I hope you are enjoying an annotated walk from east to west across the heart of the Bronx. Part one was hunt’s point, part three will be around yankee stadium, but in-between this is part two, the longwood historic district. This neighborhood held together while the Bronx burned around it in the 60’s-80’s & you will see why. For this one you can just kick back and enjoy some nice housing, with some old Bronx courthouse thrown in later for good measure. First a little background via forgottenny:

 

“In the late 19th Century Longwood and the surrounding area was subdivided into residential lots. A group of now-landmarked brownstone buildings was developed by Warren C. Dickerson for landowner George Johnson between 1897 and 1901 consisting of parts of Beck, Kelly and Dawson Streets and Hewitt Place between East 156th Street and Longwood Avenue. Designated a New York City Landmark District, its buildings are marked by their eclectic peaks and roof embellishments.

 

The region's odd street layout... streets sort of undulate, twist and turn...was, in part, defined by the now-underground Sacrahong Brook, whose route is now nearly exactly copied by Intervale Avenue.”

 

This info is taken from the national historical register:

Longwood Historic District

(added 1983 - Bronx County - #83001640)

Roughly bounded by Beck St., Longwood, Leggett, and Prospect Aves., New York

(160 acres, 58 buildings)

Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering Architect, builder, or engineer: Dickerson,Warren C., Multiple Architectural Style: Other, Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Romanesque Area of Significance: Architecture Period of Significance: 1875-1899, 1900-1924 Owner: Private , Local Gov't Historic Function: Domestic Historic Sub-function: Single Dwelling Current Function: Domestic Current Sub-function: Single Dwelling

 

here we go --brand new on longwood avenue…..

 

…..contrasts with old stuff along the aforementioned sidestreets of beck,kelly, dawson, Hewitt & 156th st

 

from forgotten ny: The Romanesque, onion domed United Church on Hewitt Place is impressive indeed when viewed from Macy Place. This was originally a synagogue completed in 1906--despite the onion domes, which are generally found on Russian or Eastern European churches.

 

 

 

more new small scale housing nearby

 

 

 

These homes are iconic of the district, they are what is known as Dickerson houses,

basically doubles with alternating twin peaks & mansarded roofs

 

 

 

The Dickerson rows have gated driveways between them

 

 

 

 

Now oddly wedged in here on 156th st is the white estate (1850). some info & good news:

 

Charles Denison ... was a representative from Pennsylvania, a Democrat elected to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses and served from 1863 until his death in 1867. That gave him 17 years to live in the mansion, which he built in 1850. After that, his son-in-law Samuel White moved in. AIA says it was once the Martinique Club, a real estate office and a P.A.L. in its history.

 

“Friends in the City Inc. and the Lantern Group, both Manhattan-based nonprofit developers of affordable housing, are teaming up to restore the Denison-White residence, turn it into a community center and build 95 apartments — 93 of them categorized as affordable.

 

The planned $28 million renovation and reuse of the property, which served as a real estate office, social club and Police Athletic League center at various points in its history, has been enough to pique the interest of neighbors and affordable-housing advocates in this blue-collar neighborhood.

 

But the development, to be called Cedars, is perhaps most notable for its focus on a demographic increasingly known as the “grandfamily”: grandparents (or other older relatives) raising grandchildren. A Forlorn Neighborhood Revitalized, David Scharfenberg, NYTimes, October 8, 2006”

 

 

 

 

Yikes!  :-o

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Restoration in action!  :clap:

 

 

An interesting one

 

Here is another iconic feature of this neighborhood, these rather famous art installations,

This one is called Life on dawson street and dates from 1982-83,

I love looking at them while walking by in-between my work sites

 

Others in the area:

Homage to the people of the Bronx (double dutch at key street) 1981-82,

We are family 1981-82 & Back to school 1985

 

More about them:

http://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/publicart/ahearn_torres.htm

 

an old mural with new housing next to it on longwood near Westchester,

living right up against it looks kind of cool

 

this is the old olympic theater on prospect, it was a community center until recently (& an open drug den before that  :whip: )

 

Leaving the longwood district and heading west across the Bronx,

here is a quick historic look back at the upcoming neighborhoods to the west:

Morrisania/Melrose in 1880

 

 

a nice view north from next to the towering mckinley pj’s on 161st

 

This is the cute eagle ave bridge over 161st, it shows the Bronx is full of often steep valleys

 

Heading down to the old Bronx borough courthouse at 3rd ave & boston rd

 

here it is -- so you wanna buy a massive beaux-arts courthouse (1933)?  :laugh:  :cry:

 

^That was the main south facing front, I had to hike around a lot of construction to

get this north facing pic

 

 

An old law office building – there is an earlier 1906 courthouse shell near here too, but I missed it

 

oh you think you got problems? the 46th precinct got problems  :laugh:

 

Whatever it is they are building behind the courthouse,

I got yelled at for taking this so enjoy it!  :wtf:

 

Then I saw why the worker guy yelled – the rat is out & so were the protesters in full force  :laugh:

 

 

Heading west from this odd courthouse confluence – a very surprising lot of new stuff

 

And finally yet another beautiful old Bronx theater that has seen better days (and may yet again?)

 

*** that’s longwood/morrisania/melrose, next up is the new yankee stadium neighborhood ***

 

 

Great job! I love the building in the second to last picture. Columbus should build buildings like that!

It's almost like a DC-version of NYC.