Category Archives: Bronx

Bronx

888 Grand Concourse

888 Grand Concourse

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888 Grand Concourse has seen better days. But even in decline, the curvaceous Art Deco landmark is striking and memorable. The bold corner treatment, in particular, stands out for its concave gilt and mosaic entry.

The Emery Roth-designed apartment building stands at E 161st Street, across the “Boulevard of Dreams” from the old Bronx County Courthouse. In 2009, The New York Times called 888 “a particular stunner, a medley of curves, scallops and concave spaces executed in black granite, bronze, stainless steel, marble mosaic and gold stripes.”

Since then, the building has fallen on hard times. In 2013, the Daily News reported that the apartment house had 341 open violations and was one of the Bronx’s ten worst buildings. In February 2016 tenants staged a rent strike, and the building is in foreclosure, according to The Real Deal. The New York Real Estate news site described the building as “rat-infested.”

One can only hope that the landmark emerges from foreclosure with an owner that can rehabilitate the building.

888 Grand Concourse Vital Statistics
  • Location: 888 Grand Concourse at E 161 Street
  • Year completed: 1937
  • Architect: Emery Roth
  • Floors: 6
  • Style: Art Deco
  • New York City Landmark: 2011
888 Grand Concourse Recommended Reading

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Park Plaza Apartments

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Park Plaza Apartments is one of the first Art Deco apartment houses to be built in the Bronx. It was designed by the prolific team of Horace Ginsberg and Marvin Fine, who built dozens of buildings on and around the Grand Concourse, including the Fish Building and Noonan Plaza Apartments. Bold, colorful glazed terra cotta enlivens the 365-foot-wide facade.

Ginsberg (who later changed his name to Ginsbern) specialized in the design and layout of apartments, while Fine specialized in the elevations – the facades. Fine began his career working for Cass Gilbert, the architect of the Woolworth Building, among other landmarks. But while working for Ginsberg – in the midst of the Park Plaza project – Fine broke with his classical training and experience to embrace “modernistic” design. Fine credited the work of William Van Alen (Chrysler Building) and Raymond Hood (American Radiator Building) as his inspiration.

The Park Plaza Apartments is on an L-shaped site with its long side on Jerome Avenue; the base pokes through the block to Anderson Avenue. The eight-story building, viewed from the front, has five blocks or wings separated by courtyards. Initially, the building was to have 10 floors. During construction, fire destroyed the building, and the Department of Buildings imposed a lower height for the rebuilt apartments.

When built, Park Plaza Apartments promoted its quiet views of Jerome Park. Part of the park remains (Mullaly Park), but the New Yankee Stadium occupies what was Macombs Dam Park, across the street. So much for quiet.

(At this writing, facade repairs spoil the picture; I hope to re-photograph the building when the scaffolding is removed.)

Park Plaza Apartments Vital Statistics
  • Location: 1005 Jerome Avenue at E 164th Street and 1000 Anderson Avenue (Bronx)
  • Year completed: 1931
  • Architect: Horace Ginsbern and Marvin Fine
  • Floors: 8
  • Style: Art Deco
  • New York City Landmark: 1981
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1982
Park Plaza Apartments Recommended Reading

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Fish Building

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Fish Building is “one of the most astonishing apartment houses in the Bronx, indeed in New York City,” wrote Christopher Gray in his July 15, 2007 New York Times Streetscapes column. The six-story building, aka 1150 Grand Concourse, is an Art Deco delight designed by Horace Ginsbern and Marvin Fine. This Grand Concourse landmark gets its name from the aquarium motif mosaic at the main entry.

But Mr. Gray decries the structure’s decline. “HOW do old buildings disappear? Sometimes all at once, under the wrecking ball. But more often they fade away on little cat’s feet, first the cornice, then a doorway, then the windows, then a balcony … leaving behind nothing but an architectural zombie.” And indeed, historical photos that accompany the Streetscapes column show an even more fantastic Fish Building existed some 50-odd years ago. The original cornice, roof railing, windows and door have been replaced with unimaginative substitutes.

Clever Design

At least one aspect of the building’s design is permanent: Its adaptation to the irregular street grid.

The Grand Concourse was designed as a scenic boulevard, and as such it meanders to follow the terrain, often at an odd angle to the street grid. Such is the case at Mc Clellan Street. The Fish Building accommodates the boulevard’s zig with a stepped western facade that artfully hides the skewed grid, and keeps apartment walls rectangular. See the floor plans from Columbia University’s New York Real Estate Brochure Collection.

If the outside of 1150 Grand Concourse is exceptional, the inside is absolutely stunning. The terrazzo floor, murals, light fixtures and boldly decorated elevators are a joy to behold.

If the Fish Building leaves you wanting more, you can visit nearby Park Plaza Apartments. It’s located at 1005 Jerome Avenue, across the street from Yankee Stadium. This grander-scaled apartment building was also designed in Art Deco style by Ginsbern and Fine. It features bold, colorful terra cotta details definitely worth the trip.

Fish Building Vital Statistics
  • Location: 1150 Grand Concourse at Mc Clellan Street
  • Year completed: 1937
  • Architect: Horace Ginsbern and Marvin Fine
  • Floors: 6
  • Style: Art Deco
  • New York City Landmark: 2011 (Grand Concourse Historic District)
Fish Building Recommended Reading

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Bronx County Hall of Justice

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Bronx County Hall of Justice reverses centuries of tradition: The aluminum and glass facades are designed for openness and transparency instead of monumental intimidation.

According to the architects, “The image of the courthouse in society was of primary concern in the design of the building. The program is organized in a linear manner around an open civic space and layered from public to private, with the public circulation, animated by a series of cantilevered stairs, facing the open space. Within the courtyard sets a free-standing public building that serves as the jury assembly room, gives scale to the space, and is the symbolic as well as formal focus of the project. The exterior wall design responds to the various functions within and orientations of the building. The curtain wall facing the south and west takes the shape of a folded plane with integrated light shelves that reflect light into the courtrooms and shade the adjacent corridor. The intent is to express the building as open and inviting, a metaphor for the transparency of the judicial process.”

The building is a dazzling contrast to the Bronx Criminal Court, next door, and the Bronx County Building (originally Bronx County Courthouse) at Grand Concourse, just two blocks west.

Despite its openness, the Hall of Justice was built with security in mind: The glass walls are bullet- and blast-resistant.

While the building’s design was exceptional, the construction was anything but. The construction site was contaminated, the low-bidding contractor was disqualified for suspected mob ties, the underground garage was deemed unsafe, and air conditioning for the court computers didn’t work. The four-year, $325 million project stretched accordion-like to six years and $421 million, opening in 2008.

Bronx County Hall of Justice Vital Statistics
  • Location: 265 East 161st Street between Sherman and Morris Avenues
  • Year completed: 2008
  • Architect: Rafael Viñoly Architects
  • Floors: 10
  • Style: Postmodern
Bronx County Hall of Justice Recommended Reading

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Bronx County Building

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Bronx County Building (originally Bronx County Courthouse) is a monumental landmark of limestone and marble that blends modern and classical forms. It is made more prominent by its siting, raised on a granite podium between two parks – Joyce Kilmer Park to the north, Franz Sigel Park to the south.

The podium, most visible on the west and north facades, is functional: It contains a garage, among other things.

The design is symmetrical, each side almost identical except for the sculpture. A six-columned portico is centered on each side, flanked by a pair of pink marble sculpture groups. The north and south facades are broken by 13 lines of windows; the east and west facades have 15 bays. Polished copper spandrels separate the windows; the first-floor spandrels have nickel inlays.

The county’s judicial needs have outgrown the building – at one point the building was so crowded that there were reports of juries deliberating in storage rooms. Larger courts have since been built to the east on E 161st Street and to the north on Grand Concourse. The building now serves as the Bronx County municipal building.

Bronx County Building Vital Statistics
  • Location: 851 Grand Concourse at E 161st Street
  • Year completed: 1935
  • Architect: Joseph H. Freedlander and Max L. Hausle
  • Sculptors: Charles Keck (frieze), Adolf A. Weinman (Grand Concourse sculpture groups), George H. Snowden (E 161st Street sculpture groups), Joseph Kiselewski (Walton Avenue sculpture groups), Edward F. Sandford Jr. (E 158th Street sculpture groups)
  • Floors: 10
  • Style: neo-Classical, Moderne
  • New York City Landmark: 1976
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1983
Bronx County Building Recommended Reading

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East River Bridges

Bronx, Brooklyn, Collections, Manhattan, Queens, , , ,

New York has more than 75 bridges connecting the boroughs to each other and to New Jersey. It’s fascinating how so many different engineers came up with so many different solutions for the same problem: How to cross a river. Here are views of some of the principal East River bridges.

To come: Bronx-Whitestone, Throggs Neck and Rikers Island bridges.

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City Island

Bronx, Collections, ,

Although part of the Bronx, City Island has a distinct personality that seems imported from New England, reflected in the island’s architecture.

City Island Avenue is the island’s main north-south thoroughfare; side streets are one or two blocks long east and west. Rule of thumb: The most interesting homes are at the ends of the street, overlooking the water.

It may seem that the most interesting homes are all at the southern end of the island; not necessarily. I must confess, the sun was getting low in the sky, forcing me to rush a bit – I didn’t explore every block.

Getting There: Take the number 6 to Pelham Bay (end of the line), transfer to the Bx29 bus, which goes all the way to the southern end of the island.

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Fire Houses

Bronx, Brooklyn, Collections, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, , , ,

What’s a fire house? Just a dorm with a garage, right? No way!! It’s where New York’s Bravest hang their helmets while pursuing arguably the most exciting career in the city. It’s where a kid might loiter on a summer afternoon: Waiting for the bells to summon firefighters to another blaze, watching the trucks roar to life, hearing the sirens and bells warn mere mortals to clear the way. (Well, fire trucks used to have shiny brass bells, and if you asked really nicely, the firemen would sometimes let you ring the bell.)

That excitement and romantic view of firemen must have inspired New York architects, because they designed some really awesome fire houses!

The elaborate stations of the early 1900s came about as New York City transitioned from volunteer corps to a paid professional force. The FDNY had its own architect, which for many years was Napoleon LeBrun. His crowning work was the station for Engine Company 31, a Loire Valley chateaux-style confection now used as television studios.

Incidentally – when you see a tower attached to or sprouting from a firehouse, that’s where they hang their hoses to dry between fires.

This photo gallery is but a small sample; you might also enjoy the “Ten House” (Engine Company 10/Ladder Company 10) website – it’s a portal into dozens of FDNY websites: www.fdnytenhouse.com/fdnylinks.htm

Kingsbridge Armory

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Originally known as the Eighth Coastal Artillery Armory, Kingsbridge Armory was built in 1912-17 with what was then the world’s largest drill hall, to accommodate artillery.

According to “Guide to New York City Landmarks,” the armory was designed by Pilcher & Tachau and inspired by a medieval French castle at Pierrefonds.

The main hall has been unused by the military for more than a decade, and New York City now controls the building. (A National Guard unit still uses the north annex, adjacent to the armory.) The Bronx Borough President has endorsed a proposal to turn the armory into an ice skating center with nine rinks.

Kingsbridge Armory Vital Statistics
  • Location: 29 W Kingsbridge Road between Jerome and Reservoir Avenues
  • Year completed: 1917
  • Architect: Pilcher & Tachau
  • Style: Romanesque
  • New York City Landmark: 1974
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1982
Kingsbridge Armory Suggested Reading

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