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Near 165 Brown Place
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(12)
Crystal Chemical Company
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Crystal Chemical Company, ca. 1919 This building once housed the Crystal Chemical Company, a manufacturing space for pharmaceutical drugs and makeup. The company was originally located at 861 Westchester Avenue. Upon its founding, it made only three products. Within a year, it quickly expanded to twenty-eight, and moved to this much larger location. The new, bigger factory opened on September 18th, 1919, with a grand party, attended by prominent doctors, dentists, and retail distributors, who were given a tour of the six floors of the building. The building had facilities to store, distribute, label, and manufacture different medications and makeup. The makeup and beauty products especially were in high demand, due to their reduced price and an extensive marketing campaign; their slogan was "Crystal Products Satisfy."
St. Ann's Episcopal Church
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St. Ann's Episcopal Church of Morrisania, circa 1910. This fieldstone structure is the Bronx's oldest church. Built in 1840-1841, it was financed by New York and Harlem River Railroad executive Gouverneur Morris, Jr. It was donated as a family memorial, and its nearby graveyard is the final resting place of many of the Bronx's most well known colonial families.
497 East 138th Street
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Necker Undertaker Storefront, ca.1914. William Necker was born in New Jersey, and after leaving school at age 12, he worked his way up in the ranks at the Braumuller Piano Company in New York City. By the early 1890s, he was the head of the wood-working department. In the mid-1890s Necker changed careers and took a course at United States School of Embalming. Over the next two decades, he opened more than 20 offices in New Jersey and New York City, including this East 138th Street storefront. Necker died suddenly in 1916, and while the business did survive, most of the branches closed. Purchase of another funeral home business in 1948 resulted in the Necker-Sharpe Funeral Home, which the family sold to a former employee in 1958.
Pulaski Park
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“Pulaski Park (Bronx): A view eastward across the park from the \[Willis Avenue Bridge]. On the extreme left is visible East 133rd Street, and on the right the approach to the bridge. The 3-story building within the park is that of the Board of Health. May 7, 1937.” In 1904, the City of New York acquired a plot of land in order to construct an approach (at right) to the Willis Avenue Bridge (opened 1901). In 1916, the unused land became a public park, later named for Casimir Pulaski, the Polish military commander who fought with the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.
490 EAST 138 STREET
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The Forum was built as a 2,700-seat vaudeville and movie house. After World War II, the struggling theater found new life as the Teatro de Puerto Rico, catering to The Bronx's growing Latin-American population. The theater featured acts such as Mexico's Cantinflas, Cuba's Tres Patines, romantic duos like the pianist Agustin Lara and the singer Libertad la Marque from Argentina, and Puerto Rican star Iris Chacon. Following a closure in the 1980s, the theatre re-opened as a performing arts venue and has been most recently used by a church congregation.
St. Jerome's Church
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St. Jerome's Catholic Church was built in 1899-1900 to the designs of the architectural firm Delhi and Howard. The cost of the building was $100,000, a considerable sum for the turn of the 20th century. The Italianate / Baroque Revival building can house a crowd of more than 1400 parishioners. The church is a part of the Mott Haven Historic District, which was designated in 1969. The main thoroughfare of the district, Alexander Avenue (where the church sits on the corner with 138th Street) was once known as "Irish Fifth Avenue."
St. Ann's Episcopal Church
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St. Ann’s Church was erected in 1841 by Gouverneur Morris, Jr., as a memorial to his mother Ann Cary Randolph, of Roanoke, VA. The fieldstone church with Gothic arched windows and a tower and cupola sits at an angle to the existing street grid, a vestige of the Morris family’s rural estate that occupied this area and gave rise to the name Morrisania. In the churchyard are buried several members of the Morris family, including Judge Lewis Morris (first Governor of New Jersey), and Major General Lewis Morris III, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
St. Jerome's Church
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St. Jerome’s Roman Catholic church complex occupies the whole eastern blockfront of Alexander Avenue between East 137th Street and East 138th Street and is dominated by the church’s corner tower with its colonnaded belfry and octagonal dome. The mostly Irish-American congregation of St. Jerome formed in 1869, and built the red-brick Victorian Gothic style school building at the southern end of the block first, in 1871, followed by the neo-Grec style rectory next door. The church itself was the last in the complex to be erected and was completed in 1898 in the Renaissance Revival style to the designs of the Manhattan-based firm Dehli & Howard. The church is an outstanding example of its style, with finely articulated facades of rusticated buff brick ornamented with robust Italian Renaissance-inspired architectural forms such as broken pediments, Ionic and Tuscan columns and elaborate cornices and entablatures. A statue of Jerome, the 4th-century scholar saint, sits at the corner of the church.
165 Brown Place
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"Brown Place, south from but not including East 136th Street to its terminus at East 132nd Street. The two houses at the S.E. and S.W. corners of East 135th Street are in the process of being razed. May 11, 1937.” The buildings between 134th and 135th Streets were cleared for the construction of the Major Deegan Expressway, completed in 1939. At right is Public School 43, built in 1906. The school is named after the first recorded European settler of today’s Bronx, Jonas Bronck. Likely of Swedish origin, Bronck established his farm, “Emmaus,” in 1639, in the vicinity of today’s 132nd Street and Willis Avenue. The name ""Bronx"" evolved from the practice of naming surrounding natural features in relation to the farm (e.g. Bronck’s River).
FDNY Engine 83
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Early 20th century truck from FDNY Engine 83. The station was built in 1905.
St. Ann's Episcopal Church
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St. Ann's Church. Drawing, circa 1945. In the 1830s much of the area now known as Mott Haven, was purchased by Jordan Mott for his iron works company. Prior to that development the area was owned by the Morris family. St Ann's (named for the recently passed Morris matriarch) was built on a hilltop clearing on Gouverneur Morris Jr's land where his parents had already been buried prior to the construction of the small Gothic Revival structure.
380-382 East 136th Street
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Though the name of this business is advertised as plural bowling alley(s), further research suggests no other locations existed and the narrow width of the buildings makes it seem unlikely that this operation had more than one or two lanes.
Photos
(73)
165 Brown Place
455 East 137th Street
Bronx: 137th Street (East) - Willis Avenue 455 to 469 (left to right) East 137th Street, north side, between Willis Ave. and Brown Place. About 1914.
490 EAST 138 STREET
Forum Theatre/Teatro de Puerto Rico
490 EAST 138 STREET
Forum Theatre / Teatro de Puerto Rico
416 EAST 136 STREET
Edward Bertine Residence
176-178 Willis Avenue
Bronx: Willis Avenue - 135th Street (East) 176 and 178 (right to left) Willis Ave., east side, between East 135th and East 136th Streets. May 7, 1937. P. L. Sperr.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. The employees of the Crystal Chemical Co. (located at 134th Street & Willis Avenue), standing for a group portrait outside of the main office and laboratories.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. A worker in the tablet manufacturing department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the finishing department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
497 East 138th Street
William Necker, undertaker, 497 E. 138th Street, New York City, undated \[ca. 1914-1915]. Photographed for Sunnyside Magazine.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the tablet manufacturing department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the face powder department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the finishing department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. The employees of the Crystal Chemical Co. (located at 134th Street & Willis Avenue), standing for a group portrait outside of the main office and laboratories.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. The employees of the Crystal Chemical Co. (located at 134th Street & Willis Avenue), standing for a group portrait outside of the main office and laboratories.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the storeroom of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. The executive staff and employees on the roof of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. A display for the Crystal Chemical Co. (located at 134th Street & Willis Avenue), entitled La Fleurette Beauty Shop.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in a laboratory of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the tablet manufacturing department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Men and women office workers at their desks in Crystal Chemical Co., 134th Street & Willis Avenue. A safe from Mosler Safe Co. is visible.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Photographs, Prints & Drawings Photographs, Prints & Drawings
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Employees in the boiler and coal room of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the finishing department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. The employees of the Crystal Chemical Co. (located at 134th Street & Willis Avenue), standing for a group portrait outside of the main office and laboratories.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. A receptionist, telephone operator and two other employees in the time-clock area of Crystal Chemical, 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. A secretary and her boss as he dictates to her in an office of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Group portrait of the employees at Crystal Chemical Co., located at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the storeroom of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. A receptionist, telephone operator and two other employees in the time-clock area of Crystal Chemical, 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the face powder box manufacturing department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. A worker in the tablet manufacturing department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Photographs, Prints & Drawings Photographs, Prints & Drawings
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the face powder and etc. manufacturing department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. Workers in the face powder and etc. manufacturing department of the Crystal Chemical Co. at 134th Street & Willis Avenue.
Crystal Chemical Company
Crystal Chemical Co. A display for the Crystal Chemical Co. (located at 134th Street & Willis Avenue), a saleswoman and a customer.
Pulaski Park
380-382 East 136th Street
380 and 382 E. 136th Street, featuring the White House Bowling Alleys, Bronx, February 9, 1916. Photographed for Joseph P. Day.
250 WILLIS AVENUE
Willis Theatre, later Casino Theatre
369 East 135th Street
Bronx: 135th Street (East) - Willis Avenue 369 to 343 (right to left) East 135th Street, north side, between Willis and Alexander Aves. (directly west of the Third Ave. Elevated structure). Also shown is part of the clearance between East 134th and 135th Streets which will be part of the approach to the Triborough Bridge. November 14, 1937. P. L. Sperr.
Mott Haven
383 East 135th Street
Bronx: 135th Street (East) - Willis Avenue (1) 383 to 371 (right to left), East 135th Street (buildings thereon), north side, at, adjoining and west of the N.W. corner of Willis Ave. Extending from East 135th to East 134th Streets (foreground), is a clearance created by the demolition of buildings that occupied the site, to facilitate the construction of an approach to the Triborough Bridge. May 7, 1937. P. L. Sperr. (2) The same, at a later date. On the left is the Third Ave. Elevated structure. November 14, 1937. P. L. Sperr.
383 East 135th Street
Bronx: 135th Street (East) - Willis Avenue (1) 383 to 371 (right to left), East 135th Street, north side (buildings thereon), at, adjoining and west of the N.W. corner of Willis Ave. The view is northwestward from East 134th Street across the cleared area which will be constructed into an approach to the Triborough Bridge. On the extreme left is the Third Ave. Elevated structure. July 29, 1937. P. L. Sperr. (2) The same, another view. July 29, 1937. P. L. Sperr.
383 East 135th Street
Bronx: 135th Street (East) - Willis Avenue (1) 383 to 371 (right to left), East 135th Street (buildings thereon), north side, at, adjoining and west of the N.W. corner of Willis Ave. Extending from East 135th to East 134th Streets (foreground), is a clearance created by the demolition of buildings that occupied the site, to facilitate the construction of an approach to the Triborough Bridge. May 7, 1937. P. L. Sperr. (2) The same, at a later date. On the left is the Third Ave. Elevated structure. November 14, 1937. P. L. Sperr.
383 East 135th Street
Bronx: 135th Street (East) - Willis Avenue (1) 383 to 371 (right to left), East 135th Street, north side (buildings thereon), at, adjoining and west of the N.W. corner of Willis Ave. The view is northwestward from East 134th Street across the cleared area which will be constructed into an approach to the Triborough Bridge. On the extreme left is the Third Ave. Elevated structure. July 29, 1937. P. L. Sperr. (2) The same, another view. July 29, 1937. P. L. Sperr.
517 EAST 139 STREET
U.S. Post Office, Mott Haven Station
Gouverneur Morris Residence
Gouverneur Morris residence, 132nd Street, Port Morris, Bronx, New York City, 1905.
Gouverneur Morris Residence
Grounds of Gouverneur Morris residence, 132nd Street, Port Morris, Bronx, New York City, 1905.
Gouverneur Morris Residence
Gouverneur Morris residence, 132nd Street, Port Morris, Bronx, New York City, 1905.
Gouverneur Morris Residence
Gouverneur Morris residence, 132nd Street, Port Morris, Bronx, New York City, 1905.
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