Othmar H. Ammann By Darl Rastorfer Othmar H. Ammann’s most signifi cant bridges were designed for the New York metropolitan region: the George Washington, Bayonne, Triborough, Bronx Whitestone, Throgs Neck, and Verrazano-Narrows Bridges. Two of them, the George Washington and Verrazano- Narrows, boasted the world’s longest clear span when they opened in 1931 and 1964, respectively. All are visually eloquent, technically advanced, and cost-competitive, which is why Ammann is one of the 20th century’s greatest civil engineers. The Early Years and practice for one or two years. Upon Interestingly, he was a late bloomer. graduation, Ammann worked briefl y in Ammann designed his six most important Switzerland and Germany before following bridges at the end of his career. During his his professor’s advice. fi rst twenty years of practice, Ammann He arrived in New York City with a moved from job to job and distinguished special interest in long-span steel bridges, himself as an outstanding project and managed to land a succession of jobs manager, but did not design a structure or with private fi rms and steel companies express an interest in becoming a designer. that designed, detailed, fabricated, and Ammann was in his mid-forties when he constructed long-span steel structures. Ammann’s proposal for a Hudson River fi rst tried his hand at bridge design. Six years later, while working as a crossing as fi rst presented to the public in 1924. consultant in Philadelphia, Ammann met (Rendered by Othmar H. Ammann, 1923; “…go to the States and practice Gustav Lindenthal, a gregarious, colorful, courtesy of Margot Ammann-Durrer) for one or two years.” and prominent long-span bridge designer project instructed him to detail the whose infl uence would change Ammann’s design, estimate costs, and publicly Born in Switzerland in 1879, Ammann life. Lindenthal was completing the design promote the scheme. Ammann returned earned a degree in civil engineering of the Hell Gate Railroad Bridge in New to Lindenthal’s offi ce the same year, to from the Federal Polytechnic Institute in York when he and Ammann became work on construction details and traffi c Zurich. One of his professors, Karl Emil acquainted. Impressed by the younger studies. Many Manhattan residents were Hilgard, regularly traveled to observe engineer, Lindenthal asked Ammann to passionately opposed to the trussed-cable engineering practice in the Untied States. serve as his chief assistant once construction suspension bridge, with its double-deck He claimed that young engineers in the began on the bridge. Ammann came to U.S. were given responsibilities available look upon Lindenthal as a mentor, and “…Ammann’s meticulous to only “gray beards” in Europe. Hilgard was delighted to join his practice. management practices kept work encouraged his students to go to the States Lindenthal and Ammann made a on schedule and within budget.” splendid team. Lindenthal was a visionary who maintained good relationships road system that had sixteen automobile among clients; Ammann’s meticulous lanes on the top level and twelve railroad management practices kept work on lines on the lower deck: The bridge would schedule and within budget. Completed in bring an enormous volume of motor 1917, the Hell Gate Railroad Bridge was a traffi c to a section of the city where triumph. Unfortunately, America entered streets were already clogged with cars, WW I three months after the bridge trolleys, and trucks. Costs were working opened, bringing an end to nearly all civil against the project too. As time passed, projects. With no contracts to sustain the the estimated budget had to be adjusted practice, Lindenthal helped Ammann fi nd upward and now stood at an eye-popping a position as the manager of a clay-mining $500 million (the equivalent of $5 billion operation New Jersey. During the same in 2004). When Ammann diplomatically period, Lindenthal revived and re-designed approached Lindenthal and suggested a bridge project he fi rst conceived in 1896 that perhaps some adjustments were in – a structure intended to span the Hudson order, Lindenthal soundly rebuffed him, River at New York. refusing to reduce the gargantuan scale of Othmar H. Ammann, 1961. The 82-year-old A Turning Point the bridge or change its location to a less bridge designer stands on the George Washington populated, less contentious site. Bridge during the construction of the lower deck. When the war ended, the railroad Lindenthal’s offi ce was running out of (Photographer unknown; courtesy of the Port companies backing Lindenthal’s Hudson money as the approval process dragged Authority of New York and New Jersey) great achievements 32 STRUCTURE magazine • May 2004 on. Ammann agreed to a greatly reduced great achievements salary with the understanding that the withheld pay would be reimbursed, and a partnership in the fi rm would be granted, once the contract for the construction phase was signed. For years he had longed for a partnership with Lindenthal, but now came to recognize that the Hudson project was doomed. He considered three options: he could leave Lindenthals’s offi ce and fi nd a job with a New York fi rm that did smaller, more conventional civil engineering projects; he could return to Switzerland and fi nd a position there; or, he could The George Washington Bridge after the completion of the lower deck in gamble with the riskiest career move of his 1962. The bridge was designed for two decks, but only needed an upper life… strike out on his own. With little left deck during its fi rst thirty years of service. (Photo, Jet Lowe; courtesy of the Library of Congress, HAER Collection) to lose, the characteristically conservative Ammann left Lindenthal, and in March, to become a double-deck bridge when elected offi cials on both sides of the Hudson 1923 began to work independently on the traffi c volume justifi ed more capacity. To were soon aligned with Ammann’s plan fi rst bridge he ever designed… his own economically engineer its 3,500-ft. central too. The state legislatures of New York and proposal for a Hudson crossing. span (nearly twice that of the Brooklyn New Jersey each authorized the proposal, Over the next eighteen months, Bridge), Ammann applied the largely and handed responsibility for constructing Ammann designed, developed, and untested defl ection theory in the design and operating the bridge to the recently promoted a suspension bridge that was of the shallow suspended roadway. The chartered Port Authority of New York and cost-conscious, practical, and disarmingly estimated construction cost of Ammann’s New Jersey. simple. It connected the relatively scheme was $40 million (equivalent to Ammann had produced the winning unpopulated northern end of Manhattan approximately $423 million today). Ten scheme, but was sidelined as a participant with Bergen County, New Jersey. This site bridges patterned after Ammann’s scheme in its construction until Governor Silzer avoided a contentious midtown location could be built across the Hudson for the arranged for Ammann’s appointment and placed the bridge where land prices cost of a single Lindenthal bridge! as the fi rst Chief Engineer of the Port were low. The scheme played down train Lindenthal and Ammann were not the Authority of New York and New Jersey. transit, recognizing that railway expansion only engineers with proposals. Schemes Over the next thirty-fi ve years, the Port was leveling off, while automobile and for tunnels and bridges at other locations Authority and New York’s Triborough truck traffi c was on the rise. The proposal were all competing for investment dollars Bridge and Tunnel Authority, for which called for a single suspended deck designed and governmental backing. As Ammann also served as Chief Engineer, a single practitioner with no undertook numerous large-scale civil fi nancial partners, it seemed engineering projects. Ammann’s position unlikely that Ammann would meant that the design of the authorities’ prevail. He had, however, projects came to him uncontested. His produced a brilliant design. In fi rst four long-span bridges, and the design addition, the current governor of the Lincoln Tunnel, were done as an in- of New Jersey, George Silzer, house Chief Engineer. served on the board of directors Ammann resigned in 1939, and began of the clay operation Ammann a private practice with Charles Whitney previously managed. Ammann in 1947. Through Ammann & Whitney, drew upon that acquaintance, Ammann designed his fi nal two structures, and presented his design to the Throgs Neck Bridge and the Verrazano- Silzer. Silzer and Lindenthal had Narrows Bridge. a long and collegial relationship, and Lindenthal was counting The Legacy of a Master Builder on Silzer to support his scheme. The story of the engineer’s emergence But, Ammann’s plan better and staying power on the world stage may worked to Silzer’s long-term seem startling, but Ammann was superbly political advantage. Silzer began qualifi ed to step into the role of master promoting Ammann’s proposal builder, a term that implies a mastery of The George Washington Bridge began its service with a from behind the scenes. The design as well as a mastery of construction. single-level roadway supported from below by a ribbon- like girder-truss. (Photographer unknown, courtesy of news media, general public, and His construction knowledge and skills were the Library of Congress) STRUCTURE magazine • May 2004 33 fi rmly established before he broke from Lindenthal. Other qualities that impacted his success as a designer were also in place. He had a passion for his work and visceral intuition about structural dynamics. He was a respectful collaborator, and possessed a clear and explicit aesthetic theory that favored simple structures with clean, taught lines.