Intersections: The Grand Concourse at 100
By FUPress
25th October 2009
In November, the Grand Boulevard and Concourse, the Bronx’s most famous roadway, will celebrate its 100th anniversary. This week, the Bronx Museum of the Arts will announce the winner of an international competition that challenged designers to come up with ways in which the Grand Concourse can remain innovative, modern, and sustainable for the next 100 years.
Sergio Bessa, editor of Intersections: The Grand Concourse at 100, is the Director of Programs at the Bronx Museum, which opens an exhibit highlighting both the history of the Concourse and seven of the competition’s finalists on November 1. In an article in the New York Daily News, Bessa explained, “The Concourse is an amazing piece of urban design that has survived 100 years almost intact. It was very important for us to highlight that, but then also we wanted to explore how it will it be in next 100 years and look at how the Concourse can play a role in the future development of the borough.”
Modeled after the Champs Elysee in Paris, the Grand Concourse was lauded as one of the finest pieces of architecture and urban planning in New York upon its completion in 1909 and continues to serve today as the heartbeat of the Bronx. The Bronx Museum exhibit will run from November 1, 2009 to January 3, 2010.