The Frances Appleton Pedestrian Bridge racked up another accolade upon receiving the prestigious American Architecture Award for 2019 during a recent ceremony in Miami, Fla.
Jointly organized by The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and now celebrating its 25th year, the American Architectural Awards are considered the nation’s highest and most prestigious distinguished building awards program for new and cutting-edge design in the U.S., and also promote American architecture and design domestically and abroad. The program drew a record number of applicants this year for new buildings, landscape architecture and urban planning projects submitted by some of the most venerable firms practicing in the U.S. and globally.
“The Appleton Bridge is a great example of a bridge conceived as structural art balancing architecture and engineering goals,” wrote Miguel Rosales, the award-winning bridge designer and longtime Beacon Hill resident who designed the $12.5 Appleton Bridge as a major component of the $300 million-plus rehabilitation of the iconic Longfellow Bridge. “As the bridge designer, I am very pleased to receive this important award rarely given to a bridge project in the US. I hope that the Frances Appleton Bridge will help inspire other communities to strive for excellence in bridge design.”
Named for “Fanny” Appleton, the wife of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the most widely known and best-loved American poets of his lifetime, as a lasting testament to their courtship during the 1840s when he crossed the Charles River from Cambridge to Beacon Hill each day to visit her, the 230-foot-long, steel-arch span that links Beacon Hill/Charles Circle to the Charles River Esplanade opened last year. (The bridge has the distinction of being the only fully ADA-accessible pedestrian bridge connecting to the riverfront.)
The Appleton Bridge was also recognized this year with the Arthur G. Hayden Medal, an international award recognizing bridge innovation and design.