Municipal Asphalt Plant

About

The Municipal Asphalt Plant is a former asphalt plant at York Avenue and 91st Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, housing the Asphalt Green recreation center. The asphalt plant was completed in 1944 to designs by Ely Jacques Kahn and Robert Allan Jacobs. The current structure, originally a mixing plant, reopened as the George and Annette Murphy Center in 1984. The asphalt plant, which formerly included a conveyor belt and storage facility, produced asphalt that was used to pave roads in Manhattan. The Murphy Center is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Municipal Asphalt Plant's post-modernist design was intended to fit the residential character of the surrounding neighborhood while also being industrial. The mixing plant was the first parabolic-arched building in the United States to use reinforced concrete. The exterior was designed with four arched ribs, while the walls and roof are made of cast-in-place concrete panels, which were poured around metal ribs. The conveyor belt and storage building were originally also made of reinforced concrete. The modern-day recreation center consists of the George and Annette Murphy Center, the AquaCenter swimming complex, an outdoor field, and a former fireboat pier.