October 26, 2020

The High Line’s Final Piece is Complete

It was a project more than a decade 
in the making. In 2008, members of 
the Friends of the High Line nonprofit donned red T-shirts declaring “Save The Spur.” It was their rally cry to salvage the last remaining section of original elevated rail structure connected to the High Line, the 1 1⁄2-mile-long public park in Chelsea, with a fate that had not yet been decided. Today, that final section, officially called the Spur, has not only been planned, designed, and completed but also won a NYCxDesign Award
The original High Line design team—project lead James Corner Field Operations with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Piet Oudolf— reunited for the additional piece. It begins at the 
intersection of 10th Avenue and 30th Street, serving as the new park entry, a public art showcase, and a link to neighboring Hudson Yards. 
One side of the Spur features a piazza centering on the Plinth, which hosts 
a rotating series of contemporary art commissions. On view through next year is Simone Leigh’s Brick House, a 16-foot-tall, cast-bronze bust of a Black woman. On the other side, a pair of 60-foot-
long planters wrapped in weathering steel flanks the central walkway, forming thresholds of woodland foliage as well as disguising such services as public restrooms. “We ended up with the best solution,” James Corner says, “tough, simple, and authentic.” Just like New Yorkers themselves.

The Spur. Photography by Timothy Schenck.

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