Queensbridge Houses

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Lore & Background

Queensbridge opened in 1939. During the 1950s, the management changed the racial balance of Queensbridge by transferring all families whose income was more than $3,000/year, a majority of whom were White, to middle-income housing projects, and replacing most of these tenants with African-American and Latino families. This policy provided safe and sanitary housing to many low-income African-American and Latino families. The complex is well known for its contributions to hip hop and rap music. Marley Marl Williams was the first in a long succession of acclaimed artists from 'The Bridge.' The Juice Crew collective, hugely influential in the 1980s, featured among its members Queensbridge rappers MC Shan, Roxanne Shanté and Craig G. While the Boogie Down Productions-MC Shan dispute had already put 'The Bridge' on the rap map in the 1980s, the new crop of Queensbridge rappers like Nas and Mobb Deep made frequent references to the Queensbridge Houses that cemented its reputation as a dystopian vision of poverty, drugs, and violence just as New York City's problems with crack cocaine and the unprecedented carnage it had brought to places like Queensbridge reached a peak. Nas' 1994 album *Illmatic*, often regarded as the greatest hip-hop album of all time, concerns his experiences in Queensbridge. Other notable artists associated with the Queensbridge hip hop scene include Blaq Poet, Cormega, Tragedy Khadafi, Nature, Screwball, Capone, and Big Noyd.

In Their Own Story

By the 1970s, Queensbridge experienced a rise in crime with the rest of the city. During the height of the crack epidemic in 1986, Queensbridge experienced more murders than any NYCHA complex in New York City. However, in the 2000s, crime went down. For many years Queensbridge has had a problem with drug dealers and drug users. An 11-month police investigation led to the arrest of 37 people during a drug bust in February 2005. Another raid in February 2009, following a seven-month investigation, resulted in 59 arrests. As of 2013, Queensbridge had a total population of 6,105. The racial breakdown was 61.4% black, 2.3% white, 1.9% Asian, 1.0% American Indian and 2.4% multiracial. Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 30.1%. By 2020, the Asian population in Queensbridge rose to 11% of the development's total population. This prompted calls for better social services for the community's Asian residents.

Reader's Guide

The Queensbridge Houses are located between Vernon Boulevard, which runs along the East River, and 21st Street. It is immediately south of the Ravenswood power plant and just north of the Queensboro Bridge, for which the complex is named. The development is separated into two complexes, the North Houses on 40th Avenue and the South Houses on 41st Avenue. The namesake station of the New York City Subway's IND 63rd Street Line (F and M trains) is on the eastern side of the complex on 21st Street. The 96-unit, six-story buildings are distinctive due to their shape of two Y's connecting at the base. This shape was used as the architects hoped it would give residents more access to privacy and sunlight than the traditional cross-shape. The design was said to be cost-efficient, and they reduced the cost even further by using elevators that only stopped at the 1st, 3rd, and 5th floors. W.F.R. Ballard, Henry S. Churchill, Frederick G. Frost, and Burnett Turner designed Queensbridge. Each building is painted red to about four feet up from the ground. Across Vernon Boulevard lies Queensbridge Park, the primary place of recreation for tenants of the project.

Did You Know?

• Queensbridge opened in 1939 and is the largest housing project in North America, with 96 buildings and 3,142 units.
• During the 1950s, management transferred all families earning more than $3,000/year (a majority of whom were White) to middle-income housing and replaced them with African-American and Latino families.
• In 1986, during the height of the crack epidemic, Queensbridge experienced more murders than any NYCHA complex in New York City.
• A February 2009 drug bust, following a seven-month investigation, resulted in 59 arrests.
• By 2020, the Asian population in Queensbridge rose to 11% of the development's total population, prompting calls for better social services.