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japanese babe Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York City, New York, United States 900 Grand Concourse (aka [no number] East 161st Street; [no number] East 162nd Street) Borough of the Bronx Tax Map Block 2460, Lot 1 Building Name: Concourse Plaza Hotel Date: 1922-23 (NB 841-1922) Architect/Builder: Maynicke & Franke Original Owner: The Bronx Boosters, Inc. (J.M. Haffen, President) Type: Originally hotel (now senior housing) Style: Colonial Revival Stories: 11 and mezzanine and basement Material(s): Red brick; masonry; terra cotta Special Windows: Round-arched window openings at mezzanine level at central section of base Decorative Metal Work: Possibly historic balconette above main entry; possibly historic light fixtures at main entry Significant Architectural Features: Tripartite vertical configuration; one-story with mezzanine masonry base featuring pedimented window surrounds at the first story, round-arched window openings with small masonry keystones at the mezzanine level, and garland, rosette and cartouche decorative elements; small molded masonry cornice above base; balustraded masonry parapet above central section of base; double-height terra-cotta window surrounds and molded terra-cotta bands (continuous with window surrounds) at capital; shaped parapet with masonry or terra-cotta coping, bas-relief garland and cartouche details, sculptural urn finials, and masonry balustrades at main (west) and south facades Alterations: Painted base; replaced sidelights and transom at main entry; original ballroom at center of facade gutted, roof removed, and converted into open-air courtyard (c. 1980, exterior wall remains but window sashes removed); structural beams added to courtyard at mezzanine level; non-historic brick courtyard walls at first and second stories; upper story of historic two-story restaurant at southern end of facade demolished (see c. 1940s tax photograph for historic configuration); original multi-paned arched fixed sashes and multi-paned double-hung sashes replaced (see c. 1940s tax photograph); large non-historic window sashes at remaining first story of restaurant; main entry remodeled in 1958 (BN 641-1958), including new entrance doors and new marble veneer and possibly further altered later (see c. 1940s tax photograph for original main entry appearance); six rectangular window openings created above mezzanine level to north of courtyard, cut into existing garland details (see c. 1940s tax photographs); two non-original first-story door openings, cut into masonry base trim, subsequently filled in and replaced with window openings; three filled-in mezzanine-level window openings to north of courtyard; filled-in basement window openings, several with louvered vents; original lampposts removed from balustrade above central section of base; awning at main entry; several through-wall air conditioner units; security lights Site Features: Loading dock along east facade; continuous strip of Belgian-block paving at curbline along Grand Concourse, containing planted trees; planted trees within Belgian-block paved planting beds along East 162nd Street Notable History: The Concourse Plaza Hotel was completed in 1923, the same year Yankee Stadium opened just a few blocks to the west; the opening of the hotel was a major event at which New York State Governor Alfred E. Smith spoke; designed to rival the best hotels of Manhattan, the hotel attracted many distinguished guests including renowned Yankee players Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle; the banquet rooms of the hotel were highly sought after for events ranging from wedding receptions and bar mitzvahs to political functions; beginning in 1924, it became customary for the Democratic candidate for the presidency to campaign at a ladies\' luncheon on the last Saturday before the general election; presidential candidates Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy are all said to have campaigned at the hotel; in stark contrast to its heyday, the building was converted into a welfare hotel during the general economic decline of the area in the 1960s; in 1975, the City of New York purchased the building with intentions to convert it to a home for the elderly, a project that was delayed due to deteriorating economic conditions in the late 1970s; the building has been occupied as a federally subsidized senior citizens residence since 1982 West Facade: Designed (historic, repointed) Door(s): Replaced primary door Windows: Replaced (upper stories); replaced (basement) Security Grilles: Possibly historic (upper stories); possibly historic (basement) Sidewalk Material(s): Concrete Curb Material(s): Concrete with metal nosing North Facade: Designed (historic) Facade Notes: Similar to main (west) facade; stepped parapet with masonry coping and urn finials at outer edges; possibly historic decorative metal security grille at the only basement window opening; repointed; painted base; several replaced brick lintels; windows replaced; four filled-in second-story window openings; secondary door replaced; original entry with double-height portico removed and converted into window openings at the first and mezzanine levels towards western end of facade; other first-story door openings filled in and replaced with window openings; non-historic metal fencing and security gate at entrance to eastern service alley; several through-wall air conditioner units; signage South Facade: Designed (historic) Facade Notes: Similar to main (west) facade but with fewer decorative elements; round-arched window openings at second story; simple masonry window surrounds at second-story window openings topped by small molded cornices on scroll brackets; masonry balustrades at second-story window openings; repointed; painted base; non-historic storefronts not original to building; missing balusters at eastern second-story window opening; several through-wall air conditioner units East Facade: Partially designed (historic) (partially visible) Facade Notes: Red brick at projecting northern and southern portions of facade; beige brick at recessed central portion of facade; some masonry and terra-cotta details from north and south facades continue slightly onto this facade; round-arched second-story window openings at projecting southern portion of facade; non-historic metal railing above second story at projecting non-historic metal railing above second story at projecting southern portion of facade; several through-wall air conditioner units; conduit; electrical boxes. About the historic district: Apartment House Architecture of the Grand Concourse Historic District The facade designs of the 61 apartment houses that comprise the Grand Concourse Historic District developed in two stages, roughly corresponding to the district\'s two major waves of residential development. The change in apartment house design was largely stylistic, in that many of the architects who practiced within the historic district were responsible for buildings constructed during both the earlier and later waves of development. Among the architects who designed buildings within the historic district are several prolific local firms, including Charles Kreymborg, Gronenberg & Leuchtag, Springsteen & Goldhammer, and Jacob M. Felson. Kreymborg, and the successor firm Charles Kreymborg & Son, are credited with the design of the greatest number of apartment houses within the district, totaling 10, followed by Felson, credited with the design of eight apartments within the district. During the 1920s, Bronx apartment house design evolved from the simple brick buildings of the previous decade into larger and more luxurious structures with grander and more elaborate ornamentation. Builders during this era were more willing to invest extra capital on apartment buildings in order to make them attractive to residents who could afford higher rents and therefore offset increased construction costs. At the same time, builders were turning to prefabricated and less expensive materials, such as brick and terra cotta, to further increase profits wherever possible. Within the historic district, the apartment buildings constructed during the first wave of development almost exclusively employed red or beige textured brick with masonry or terra-cotta decorative elements. In terms of style, these buildings typically reflected the fashions popular in Manhattan, where a historicism based on revivalist architectural styles such as Tudor, Renaissance and Colonial, was the ruling theme for luxury buildings. As noted by Rosenblum, these historically-derived styles were \"wonderfully suggestive of faraway places\" with many seeming to have \"arrived straight from the countryside\" - an effective sales pitch for a population looking to escape the overcrowding of the city\'s more urban districts. The more elaborate buildings from this era featured decorative elements such as corner towers (Concourse Gardens, 940 and 960 Grand Concourse, 1927, Mediterranean Revival), faux half-timbering (109 East 153rd Street, 1930-31, Tudor Revival), elaborate brickwork including diamond patterning and blind-arch corbelling (825 Gerard Avenue, 1928, Renaissance Revival), classically-decorated main entry porticos (760 Grand Concourse, 1928, Renaissance Revival), and at least one Japanese-inspired interior garden court (Thomas Gardens Apartments, 840 Grand Concourse, 1926-27). Apartment house design within the Bronx was again transformed in the 1930s, once more influenced by predominating Manhattan tastes. During this era, Art Deco and Moderne became the residential styles of choice for the Grand Concourse and the surrounding streets. The Art Deco style, introduced to midtown and downtown Manhattan in the mid-1920s, found its way \"uptown\" to the Bronx before the end of the decade, and the Bronx soon became one of the great repositories of Art Deco buildings nationwide. The buildings were modern and sophisticated in appearance, utilizing materials such as terra cotta, cast stone, brick and mosaic tiles in new and inventive ways, and incorporating design features including rounded or jagged bays, corner windows, and asymmetrical facade compositions. The style was marked by streamlined elements such as curving walls and abstract decorative detailing (888 Grand Concourse, 1937), recessed or decorated spandrels used to create an effect of continuous vertical window strips (1011 Carroll Place, 1935-36), brickwork arranged in vertical or horizontal patterns (1150 Grand Concourse, 1936-37; 710 Gerard Avenue, 1936), wrap-around corner window openings (730, 740 and 750 Grand Concourse, 1936-1939), and materials suggestive of the \"Machine Age,\" such as steel-and-glass casement windows (now mostly replaced) and decorative metal parapet rails (860 Grand Concourse, 1940-41). The striking Art Deco style building at 888 Grand Concourse, designed by Emery Roth, one of New York City\'s most renowned apartment house architects, incorporates many of these characteristic features, including three rounded bays, cast-stone decorative elements, and a concave main-entry vestibule featuring beige and gold mosaic tile and terrazzo flooring. The Art Deco-style apartment building at 1150 Grand Concourse, also known colloquially as \"the fish building,\" is notable for its eye-catching mural of tropical fish and water plants in tinted concrete or cast stone and mosaic tiles. Emerging in popularity shortly after Art Deco\'s rise, the related Moderne style, of which there are ten buildings within the historic district, is similarly characterized by streamlined geometry (910 Sheridan Avenue, 1945-48), but with more minimal ornamentation including horizontal bands designed to suggest \"speed lines\" and a fascination with aerodynamics (675 Walton Avenue, 1936). Constructed exclusively during the second wave of development, the district\'s Art Deco and Moderne style buildings are found in small clusters interspersed among the apartment houses built during the earlier boom. The largest cluster within the Grand Concourse Historic District is the group of seven Moderne style buildings located between East 162nd and 163rd Streets, Grand Concourse and Sheridan Avenue (both sides of the street). Largely faced in smooth beige brick, these buildings function in the streetscape as lively, light-colored highlights among their predominantly darker-brick predecessors. Several of the apartment buildings within the Grand Concourse Historic District are also representative of an innovative form of housing - the \"garden apartment.\" This housing type took shape in the late 1910s and 1920s as real estate developers discovered the profitability of building low-rise, relatively low-density apartment buildings on larger lots in areas of the outer boroughs where land was cheap and the demand for modern, technologically up-to-date middle class housing was rising. Architects responded to these conditions by designing larger buildings of no more than six stories that sometimes occupied an entire city block. The buildings were often characterized by groups of apartment units organized around interior and/or exterior courtyards. Many of these apartment buildings, marketed to professionals and upwardly mobile middle-class families, were among the best in the city in terms of architecture, planning, size of living space, and amenities. Housing historian Richard Plunz identified the garden apartment as \"critical to the transformation of housing from a consequence of economic formulas to a unique environment\" and notes the building type for having \"set a standard of urban housing that has remained unmatched since.\" In 1926, architect Andrew Jackson Thomas, credited as the innovator of the \"garden apartment\" who had already made a name for himself designing garden apartments in Jackson Heights, Queens and elsewhere, was hired to design an apartment house on the Grand Concourse. Thomas\'s earlier work had caught the attention and interest of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who appointed him to design the award winning Dunbar Apartments (1926-28, a designated New York City Landmark) in Central Harlem (the first major non-profit cooperative complex built specifically for African Americans), as well as what would become the Thomas Gardens Apartments at 840 Grand Concourse (1926-28, within the Grand Concourse Historic District). The very large Thomas Gardens complex, designed to accommodate 166 families, was planned as a non-profit cooperative and differed from others constructed around the same time in that it was financed by a private capitalist, as opposed to a workers\' union or building residents. The innovative building occupies an entire city block and features a U-shaped plan surrounding what was originally a sunken Japanese- inspired garden courtyard containing a pond and several slightly arched bridges and walkways. Prior to construction of the Bronx County Courthouse (1931-34), there was a strong a visual connection between the courtyard of the Thomas Gardens Apartments and Franz Sigel Park across the street, which added to the calm \"protective quality\" of the building and its environs. Several other examples of garden apartments are located within the historic district including 975 Walton Avenue (1929-30) designed by Gronenberg & Leuchtag, the Concourse Gardens (North, 940 Grand Concourse, and South, 960 Grand Concourse, 1927) designed by Springsteen & Goldhammer, and 800 Grand Concourse (1953-55) designed by Hyman I. Feldman. All four complexes feature large interior garden courts around which the apartments are situated. Even the less grand apartment houses within the district were typically built to lot lines and featured large light courts within which main entries are recessed, thereby giving the effect of a garden apartment on more constricted plots of land. In the case of the Franz Sigel (aka Alexandria) and the Virginia Apartments (774 and 780 Grand Concourse, 1926), as well as the apartment buildings at 721 and 735 Walton Avenue (1927), this effect is enhanced by way of shared landscaped courtyards between the buildings. Parks and Public Institutions within the Grand Concourse Historic District Two public parks are located within the Grand Concourse Historic District. Joyce Kilmer Park, a seven-acre expanse just north of the Bronx County Courthouse, was acquired by the parks department in 1924 and planned concurrent with the boulevard\'s rise as a major residential boulevard. The park, which was dedicated in 1926 for Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918), a poet, journalist, and soldier who was killed during World War I, incorporates a triangular parcel of land, known as Concourse Plaza that originally served as the carriage entrance to the Grand Concourse at East 161st Street. The park, which consists of lawns and formal tree-lined walks, was completely redesigned in 1936. At this time, the park\'s two existing monuments, which predate the park, were moved to their present locations within the park. One of the monuments, a statue of Louis J. Heintz by Pierre Fietu, was dedicated in 1909, the year the Grand Concourse opened, in honor of the Bronx\'s first commissioner of street improvements. The other monument, the Henrich Heine Fountain, also known as the Lorelei Fountain, celebrates the German poet Henrich Heine (1797-1856), author of an ode to Die Lorelei, a siren from German mythology who is the subject of the sculpture. The fountain was initially designed by German-born sculptor Ernst Herter for the sculptor\'s home city of Dusseldorf, but its installation there was blocked by political groups opposed to Heine\'s Jewish ancestry and political views. It was brought to the Bronx in 1899 by a group of Americans of German ancestry. In contrast to the manicured lawns of Joyce Kilmer Park is the 16-acre Franz Sigel Park, located to the south of the Bronx County Courthouse. The park consists of terraced landscapes featuring densely packed trees, steeply sloping natural expanses with massive stone outcroppings, and rough-faced historic stone walls of varying heights. Though plans dating to the 1930s show proposals to formalize the park\'s circulation system, the paths that exist today are mostly unchanged from the early 20th century. Most of the land that comprises the park was purchased by the city from Gerard and Mary Walton in 1885, whose estate, Cedar Grove, was the inspiration for the original name of the park - Cedar Park. The land played an integral role in the early history of the area as well, beginning with the west slope of the park which was once part of a Native American pathway, and continuing with Revolutionary War, during which George Washington, Count de Rochambeau, and their respective military staff used a high rocky ridge within the park to monitor the movements of British troops camped along the Harlem River. In 1902, the park was named for German native Franz Sigel (1824-1902), an educator, soldier, journalist, public official, and Bronx resident. A handful of public institutions, constructed during the 1920s and 1930s, complement the apartment houses of the Grand Concourse Historic District. The Bronx County Courthouse (a designated New York City Landmark), constructed between 1931 and 1934 along the Grand Concourse at East 161st Street, is one of New York City\'s most imposing civic structures. The courthouse is the work of architects Max Hausle and Joseph H. Freedlander, who designed the building in collaboration with noted sculptors and artisans. Designed in a style that combines boldly modern massing with neo-classical elements, the courthouse is an exceptionally impressive example of the publically funded architecture of the period. The new courthouse opened in 1934 following a festive three-day dedication celebration. In honor of the occasion, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia officially transferred the seat of municipal government for three days from City Hall to the Bronx County Courthouse. The dedication ceremonies, which also marked the 20th anniversary of the Bronx as a county, further included speeches, a military parade and band concert, as well as luncheons at the Concourse Plaza Hotel located across the street. The Andrew Freedman Home (a designated New York City Landmark), constructed between 1922 and 1924 (and enlarged in 1928-31), located along the Grand Concourse at East 166th Street, was the result of a generous bequest in the will of Andrew Freedman. Freedman, a businessman who had a close relationship with the leaders of Tammany Hall, was involved with many profitable business ventures, including the construction of the IRT, New York City\'s first subway line. Upon his death, Freedman left most of his amassed fortune for the establishment of a home for \"aged and indigent persons of both sexes,\" with the unusual proviso that the residents of the home be poor people who had once been in good circumstances. The Board of Trustees, led by prominent lawyer Samuel Untermyer, purchased a large plot of land on the prestigious boulevard and commissioned a building from two notable New York architects - Freedlander, who would later be involved with designing the Bronx County Courthouse, and Harry Allan Jacobs. The resulting building is an exceptional example of a monumental building which, through its symmetrical massing, fenestration, and handsome detail, recalls the tradition of the Italian Renaissance palazzo. Its design displays many handsome architectural features, including a recessed loggia, balustraded terrace, finely cut stonework, and beautiful wrought-iron details. The building functioned as a refuge for the once affluent for 59 years, from its opening in 1924 until 1983, when the Andrew Freedman Home ceased to operate and the building was purchased by the Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council as housing for the elderly. The third notable public institution constructed along the Grand Concourse within the historic district was the Bronx Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children at 1130 Grand Concourse, built between 1925 and 1926. The main entrance to the three-story red brick and limestone building, designed by architects Raldiris & LaVelle (with a later addition by Leo Stillman), is elevated above ground level and features a set of double dog-leg staircases to either side of a three-story Corinthian portico which provides the building with a distinctive monumentality. The building was purchased in 1951 by the Bronx Young Men\'s and Women\'s Hebrew Association, and later sold to the Girls Club of New York in 1980. Since 1993 it has served as one of many locations for the social service organization Bronx Works (originally the Citizens Advice Bureau) which offers programs for children, youth and families, and which merged with the Girls Club in 1995. Subsequent History By the late 1950s/early 1960s, the Bronx had entered into a period of profound transformation. Numerous forces, including heavy-handed urban renewal policies, disinvestment by area landlords, and the redlining of much of the Bronx by local banks, all contributed to an economic downturn. At the same time, the forces of suburbanization were creating a massive exodus of working- and middle-class, predominantly white urban dwellers to the suburbs and single-family homes of Westchester County and Long Island. The borough was concurrently experiencing an influx of new residents, largely consisting of African Americans from the south and Puerto Rican- born citizens, who came to New York in search of work and better opportunities. However, just as the thousands of new residents were pouring into New York, the very opportunities that attracted them to the city - stable, well-paying factory jobs - were leaving the northeast and Midwest for the suburbs, the south, and eventually overseas. The newcomers were generally blocked from settling in the suburbs by racial covenants and other discriminatory practices, and were forced to settle in already overcrowded existing lower-rent neighborhoods throughout the city. During this era, the Bronx\'s once venerable housing stock was seen as lacking modern amenities and areas like the Grand Concourse came to be seen as old, poor neighborhoods with cheap rents. Unable to raise rents due to rent control laws, landlords began to cut down on maintenance, renting to poorer, subsidized families, inducing tenant turnover (which allowed them to raise rents), and failing to pay taxes; they then either walked away from or sold the buildings to the city for slum clearance. The result was a seemingly endless cycle of massive residential displacement and disinvestment. Landlords felt less and less incentive to maintain their buildings and often let conditions deteriorate with the complicit assistance of banks and insurance companies with little interest in supporting ethnically diverse or economically struggling neighborhoods. The last apartment house built within the Grand Concourse Historic District, the Executive Towers at 1020 Grand Concourse, was intended to help stabilize the neighborhood. Designed by architect Philip Birnbaum between 1959 and 1963, the Executive Towers were touted in real estate brochures dating to the time of construction as \"the first luxury skyscraper in the Bronx.\" Tenants who moved into the high-rise tower, which featured undulating balconies and nearly 450 apartments, were treated to the relatively novel amenity of central air conditioning. As noted by Rosenblum, for many, the 23-story Modern style building, like the buildings on the boulevard before it, represented a step up in the world. Yet the neighborhood continued to struggle. The Executive Towers, and others that might have been built like it, simply could not compete with the draw of newer developments, such as nearby Co-op City, a massive co-operative housing complex consisting of 35 towers, nearly 250 townhouses (for a total of more than 15,000 apartments), three shopping centers, half-a dozen public schools, and space for 10,500 cars, which attracted many Grand Concourse residents. Though economic conditions throughout New York City continued to worsen during the 1970s, the solid construction of the buildings within the Grand Concourse Historic District helped them survive largely unscathed - even through decades of owner neglect. The elegant Concourse Plaza Hotel, for example, had begun to lose luster in the post-war era, running into financial difficulties in the mid-1950s when the real estate syndicate that operated the hotel was charged with fraud. By the 1960s, the building had been converted into a \"welfare hotel,\" with a varying population of both permanent and temporary residents housed under the city\'s emergency relocation program. During this period, the hotel\'s once hallowed ballrooms were being used for bingo games, meetings, dances, and in the early 1970s, a controversial discotheque called the Tunnel. In 1975, the City of New York purchased the building with intentions to convert it into a home for the elderly, but this project was much delayed due to further deteriorating economic conditions in the late 1970s. In 1982, the Concourse Plaza Hotel finally reopened as a federally subsidized senior citizens residence, and has functioned successfully in this capacity ever since. Though the legendary ballroom did not survive the transition, the building has suffered few exterior changes. During the 1980s, many Bronx landlords began to work successfully with community organizations and tenants using private and public financing, tax incentives and rent subsidies for the moderate rehabilitation of multifamily housing. The Thomas Gardens Apartments (840 Grand Concourse), for example, whose pipes had burst and whose floors were buckling in the early 1980s, underwent significant rehabilitation work including the installation of 160 new windows and the expenditure of $50,000 on parapets and bulkheads. Other signs of neighborhood resurgence were also evident during the 1980s, including the expansion of the Bronx Museum of the Arts (1040 Grand Concourse). Originally built as a synagogue and community hall for Young Israel of the Concourse in 1961, the then-vacant building was purchased by the city for the museum in 1982. The former synagogue building was renovated in 1988 by the firm of Castro-Blanco, Piscioneri & Associates, who gave the building an updated appearance and glass atrium, and the museum has continued to thrive in its new home. In 1989, a \"Special Grand Concourse Preservation District\" was established as part of the New York City Zoning Resolution, designed to protect the existing form and residential character of the buildings along the boulevard, as well as encourage new development in keeping with the existing scale and character of the area. The special district resulted in the Grand Concourse once again beginning to see building activity. As noted by Rosenblum, by the end of the 20th century, a growing number of \"star architects\" were leaving an imprint on and near the boulevard. The Bronx Housing Courthouse (1118 Grand Concourse), for example, constructed between 1990 and 1999, was designed by architect Rafael Vinoly as part of the Grand Concourse Preservation District. As described by Vinoly, the new courthouse building \"participates in a dialogue\" with the other buildings of civic importance along the Grand Concourse, \"responds to the geometry and volumetric configurations of the immediately adjacent buildings,\" and also \"respectfully adapts to the street wall height of its residential neighbor to the South.\" Yet another vote of confidence in the neighborhood\'s resurgence came with the $55 million renovation and second expansion of the Bronx Museum of the Arts, completed in 2006 by the high-profile Miami-based firm Arquitectonica. Today, the Grand Concourse is home to vibrant mix of working- and middle-class residents, including immigrants from the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa. To suit the needs and demands of a modern population, some retrofitting of the buildings of the past generation has been required. Along the Grand Concourse this has resulted in the creation of first-story and basement level stores and offices, which began cropping up spottily in the 1980s. The trend continued for the next two decades, and in 2003 it was reported that \"almost every block between 161st Street and 196th Street now has a grocery, a barber shop, a travel agency or a medical clinic, and some stretches are chockablock with stores and large, eye-catching signs.\" Despite the visual disruption in the streetscape, however, residents enjoy the convenience of the stores and the jobs that they provide, which they see as helping to ensure the future vitality of the residential district. The Grand Concourse itself has undergone unsympathetic physical changes. During the 1960s and 1970s, for example, the boulevard\'s grass median was replaced with green-painted cement. By the 1980s, the roadway had become \"a driver\'s paradise\" with stoplights timed to keep cars moving and bright green highway-style exit signs. Beginning in the early 1990s, however, community leaders and politicians took steps to make the roadway more pedestrian-friendly, including increasing the number of walk signals, staggering traffic lights, and reducing the number of highway-style signs. Further reconstruction, completed in 2008 on time for the boulevard\'s centennial, included replacing underpass structures, narrowing service roads, raising planted medians, planting new trees, adding distinctive paving and new light fixtures, and incorporating new roadways, traffic patterns, sidewalks and dedicated bike lanes. As a result, the broad boulevard - the backbone of the great apartment houses, grand civic structures, and bucolic parks of the Grand Concourse Historic District - remains an important visual element that contributes to the district\'s powerful sense of place. Despite the economic hardships that were felt not just within the Bronx, but New York City as a whole in the mid-century, the structures that comprise the district have survived highly intact, retaining the architectural details and distinctive character that attracted residents to the area in the 1920s and 1930s, and which continues to attract newcomers today.
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japanese babe Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York City, New York, United States 900 Grand Concourse (aka [no number] East 161st Street; [no number] East 162nd Street) Borough of the Bronx Tax Map Block 2460, Lot 1 Building Name: Concourse Plaza Hotel Date: 1922-23 (NB 841-1922) Architect/Builder: Maynicke & Franke Original Owner: The Bronx Boosters, Inc. (J.M. Haffen, President) Type: Originally hotel (now senior housing) Style: Colonial Revival Stories: 11 and mezzanine and basement Material(s): Red brick; masonry; terra cotta Special Windows: Round-arched window openings at mezzanine level at central section of base Decorative Metal Work: Possibly historic balconette above main entry; possibly historic light fixtures at main entry Significant Architectural Features: Tripartite vertical configuration; one-story with mezzanine masonry base featuring pedimented window surrounds at the first story, round-arched window openings with small masonry keystones at the mezzanine level, and garland, rosette and cartouche decorative elements; small molded masonry cornice above base; balustraded masonry parapet above central section of base; double-height terra-cotta window surrounds and molded terra-cotta bands (continuous with window surrounds) at capital; shaped parapet with masonry or terra-cotta coping, bas-relief garland and cartouche details, sculptural urn finials, and masonry balustrades at main (west) and south facades Alterations: Painted base; replaced sidelights and transom at main entry; original ballroom at center of facade gutted, roof removed, and converted into open-air courtyard (c. 1980, exterior wall remains but window sashes removed); structural beams added to courtyard at mezzanine level; non-historic brick courtyard walls at first and second stories; upper story of historic two-story restaurant at southern end of facade demolished (see c. 1940s tax photograph for historic configuration); original multi-paned arched fixed sashes and multi-paned double-hung sashes replaced (see c. 1940s tax photograph); large non-historic window sashes at remaining first story of restaurant; main entry remodeled in 1958 (BN 641-1958), including new entrance doors and new marble veneer and possibly further altered later (see c. 1940s tax photograph for original main entry appearance); six rectangular window openings created above mezzanine level to north of courtyard, cut into existing garland details (see c. 1940s tax photographs); two non-original first-story door openings, cut into masonry base trim, subsequently filled in and replaced with window openings; three filled-in mezzanine-level window openings to north of courtyard; filled-in basement window openings, several with louvered vents; original lampposts removed from balustrade above central section of base; awning at main entry; several through-wall air conditioner units; security lights Site Features: Loading dock along east facade; continuous strip of Belgian-block paving at curbline along Grand Concourse, containing planted trees; planted trees within Belgian-block paved planting beds along East 162nd Street Notable History: The Concourse Plaza Hotel was completed in 1923, the same year Yankee Stadium opened just a few blocks to the west; the opening of the hotel was a major event at which New York State Governor Alfred E. Smith spoke; designed to rival the best hotels of Manhattan, the hotel attracted many distinguished guests including renowned Yankee players Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle; the banquet rooms of the hotel were highly sought after for events ranging from wedding receptions and bar mitzvahs to political functions; beginning in 1924, it became customary for the Democratic candidate for the presidency to campaign at a ladies\' luncheon on the last Saturday before the general election; presidential candidates Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy are all said to have campaigned at the hotel; in stark contrast to its heyday, the building was converted into a welfare hotel during the general economic decline of the area in the 1960s; in 1975, the City of New York purchased the building with intentions to convert it to a home for the elderly, a project that was delayed due to deteriorating economic conditions in the late 1970s; the building has been occupied as a federally subsidized senior citizens residence since 1982 West Facade: Designed (historic, repointed) Door(s): Replaced primary door Windows: Replaced (upper stories); replaced (basement) Security Grilles: Possibly historic (upper stories); possibly historic (basement) Sidewalk Material(s): Concrete Curb Material(s): Concrete with metal nosing North Facade: Designed (historic) Facade Notes: Similar to main (west) facade; stepped parapet with masonry coping and urn finials at outer edges; possibly historic decorative metal security grille at the only basement window opening; repointed; painted base; several replaced brick lintels; windows replaced; four filled-in second-story window openings; secondary door replaced; original entry with double-height portico removed and converted into window openings at the first and mezzanine levels towards western end of facade; other first-story door openings filled in and replaced with window openings; non-historic metal fencing and security gate at entrance to eastern service alley; several through-wall air conditioner units; signage South Facade: Designed (historic) Facade Notes: Similar to main (west) facade but with fewer decorative elements; round-arched window openings at second story; simple masonry window surrounds at second-story window openings topped by small molded cornices on scroll brackets; masonry balustrades at second-story window openings; repointed; painted base; non-historic storefronts not original to building; missing balusters at eastern second-story window opening; several through-wall air conditioner units East Facade: Partially designed (historic) (partially visible) Facade Notes: Red brick at projecting northern and southern portions of facade; beige brick at recessed central portion of facade; some masonry and terra-cotta details from north and south facades continue slightly onto this facade; round-arched second-story window openings at projecting southern portion of facade; non-historic metal railing above second story at projecting non-historic metal railing above second story at projecting southern portion of facade; several through-wall air conditioner units; conduit; electrical boxes. About the historic district: Apartment House Architecture of the Grand Concourse Historic District The facade designs of the 61 apartment houses that comprise the Grand Concourse Historic District developed in two stages, roughly corresponding to the district\'s two major waves of residential development. The change in apartment house design was largely stylistic, in that many of the architects who practiced within the historic district were responsible for buildings constructed during both the earlier and later waves of development. Among the architects who designed buildings within the historic district are several prolific local firms, including Charles Kreymborg, Gronenberg & Leuchtag, Springsteen & Goldhammer, and Jacob M. Felson. Kreymborg, and the successor firm Charles Kreymborg & Son, are credited with the design of the greatest number of apartment houses within the district, totaling 10, followed by Felson, credited with the design of eight apartments within the district. During the 1920s, Bronx apartment house design evolved from the simple brick buildings of the previous decade into larger and more luxurious structures with grander and more elaborate ornamentation. Builders during this era were more willing to invest extra capital on apartment buildings in order to make them attractive to residents who could afford higher rents and therefore offset increased construction costs. At the same time, builders were turning to prefabricated and less expensive materials, such as brick and terra cotta, to further increase profits wherever possible. Within the historic district, the apartment buildings constructed during the first wave of development almost exclusively employed red or beige textured brick with masonry or terra-cotta decorative elements. In terms of style, these buildings typically reflected the fashions popular in Manhattan, where a historicism based on revivalist architectural styles such as Tudor, Renaissance and Colonial, was the ruling theme for luxury buildings. As noted by Rosenblum, these historically-derived styles were \"wonderfully suggestive of faraway places\" with many seeming to have \"arrived straight from the countryside\" - an effective sales pitch for a population looking to escape the overcrowding of the city\'s more urban districts. The more elaborate buildings from this era featured decorative elements such as corner towers (Concourse Gardens, 940 and 960 Grand Concourse, 1927, Mediterranean Revival), faux half-timbering (109 East 153rd Street, 1930-31, Tudor Revival), elaborate brickwork including diamond patterning and blind-arch corbelling (825 Gerard Avenue, 1928, Renaissance Revival), classically-decorated main entry porticos (760 Grand Concourse, 1928, Renaissance Revival), and at least one Japanese-inspired interior garden court (Thomas Gardens Apartments, 840 Grand Concourse, 1926-27). Apartment house design within the Bronx was again transformed in the 1930s, once more influenced by predominating Manhattan tastes. During this era, Art Deco and Moderne became the residential styles of choice for the Grand Concourse and the surrounding streets. The Art Deco style, introduced to midtown and downtown Manhattan in the mid-1920s, found its way \"uptown\" to the Bronx before the end of the decade, and the Bronx soon became one of the great repositories of Art Deco buildings nationwide. The buildings were modern and sophisticated in appearance, utilizing materials such as terra cotta, cast stone, brick and mosaic tiles in new and inventive ways, and incorporating design features including rounded or jagged bays, corner windows, and asymmetrical facade compositions. The style was marked by streamlined elements such as curving walls and abstract decorative detailing (888 Grand Concourse, 1937), recessed or decorated spandrels used to create an effect of continuous vertical window strips (1011 Carroll Place, 1935-36), brickwork arranged in vertical or horizontal patterns (1150 Grand Concourse, 1936-37; 710 Gerard Avenue, 1936), wrap-around corner window openings (730, 740 and 750 Grand Concourse, 1936-1939), and materials suggestive of the \"Machine Age,\" such as steel-and-glass casement windows (now mostly replaced) and decorative metal parapet rails (860 Grand Concourse, 1940-41). The striking Art Deco style building at 888 Grand Concourse, designed by Emery Roth, one of New York City\'s most renowned apartment house architects, incorporates many of these characteristic features, including three rounded bays, cast-stone decorative elements, and a concave main-entry vestibule featuring beige and gold mosaic tile and terrazzo flooring. The Art Deco-style apartment building at 1150 Grand Concourse, also known colloquially as \"the fish building,\" is notable for its eye-catching mural of tropical fish and water plants in tinted concrete or cast stone and mosaic tiles. Emerging in popularity shortly after Art Deco\'s rise, the related Moderne style, of which there are ten buildings within the historic district, is similarly characterized by streamlined geometry (910 Sheridan Avenue, 1945-48), but with more minimal ornamentation including horizontal bands designed to suggest \"speed lines\" and a fascination with aerodynamics (675 Walton Avenue, 1936). Constructed exclusively during the second wave of development, the district\'s Art Deco and Moderne style buildings are found in small clusters interspersed among the apartment houses built during the earlier boom. The largest cluster within the Grand Concourse Historic District is the group of seven Moderne style buildings located between East 162nd and 163rd Streets, Grand Concourse and Sheridan Avenue (both sides of the street). Largely faced in smooth beige brick, these buildings function in the streetscape as lively, light-colored highlights among their predominantly darker-brick predecessors. Several of the apartment buildings within the Grand Concourse Historic District are also representative of an innovative form of housing - the \"garden apartment.\" This housing type took shape in the late 1910s and 1920s as real estate developers discovered the profitability of building low-rise, relatively low-density apartment buildings on larger lots in areas of the outer boroughs where land was cheap and the demand for modern, technologically up-to-date middle class housing was rising. Architects responded to these conditions by designing larger buildings of no more than six stories that sometimes occupied an entire city block. The buildings were often characterized by groups of apartment units organized around interior and/or exterior courtyards. Many of these apartment buildings, marketed to professionals and upwardly mobile middle-class families, were among the best in the city in terms of architecture, planning, size of living space, and amenities. Housing historian Richard Plunz identified the garden apartment as \"critical to the transformation of housing from a consequence of economic formulas to a unique environment\" and notes the building type for having \"set a standard of urban housing that has remained unmatched since.\" In 1926, architect Andrew Jackson Thomas, credited as the innovator of the \"garden apartment\" who had already made a name for himself designing garden apartments in Jackson Heights, Queens and elsewhere, was hired to design an apartment house on the Grand Concourse. Thomas\'s earlier work had caught the attention and interest of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who appointed him to design the award winning Dunbar Apartments (1926-28, a designated New York City Landmark) in Central Harlem (the first major non-profit cooperative complex built specifically for African Americans), as well as what would become the Thomas Gardens Apartments at 840 Grand Concourse (1926-28, within the Grand Concourse Historic District). The very large Thomas Gardens complex, designed to accommodate 166 families, was planned as a non-profit cooperative and differed from others constructed around the same time in that it was financed by a private capitalist, as opposed to a workers\' union or building residents. The innovative building occupies an entire city block and features a U-shaped plan surrounding what was originally a sunken Japanese- inspired garden courtyard containing a pond and several slightly arched bridges and walkways. Prior to construction of the Bronx County Courthouse (1931-34), there was a strong a visual connection between the courtyard of the Thomas Gardens Apartments and Franz Sigel Park across the street, which added to the calm \"protective quality\" of the building and its environs. Several other examples of garden apartments are located within the historic district including 975 Walton Avenue (1929-30) designed by Gronenberg & Leuchtag, the Concourse Gardens (North, 940 Grand Concourse, and South, 960 Grand Concourse, 1927) designed by Springsteen & Goldhammer, and 800 Grand Concourse (1953-55) designed by Hyman I. Feldman. All four complexes feature large interior garden courts around which the apartments are situated. Even the less grand apartment houses within the district were typically built to lot lines and featured large light courts within which main entries are recessed, thereby giving the effect of a garden apartment on more constricted plots of land. In the case of the Franz Sigel (aka Alexandria) and the Virginia Apartments (774 and 780 Grand Concourse, 1926), as well as the apartment buildings at 721 and 735 Walton Avenue (1927), this effect is enhanced by way of shared landscaped courtyards between the buildings. Parks and Public Institutions within the Grand Concourse Historic District Two public parks are located within the Grand Concourse Historic District. Joyce Kilmer Park, a seven-acre expanse just north of the Bronx County Courthouse, was acquired by the parks department in 1924 and planned concurrent with the boulevard\'s rise as a major residential boulevard. The park, which was dedicated in 1926 for Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918), a poet, journalist, and soldier who was killed during World War I, incorporates a triangular parcel of land, known as Concourse Plaza that originally served as the carriage entrance to the Grand Concourse at East 161st Street. The park, which consists of lawns and formal tree-lined walks, was completely redesigned in 1936. At this time, the park\'s two existing monuments, which predate the park, were moved to their present locations within the park. One of the monuments, a statue of Louis J. Heintz by Pierre Fietu, was dedicated in 1909, the year the Grand Concourse opened, in honor of the Bronx\'s first commissioner of street improvements. The other monument, the Henrich Heine Fountain, also known as the Lorelei Fountain, celebrates the German poet Henrich Heine (1797-1856), author of an ode to Die Lorelei, a siren from German mythology who is the subject of the sculpture. The fountain was initially designed by German-born sculptor Ernst Herter for the sculptor\'s home city of Dusseldorf, but its installation there was blocked by political groups opposed to Heine\'s Jewish ancestry and political views. It was brought to the Bronx in 1899 by a group of Americans of German ancestry. In contrast to the manicured lawns of Joyce Kilmer Park is the 16-acre Franz Sigel Park, located to the south of the Bronx County Courthouse. The park consists of terraced landscapes featuring densely packed trees, steeply sloping natural expanses with massive stone outcroppings, and rough-faced historic stone walls of varying heights. Though plans dating to the 1930s show proposals to formalize the park\'s circulation system, the paths that exist today are mostly unchanged from the early 20th century. Most of the land that comprises the park was purchased by the city from Gerard and Mary Walton in 1885, whose estate, Cedar Grove, was the inspiration for the original name of the park - Cedar Park. The land played an integral role in the early history of the area as well, beginning with the west slope of the park which was once part of a Native American pathway, and continuing with Revolutionary War, during which George Washington, Count de Rochambeau, and their respective military staff used a high rocky ridge within the park to monitor the movements of British troops camped along the Harlem River. In 1902, the park was named for German native Franz Sigel (1824-1902), an educator, soldier, journalist, public official, and Bronx resident. A handful of public institutions, constructed during the 1920s and 1930s, complement the apartment houses of the Grand Concourse Historic District. The Bronx County Courthouse (a designated New York City Landmark), constructed between 1931 and 1934 along the Grand Concourse at East 161st Street, is one of New York City\'s most imposing civic structures. The courthouse is the work of architects Max Hausle and Joseph H. Freedlander, who designed the building in collaboration with noted sculptors and artisans. Designed in a style that combines boldly modern massing with neo-classical elements, the courthouse is an exceptionally impressive example of the publically funded architecture of the period. The new courthouse opened in 1934 following a festive three-day dedication celebration. In honor of the occasion, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia officially transferred the seat of municipal government for three days from City Hall to the Bronx County Courthouse. The dedication ceremonies, which also marked the 20th anniversary of the Bronx as a county, further included speeches, a military parade and band concert, as well as luncheons at the Concourse Plaza Hotel located across the street. The Andrew Freedman Home (a designated New York City Landmark), constructed between 1922 and 1924 (and enlarged in 1928-31), located along the Grand Concourse at East 166th Street, was the result of a generous bequest in the will of Andrew Freedman. Freedman, a businessman who had a close relationship with the leaders of Tammany Hall, was involved with many profitable business ventures, including the construction of the IRT, New York City\'s first subway line. Upon his death, Freedman left most of his amassed fortune for the establishment of a home for \"aged and indigent persons of both sexes,\" with the unusual proviso that the residents of the home be poor people who had once been in good circumstances. The Board of Trustees, led by prominent lawyer Samuel Untermyer, purchased a large plot of land on the prestigious boulevard and commissioned a building from two notable New York architects - Freedlander, who would later be involved with designing the Bronx County Courthouse, and Harry Allan Jacobs. The resulting building is an exceptional example of a monumental building which, through its symmetrical massing, fenestration, and handsome detail, recalls the tradition of the Italian Renaissance palazzo. Its design displays many handsome architectural features, including a recessed loggia, balustraded terrace, finely cut stonework, and beautiful wrought-iron details. The building functioned as a refuge for the once affluent for 59 years, from its opening in 1924 until 1983, when the Andrew Freedman Home ceased to operate and the building was purchased by the Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council as housing for the elderly. The third notable public institution constructed along the Grand Concourse within the historic district was the Bronx Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children at 1130 Grand Concourse, built between 1925 and 1926. The main entrance to the three-story red brick and limestone building, designed by architects Raldiris & LaVelle (with a later addition by Leo Stillman), is elevated above ground level and features a set of double dog-leg staircases to either side of a three-story Corinthian portico which provides the building with a distinctive monumentality. The building was purchased in 1951 by the Bronx Young Men\'s and Women\'s Hebrew Association, and later sold to the Girls Club of New York in 1980. Since 1993 it has served as one of many locations for the social service organization Bronx Works (originally the Citizens Advice Bureau) which offers programs for children, youth and families, and which merged with the Girls Club in 1995. Subsequent History By the late 1950s/early 1960s, the Bronx had entered into a period of profound transformation. Numerous forces, including heavy-handed urban renewal policies, disinvestment by area landlords, and the redlining of much of the Bronx by local banks, all contributed to an economic downturn. At the same time, the forces of suburbanization were creating a massive exodus of working- and middle-class, predominantly white urban dwellers to the suburbs and single-family homes of Westchester County and Long Island. The borough was concurrently experiencing an influx of new residents, largely consisting of African Americans from the south and Puerto Rican- born citizens, who came to New York in search of work and better opportunities. However, just as the thousands of new residents were pouring into New York, the very opportunities that attracted them to the city - stable, well-paying factory jobs - were leaving the northeast and Midwest for the suburbs, the south, and eventually overseas. The newcomers were generally blocked from settling in the suburbs by racial covenants and other discriminatory practices, and were forced to settle in already overcrowded existing lower-rent neighborhoods throughout the city. During this era, the Bronx\'s once venerable housing stock was seen as lacking modern amenities and areas like the Grand Concourse came to be seen as old, poor neighborhoods with cheap rents. Unable to raise rents due to rent control laws, landlords began to cut down on maintenance, renting to poorer, subsidized families, inducing tenant turnover (which allowed them to raise rents), and failing to pay taxes; they then either walked away from or sold the buildings to the city for slum clearance. The result was a seemingly endless cycle of massive residential displacement and disinvestment. Landlords felt less and less incentive to maintain their buildings and often let conditions deteriorate with the complicit assistance of banks and insurance companies with little interest in supporting ethnically diverse or economically struggling neighborhoods. The last apartment house built within the Grand Concourse Historic District, the Executive Towers at 1020 Grand Concourse, was intended to help stabilize the neighborhood. Designed by architect Philip Birnbaum between 1959 and 1963, the Executive Towers were touted in real estate brochures dating to the time of construction as \"the first luxury skyscraper in the Bronx.\" Tenants who moved into the high-rise tower, which featured undulating balconies and nearly 450 apartments, were treated to the relatively novel amenity of central air conditioning. As noted by Rosenblum, for many, the 23-story Modern style building, like the buildings on the boulevard before it, represented a step up in the world. Yet the neighborhood continued to struggle. The Executive Towers, and others that might have been built like it, simply could not compete with the draw of newer developments, such as nearby Co-op City, a massive co-operative housing complex consisting of 35 towers, nearly 250 townhouses (for a total of more than 15,000 apartments), three shopping centers, half-a dozen public schools, and space for 10,500 cars, which attracted many Grand Concourse residents. Though economic conditions throughout New York City continued to worsen during the 1970s, the solid construction of the buildings within the Grand Concourse Historic District helped them survive largely unscathed - even through decades of owner neglect. The elegant Concourse Plaza Hotel, for example, had begun to lose luster in the post-war era, running into financial difficulties in the mid-1950s when the real estate syndicate that operated the hotel was charged with fraud. By the 1960s, the building had been converted into a \"welfare hotel,\" with a varying population of both permanent and temporary residents housed under the city\'s emergency relocation program. During this period, the hotel\'s once hallowed ballrooms were being used for bingo games, meetings, dances, and in the early 1970s, a controversial discotheque called the Tunnel. In 1975, the City of New York purchased the building with intentions to convert it into a home for the elderly, but this project was much delayed due to further deteriorating economic conditions in the late 1970s. In 1982, the Concourse Plaza Hotel finally reopened as a federally subsidized senior citizens residence, and has functioned successfully in this capacity ever since. Though the legendary ballroom did not survive the transition, the building has suffered few exterior changes. During the 1980s, many Bronx landlords began to work successfully with community organizations and tenants using private and public financing, tax incentives and rent subsidies for the moderate rehabilitation of multifamily housing. The Thomas Gardens Apartments (840 Grand Concourse), for example, whose pipes had burst and whose floors were buckling in the early 1980s, underwent significant rehabilitation work including the installation of 160 new windows and the expenditure of $50,000 on parapets and bulkheads. Other signs of neighborhood resurgence were also evident during the 1980s, including the expansion of the Bronx Museum of the Arts (1040 Grand Concourse). Originally built as a synagogue and community hall for Young Israel of the Concourse in 1961, the then-vacant building was purchased by the city for the museum in 1982. The former synagogue building was renovated in 1988 by the firm of Castro-Blanco, Piscioneri & Associates, who gave the building an updated appearance and glass atrium, and the museum has continued to thrive in its new home. In 1989, a \"Special Grand Concourse Preservation District\" was established as part of the New York City Zoning Resolution, designed to protect the existing form and residential character of the buildings along the boulevard, as well as encourage new development in keeping with the existing scale and character of the area. The special district resulted in the Grand Concourse once again beginning to see building activity. As noted by Rosenblum, by the end of the 20th century, a growing number of \"star architects\" were leaving an imprint on and near the boulevard. The Bronx Housing Courthouse (1118 Grand Concourse), for example, constructed between 1990 and 1999, was designed by architect Rafael Vinoly as part of the Grand Concourse Preservation District. As described by Vinoly, the new courthouse building \"participates in a dialogue\" with the other buildings of civic importance along the Grand Concourse, \"responds to the geometry and volumetric configurations of the immediately adjacent buildings,\" and also \"respectfully adapts to the street wall height of its residential neighbor to the South.\" Yet another vote of confidence in the neighborhood\'s resurgence came with the $55 million renovation and second expansion of the Bronx Museum of the Arts, completed in 2006 by the high-profile Miami-based firm Arquitectonica. Today, the Grand Concourse is home to vibrant mix of working- and middle-class residents, including immigrants from the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa. To suit the needs and demands of a modern population, some retrofitting of the buildings of the past generation has been required. Along the Grand Concourse this has resulted in the creation of first-story and basement level stores and offices, which began cropping up spottily in the 1980s. The trend continued for the next two decades, and in 2003 it was reported that \"almost every block between 161st Street and 196th Street now has a grocery, a barber shop, a travel agency or a medical clinic, and some stretches are chockablock with stores and large, eye-catching signs.\" Despite the visual disruption in the streetscape, however, residents enjoy the convenience of the stores and the jobs that they provide, which they see as helping to ensure the future vitality of the residential district. The Grand Concourse itself has undergone unsympathetic physical changes. During the 1960s and 1970s, for example, the boulevard\'s grass median was replaced with green-painted cement. By the 1980s, the roadway had become \"a driver\'s paradise\" with stoplights timed to keep cars moving and bright green highway-style exit signs. Beginning in the early 1990s, however, community leaders and politicians took steps to make the roadway more pedestrian-friendly, including increasing the number of walk signals, staggering traffic lights, and reducing the number of highway-style signs. Further reconstruction, completed in 2008 on time for the boulevard\'s centennial, included replacing underpass structures, narrowing service roads, raising planted medians, planting new trees, adding distinctive paving and new light fixtures, and incorporating new roadways, traffic patterns, sidewalks and dedicated bike lanes. As a result, the broad boulevard - the backbone of the great apartment houses, grand civic structures, and bucolic parks of the Grand Concourse Historic District - remains an important visual element that contributes to the district\'s powerful sense of place. Despite the economic hardships that were felt not just within the Bronx, but New York City as a whole in the mid-century, the structures that comprise the district have survived highly intact, retaining the architectural details and distinctive character that attracted residents to the area in the 1920s and 1930s, and which continues to attract newcomers today.
