I think there are few people today who have never heard of this red giant. The Golden Gate Bridge is the most visited and recognizable in the world!
The idea of closing off the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge was proposed in early 1872 by railroad entrepreneur Charles Crocker. In 1916 it was brought up again, this time by James Wilkins, publisher of the San Francisco Call Bulletin. As a result, the famous and popular architect of the time, Joseph Strauss, was brought in, declaring that the bridge over the Strait could be built for only $25-30 million.
On June 28, 1921, Strauss submitted preliminary drawings and set the cost of the project at $27 million. The architect was so “fired up” by the idea of building the bridge over the Golden Gate that he launched a large-scale program to convince politicians of the profitability of the project and to find investors. Construction did not begin until January 5, 1933. Joseph Strauss insisted that during construction the participants adhere to the strictest safety measures in the history of bridge construction.
Construction of the bridge dragged on for four years. The architect was actively assisted by the designer Irving Morrow, as evidenced by the plaque with the names of the creators, attached to the south tower of the structure. Incidentally, Charles Alton Ellis did all the mathematical calculations for the bridge, but because of the bad relationship between him and Joseph Strauss, Ellis’ name does not appear in the construction of the bridge and is not inscribed in the plaque of the creators of the bridge.
On May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was inaugurated at 6 a.m. (still only for pedestrians – for the first 12 hours). The next day, at President Roosevelt’s signal, the first cars were let onto the bridge. Franklin Roosevelt informed the world of this event by pushing the telegraph key in the White House.
Even before the bridge opened, Irving Morrow wrote a report entitled “The Color and Illumination of the Golden Gate” in which he carefully pointed out the factors most significant to the lighting of the structure. The architect did not like the idea of equal lighting of all elements of the bridge combined with its large size – Morrow suggested that the top of the pylons should be lit less so that they would appear to float outside the lighting. Also, the designer suggested that flashing, flickering, and other types of spectacular lighting would not impair the magnificence of the structure. It should be noted that what Morrow proposed in the beginning was not realized in the construction of the Golden Gate because of a lack of budgetary resources. “Proper” lighting was not applied until half a century later – on the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the bridge. In the new lighting, the pylons seem to fade into the evening darkness, which emphasizes their height to an even greater extent.
Incidentally, it was Morrow who insisted that the Golden Gate be painted in vermillion orange, considered the international color. Rejecting black and gray, Morrow chose this color because it harmonized well with its surroundings. Plus, the paint protects the bridge from the salts in the air in fairly high concentrations.
From its opening in 1937 until 1964 the Golden Gate Bridge was the largest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge is 1,970 meters long, the main span is 1,280 meters, and the piers are 230 meters high above the water. From the roadway to the surface of the water – 67 meters. The bridge consists of three suspension sections: the two side ones are 350 meters long in total, and the main one stretches for 1400 meters. The Golden Gate Bridge is two and a half times the length of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge!
The bridge was built with a good margin of safety that allowed it to survive several earthquakes, including the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, after which a new project was born to create the most advanced seismic protection the Golden Gate Bridge needed to withstand a major earthquake should its epicenter be dangerously close to the bridge. However, given the series of changes that had to be made to the structure of the bridge, it was far from a secondary goal to preserve the aesthetic and historical integrity of the bridge.
Unfortunately, because the world is full of stupidity, the Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most popular suicide sites in the world. On average, every two weeks someone commits suicide here… Today, there are special phones along the span of the bridge that would-be suicides can use to contact a crisis counseling center.
The bridge’s design, brick red color and nighttime fluorescent lighting are a trademark of the United States. No one had ever dared to connect the San Francisco Bay Area, southern Marin County and the Pacific before this grandiose bridge was erected.