partners renamed their practice in mid- ...

Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates' (HHPA) was an internationally recognized American architecture firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Established by Hugh Hardy, Malcolm Holzman and Norman Pfeiffer in 1967 in New York, HHPA was noted ...

and

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...

. The next month, city officials also announced that they would permanently ban vehicles from the Staten Island Ferry to reduce vehicular congestion at the rebuilt terminal. New York state officials proposed a bond issue that would have provided $80 million for the Whitehall Terminal's reconstruction, but state residents voted against the bond issue in November 1992. A partnership of Venturi Scott Brown and Anderson/Schwartz Architects was selected to redesign the Whitehall Terminal on November 6, 1992. The winning design featured a

barrel-vaulted A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

waiting room similar in size to

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

Main Concourse The Main Concourse is the primary concourse of Grand Central Terminal, a railway station in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The space is located at the center of the terminal's station building. The distinctive architecture and design of the ...

. This design also incorporated a large electronic facade facing the harbor, which would have contained the largest clock faces in the world, measuring . The '' Journal of the American Institute of Architects'' wrote: "The facades on the east, west, and north are almost

Miesian Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

in character, but are more utilitarian than elegant." The

Municipal Art Society The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...

hosted an exhibit of all of the finalists' designs in early 1993. The clock received criticism from such figures as Staten Island borough president

Guy Molinari Gaetano Victor Molinari (November 23, 1928July 25, 2018) was an American lawyer and Republican politician from New York city. He represented Staten Island in the United States House of Representatives for four terms (1981–1989) and then ...

and architectural critic

Herbert Muschamp Herbert Mitchell Muschamp (November 28, 1947 – October 2, 2007) was an American architecture critic. Early years Born in Philadelphia, Muschamp described his childhood home life as follows: "The living room was a secret. A forbidden zone. ...

. Although members of the general public generally did not view the design favorably, ''The New York Times'''

editorial board The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take. Mass media At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, ...

readily supported the project. The original plans called for an analog clock, which was changed to a digital clock, but the digital alternative was also poorly received. Civic authorities ultimately scrapped plans for the clock, deeming it architecturally unacceptable. After

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 19 ...

won the

1993 New York City mayoral election The 1993 New York City mayoral election was held on Tuesday, November 2. Incumbent Mayor David Dinkins ran for re-election to a second term, but lost in a rematch with Republican Rudy Giuliani. History Dinkins had narrowly defeated Giuliani in ...

, he reversed the decision to ban cars from the rebuilt Whitehall Terminal, which not only raised the cost by $500,000 but also delayed the project by about six months. By 1994, construction of the new terminal was not expected to start for another three years. The

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

voted to allocate $5 million for the Whitehall Terminal's reconstruction in June 1995, following advocacy from

Susan Molinari Susan Molinari (born March 27, 1958) is an American politician, company executive, journalist and lobbyist from New York. A member of the Republican Party, she sat in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1990 to 1997, representing Staten Island ...

, the U.S. representative for Staten Island and the daughter of Guy Molinari. The decision was influenced by the fact that Molinari was the chair of the

United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. History The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure was formerly known as the Committee on Public Works ...

. Congress allocated another $3.6 million to the Whitehall Terminal project in November 1995, and another $2.5 million was included in the Transportation Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1996. Venturi Scott Brown subsequently redesigned the terminal, removing the planned clock and adding windows facing Lower Manhattan and a large indoor LED display. In mid-1995, Venturi Scott Brown presented a revised proposal, which was publicly nicknamed the "zipper" because the plan included an electronic sign along New York Harbor. This proposal was also poorly received; Guy Molinari referred to it as "Las Vegas on the Manhattan waterfront". The architects presented a third proposal in September 1996, which called for a glass wall on the harbor and a glass entrance facing inland. Although Guy Molinari supported the third proposal, a representative of the Ferry Riders Committee called it "bland, bland, bland". Venturi Scott Brown left the project in late 1996 after the city government downsized the design to a simple steel-and-glass facade, in an attempt to reduce the terminal's cost by $30 million. In January 1997, an EDC official predicted that the structure would cost $82 million and would be completed in 2001, while another official predicted that the hub would not be rebuilt until 2002.

Revised design

Frederic Schwartz Frederic David Schwartz (April 1, 1951 – April 28, 2014) was an American architect, author, and city planner whose work includes ''Empty Sky'', the New Jersey 9-11 Memorial, which was dedicated in Liberty State Park on September 11, 2011, th ...

of Anderson/Schwartz Architects presented a new design for the terminal in early 1997. The design called for a structure with a entry hall, as well as a waiting room overlooking the New York Harbor, which was to be 50 percent larger than the original waiting room. Schwartz's design included the same high glass wall on the Lower Manhattan side as did Venturi's design. The size of the LED display in Venturi's design was heavily reduced. Also added were a rooftop waterfront viewing deck with a photovoltaic array on its canopy, a long sinuous canopy on the street side with the words "Staten Island Ferry" on it, and a

Percent for Art The term percent for art refers to a program, often a city ordinance, where a fee, usually some percentage of the project cost, is placed on large scale development projects in order to fund and install public art. The details of such programs va ...

installation called ''Slips'' by

Dennis Adams Dennis Adams (born 1948) is an American artist. He has made urban interventions and museum installations that reveal historical and political undercurrents in photography, cinema, public space and architecture. About Adams was born in Des Mo ...

. As part of the project, Peter Minuit Plaza would be constructed outside the terminal, replacing five small traffic islands. Robert Silman Associates was selected as the structural engineer, while TAMS Consultants was the consulting engineer. In addition, Tishman/Harris was the construction contractor. Congress passed the $200 billion

Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century The United States federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) is a federal transportation bill enacted June 9, 1998, as and . TEA-21 authorized federal surface transportation programs for highways, highway safety, and transit ...

in May 1998, providing $40 million for the reconstruction of the Whitehall Terminal. By mid-1999, several members of Congress were considering withdrawing $12 million in federal funding because of repeated delays. City officials still had not made any public announcement about the new terminal ever since Anderson/Schwartz's plans had been announced two years prior. When the NYCDOT started soliciting bids for construction contractors in 2000, the project was set to cost $150 million. Construction on the project officially started on September 26, 2000. By then, the cost of the project had increased to $180 million because of engineers, architects, and contractors' fees. This was part of a larger plan for the Staten Island Ferry, which was to cost over $400 million. At the time, the new terminal was scheduled to be completed in 36 months. Two factors complicated construction of the new terminal. The NYCDOT required that two of the terminal's three ferry slips remain open during construction, so the terminal had to be rebuilt in phases. Furthermore, the terminal was also built over the Battery Park Underpass and three subway tunnels, so a foundation for the terminal was built underground. Construction was temporarily delayed after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

in 2001, which caused the

collapse Collapse or its variants may refer to: Concepts * Collapse (structural) * Collapse (topology), a mathematical concept * Collapsing manifold * Collapse, the action of collapsing or telescoping objects * Collapsing user interface elements ** ...

of the nearby World Trade Center. After the attacks, officials proposed a $7 billion redesign of transit in Lower Manhattan, including a new South Ferry subway terminal with a direct connection to the Whitehall ferry terminal. As a result of the

Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA) () is an Act of Congress enacted by the 107th United States Congress to address port and waterway security. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 25, 2002. Thi ...

, all vehicular traffic on the ferry was banned in 2003, and passengers were required to board and depart from different sections of the ferry. Passengers departed from the terminal's lower level, which required boarding passengers to use the upper level. The St. George Terminal, at the other end of the route, was being rebuilt at the same time; by 2004, the costs of the two projects had increased by a combined $160 million.

Opening and later modifications

Whitehall Terminal reopened on February 8, 2005. The final cost of the terminal's renovation had increased to $200 million, in part because of security and insurance costs related to the September 11 attacks. In 2007, the NYCDOT received federal funding for the installation of anti-vehicle barriers outside the terminal, and it also installed spikes to deter pigeons, which frequently flew inside the terminal. The department also had trouble attracting tenants to the retail space at the terminal, which only had two tenants in the two years after it was completed. Following the completion of the new South Ferry station under the Whitehall Terminal in 2009, MTA Capital Construction rebuilt

Peter Minuit Plaza Peter Minuit Plaza is an urban square serving the intermodal transportation hub at South Ferry, and lies at the intersection of State Street and Whitehall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The plaza is a heavy pedestrian ...

outside the ferry terminal, which reopened in 2011. Also in 2009, the NYCDOT added storefronts and restaurant spaces to the ferry terminal. The

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

provided $2 million in 2010 for the renovation of the substructure underneath the Whitehall Terminal's slips. The upper level of the terminal contained a simulator that was used for training ferry captains. City officials installed Wi-Fi at the Whitehall Terminal in 2013 as part of a pilot program. After a controversy over the lack of electric outlets at the terminal, city officials installed USB charging ports there in 2016. The lower levels of both Staten Island Ferry terminals were reopened in 2017 to reduce crowding on the ships' upper levels. The St. George Terminal's lower level was opened during the morning rush, and the Whitehall Terminal's lower level was opened during middays and the evening rush.

Description

The current terminal, completed in 2005, is four stories high and contains three ferry slips. The terminal is open 24 hours a day and handles around 70,000 ferry passengers daily. It includes access to the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...

South Ferry/Whitehall Street station The South Ferry/Whitehall Street station is a New York City Subway station complex in the Financial District neighborhood of Manhattan, under Battery Park. The complex is shared by the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and the BMT Broadw ...

, served by the , as well as bus services at Peter Minuit Plaza. When the terminal opened, the South Ferry and Whitehall Street stations were separate; the terminal only had direct access to the South Ferry station, which had two stairs leading directly to the Staten Island Ferry terminal.Access to bicycle lanes and other water transport, including the

ferry at the neighboring

, is also available. There is

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choi ...

service outside the terminal as well. The complex includes the

, named after

Peter Minuit Peter Minuit (between 1580 and 1585 – August 5, 1638) was a Wallonian merchant from Tournai, in present-day Belgium. He was the 3rd Director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New ...

.SchwartzArch.com, Ferry Terminal description
retrieved February 21, 2011. Staten Island Ferry OSM Map

Justin Davidson Justin Davidson (born in Rome, Italy, in 1966) is a classical music and architecture critic. In 1983, he graduated from the American Overseas School of Rome, where his mother was an English teacher. Davidson began his journalism career as a l ...

wrote for ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'' that the hub was "an elegant addition to hecity's architecture" and a destination in its own right, saying: "The panorama of lower Manhattan from the top of the escalators, the vast windows framing the Statue of Liberty, the upstairs deck with views of the harbor – these are reasons to take shelter here for a little longer than the ferry schedule makes strictly necessary." According to ''Contract'' magazine, the terminal was intended as a "destination spot where visitors can sit outside, have lunch, and take in the views of the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge".

Features

The terminal building's facade is made of corrugated stainless-steel panels and glass. The building was intended to accommodate 65,000 daily passengers and has a total floor area of or . The current waiting room covers and is about twice as large as the second terminal's waiting room. The building also has of retail space, of terraces, and of office space. There is an additional 10,000 square feet of space to support needs linked to ferry operations and ancillary support.NYC.gov website
retrieved February 22, 2011. The roof contains an observation deck. The waiting room has a ceiling measuring 75 feet high. There are exit concourses on the western and eastern walls of the waiting room, as well as a central entrance hall. Inside the terminal are a food court, DOT offices, and an observation deck facing New York Harbor. In addition to the retail shops, nonprofit organization

GrowNYC GrowNYC is an environmental organization founded in 1970 and based in New York City, originally named the Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC). GrowNYC is dedicated to the improvement New York City's quality of life through environ ...

operates an indoor

farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...

within the terminal. The terminal does not contain turnstiles, as the Staten Island Ferry has been fare-free since 1997. However, riders who want to make a round trip must disembark at the terminal and reenter through the terminal building to comply with

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, m ...

regulations regarding vessel capacity. The terminal has a technologically advanced heating and air conditioning system, partially powered by solar panels that overhang the observation deck. The solar panels are placed along the roof and one elevation of the facade. The roof contains 288 panels in 30 different shapes.

Structural features

The new terminal is supported by 130 concrete

, which replaced the original wood pilings under the terminal building. The caissons are "H"-shaped, with

rebar Rebar (short for reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tension. ...

reinforcement, and descend into the underlying bedrock, which varies from below ground. Because of the proximity of the Battery Park Underpass and the three subway tunnels, the engineers sheathed some of the caissons with two layers of steel sleeves, isolating them from the neighboring tunnels. At points where the terminal building is directly above the tunnels, it is supported by hanging roof columns, which rest on horizontal girders above the tunnels' roofs. The terminal building has a glass curtain wall on three of its sides, which is supported on steel columns measuring deep.

''Whitehall Crossing''

As part of the

initiative, the city's Department of Cultural AffairsLowerManhattan.info
, retrieved February 22, 2011. purchased and installed sculptured granite benches created by artist Ming Fay, entitled ''Whitehall Crossing'', in the waiting room. The installation includes a series of twenty-eight granite benches divided into three serpentine rows, suggesting the carved seats of a "floating, organic form over a water theme terrazzo floor."Whitehall Crossing on NYC.gov
, retrieved February 25, 2011. The benches were crafted to symbolize Indian canoes crossing New York Bay. The artist intended for visitors sitting on the benches to "engage in, and thereby become part of, the design". Ming Fay, a

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

ese Chinese artist, notes that this art he created was "inspired by the Native American's early crossings with dug out canoes", i.e.

Lenape canoes Lenape canoes were dugout canoes of Lenapehoking. Tree trunks used were primarily of the American tulip tree ( del, mùxulhemënshi, "tree from which canoes are made”), and also of elm, white oak, chestnut or red cedar. Birch bark canoes were ...

. He described his goals for the art as follows:

Peter Minuit Plaza

In parallel with the construction of the new terminal, Peter Minuit Plaza was completely reconfigured to provide easy accommodation for pedestrians, buses, and taxis. The redesign plan included 42 new trees, along with public space for community activities, covered walkways from the terminal to Whitehall Terminal, a dedicated cab drop-off area and a new bus loop. The plaza reopened in 2011. The plaza includes the "New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion" (a gift from the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

), an area to showcase art, design, and horticulture.TheBattery.org:Peter Minuit Plaza
, retrieved February 22, 2011. This area was conceived as an "outdoor living room" where scheduled and spontaneous activities can take place alongside public markets and a state of the art food and information pavilion.The Battery Conservancy
, retrieved February 22, 2011. The Plein and Pavilion were designed by Dutch architect

Ben van Berkel Ben van Berkel (born 1957) is a Dutch architect; founder and principal architect of the architectural practice UNStudio. With his studio he designed, among others, the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, the Moebius House in the Netherlands, the Merce ...

, and the $3.2 million grant from the Netherlands that funded part of the project was given in honor of the celebration of New York's 400th anniversary, as well as in honor of "the enduring relationship between New York and

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former Provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

." The rest of the plaza was funded by the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

, which paid $22.1 million, and the

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-ter ...

, which provided $1.4 million.

Gallery

SI Ferry Docking Manhattan.JPG, alt=An orange Staten Island Ferry ship; the words "Staten Island" are seen on the side of the ship., Ferry docking into terminal, 2008 South Ferry slip 1 closeup.JPG, alt=A loading bridge in a ferry slip, Ferry slips, 2009 South Ferry slip 1.JPG, alt=A ferry slip, South Ferry slip File:PARKING LOT AT FERRY DOCK ON STATEN ISLAND - NARA - 547928.jpg, Ferry dock, 1973. Photo by

Arthur Tress Arthur Tress (born November 24, 1940) is an American photographer. He is known for his staged surrealism and exposition of the human body. Early life and education Tress comes from a Jewish background; his parents immigrated from Europe. He was ...

References

Notes Citations Bibliography * *

External links

Images

Photo of Ming Fay's ''Whitehall Crossing''
{{Financial District, Manhattan Port of New York and New Jersey Staten Island Ferry Transit centers in New York City Tourist attractions in Manhattan Water transportation in New York City Government buildings in Manhattan South Ferry (Manhattan) Ferry terminals in Manhattan