Located between 61st and 64th streets, from Amsterdam and West End Avenues, the Amsterdam Houses sits on nearly nine and half acres, just a few blocks from the Hudson River. Less than a third of the land is occupied by buildings, ressulting in a population density of less than 410 persons per acre.
The architects finished their design for the houses on on May 26, 1941. The buildings of the Amsterdam Houses are laid out in what as an “in-line” plan. In other words, the buildings are arranged in straight lines.
This arrangement allows unbroken views of the river. Although the site of the Amsterdam Houses interrupts the surrounding street grids, the development’s layout mirrors that grid.
The 1941 “in-line” plan of the Amsterdam Houses was a design element from before World War II. So, although the Amsterdam Houses sit on a “super-block” like nearly all post-war projects, that are aligned with the street grid like many pre-war projects.
After the Amsterdam Houses NYCHA nearly always put buildings at a different angle than the surrounding streets.
As the architectural historian Robert A.M. Stern said, the Amsterdam Houses are one of the last publicly funded housing developments "to define open space along
Classically inspired lines.” (New York 1960, p677).
Above, Brownsville Houses (1947) and below, Albany Houses (1950)
Richard Plunz, A History of Housing In New York City (1990 ) p. 263.