Chelsea Piers

The piers replaced a variety of run-down waterfront structures with a row of grand buildings embellished with pink granite facades.

Situated on Piers 59, 60 and 61 and in the head house that connects them, the complex features the Golf Club, a multi-story driving range; the Field House, which contains numerous sports and training facilities; Sky Rink, which has two full-sized ice rinks; the Chelsea Piers Fitness health club; Bowlero at Chelsea Piers, a bowling alley; and Sunset Terrace, a venue that hosts weddings and other events.

Historically, the term Chelsea Piers referred to the ocean liner berths on Manhattan's west side from 1910 to the 1930s.

With ocean liners such as Lusitania becoming larger in size, New York City was looking for a new passenger ship dock in the early 1900s.

The market ultimately closed and the dock was converted to a sanitation facility that was used to load garbage barges headed for the Fresh Kills Landfill.

Under contracts let by the New York City Department of Dock and Ferries, the Chelsea Section Improvement, as it was officially called, replaced a hodgepodge of run-down waterfront structures with a row of grand buildings embellished with pink granite facades and formed the docking points for the rival Cunard and White Star Lines.

Most of the major trans-Atlantic liners of the day docked at the piers and they played pivotal roles in the Titanic and Lusitania disasters.

This was to send off Daniel Mannix, the Irish born Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia who had been outspoken on the English rule in Ireland, and successfully led anti conscription campaigns during WW1.

A reported 15,000 New Yorkers turned up at Pier 60 at the foot of West 20th street to make sure Lloyd George would allow Mannix passage to Ireland.

After New York moved its luxury liner piers to the New York Cruise Terminal between West 46th and West 54th Street in 1935 to accommodate bigger ships such as the RMS Queen Mary and the SS Normandie, the Chelsea piers became a cargo terminal.

In July 1936, Jesse Owens and the United States Olympic team depart on the SS Manhattan from Pier 60 for the Summer Games in Berlin, Germany.

The plan (dubbed the Westway) was abandoned after court cases said the new highway would jeopardize striped bass.

An ad hoc volunteer disaster recovery site was run from Chelsea Piers through September 16, 2001.