Posted October 20, 200816 yr here’s a quickie thread on poe cottage in the bronx. i stopped by there recently. enjoy! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe poe moved up here in the hopes that the “bronx country air” would help his wife’s tuberculosis. It sounds funny to hear that today, but the grand concourse was a dirt road back then. this 1812 cottage is typical of the working class homes of the old village of fordham. it has five rooms, a kitchen, parlor and bedchamber on the 1st floor and 2 tiny rooms in the attic. poe lived here from 1844-49 with his wife virginia and her mother maria clemm. He wrote some of his most famous works here including ‘annabel lee,’ ‘eureka’ & ‘the bells.’ virginia died in the cottage in 1847. Poe died 2 years later in baltimore. mrs. clemm then sold the house and moved away. as poe’s genius was recognized in his lifetime, the home became something of a literary landmark. it was finally saved from demolition in 1913 by the ny shakespeare company. to escape rapid bronx development, they raised funds to moved the cottage across the street into its own little park and made sure it would be preserved for perpetuity. the furnishings are restored with both original poe family heirlooms, such as his wicker rocker and also those appropriate to the 1840’s (unfortunately the cottage interior was not open while I was there :| ). today the poe cottage is owned by nyc parks & recreation, operated by the bronx county historical society & is a member of the historic house trust. FYI: poe park & cottage are located right on the grand concourse at 192nd st, just above fordham road. more: http://www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/poecottage.html the poe park bandstand is notable the old bandshell has a pleasing, if plain design & it has a very nice old copper roof they are starting to build a small toshiko mori designed visitor center next to the poe cottage ^ more info and renderings: http://tmarch.com/projects/cultural/poe_park_visitor_center/ as an aside, nice to see there is a little weekly green market here at poe park too http://www.cenyc.org/node/267 i saved the best for last :wink: i met this nice person. she shoots the city with her own home-made pinhole cameras: she showed me her camera. it's pretty cool, eh?!!! :clap: i think i found her work here on flickr, including the poe cottage shots from that camera. way cool! http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=pinhole+camera+poe+cottage+bronx&m=text flickr also has her pinhole camera info & more: http://www.flickr.com/people/gmpicket/ if you are interested here is more flickr pinhole camera stuff – very interesting!: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=pinhole+camera *** stay tuned -- heart of the bronx grand concourse tour coming soon ***
October 20, 200816 yr Neat! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
October 20, 200816 yr wouldn't kill parks and recreation to slap a coat of paint on it before it starts to rot. I never cease to be amazed by the little secrets NYC will reveal if you look hard enough.
June 4, 201114 yr an oldie thread but new news as the visitor center is finally done: As part of its $1 million renovation, the old Edgar Allen Poe house at 2640 Grand Concourse in the Bronx got a new 2,700-square-foot visitors' center just 80 feet away. And it's new not just in the construction sense: designed by Toshiko Mori, the visitors' center does not remotely resemble the Poe house or the Parks Department equipment storage bunker that previously stood on the site. What it does resemble is the rendering, at least judging by the Journal's photo of the newly-completed structure. The Journal also gives the project more of a thumbs-up than earlier critics: "The effect is successfully unsettling, lending the building a peltlike texture. With a dip in the dark standing-seam metal, the roof gets a winglike lift that, underlit at dusk, conjures a certain blackbird." As for the interior, the bathroom tiles are patterned with a digital portrait of Poe's face, because that's not creepy at all. more: http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/06/01/wacky_visitor_center_finished_at_edgar_allen_poes_bronx_cottage.php
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