Mott Haven Branch, NYPL 321 East 140th Street Designed by Babb, Cook & Willard, 1905 The Mott Haven Branch was the first NYPL building to be constructed in The Bronx. The building’s strong, Classical Revival style design was the work of Babb, Cook & Willard, the same firm responsible for Andrew Carnegie’s own mansion on Fifth Avenue and East 91st Street. Its three-story, brick façades are marked by prominent limestone quoins at the corners and around the entrance. The building is within the Mott Haven Historic District, an oasis of historic architecture, a small-scale residential enclave surrounded by tall mid-century housing projects. The historic district was designated in 1967, making it one of the city’s first. The library is located in the Mott Haven Historic District and a National Register of Historic Places District.

Stephens House, 1930. This Italianate, wood-frame home was constructed in 1832 by a Joseph Francis and purchased in 1893 by Olin, J. Stephens, a wealthy coal dealer. It is unfortunately no longer standing.

Gerard Avenue, at East 140th Street, showing at left the 12-story Lehigh Valley Railroad warehouse at the southwest corner of East 144th Street, November 29, 1936.

(Albert E. Davis, 1911-12) The North Side was a common term for the portion of the Bronx annexed by New York City in 1874. Its Board of Trade was founded in 1894 to advocate for the borough and was cited as one of the leading civic organizations of its time. The building resembles many contemporary public institutions, its Neoclassical design characterized by Ionic columns and pilasters, round-arched windows with keystones and a rusticated base. The upper stories, which were occupied by the Board’s offices, are clad in matte white terra cotta, while the ground floor contained commercial space for a bank and is clad in granite. Davis, the building’s architect, was also the Board’s founder, first president and primary advocate for building its new headquarters. He selected this site feeling it was the “gateway to the borough.” The plaza it faces contains a memorial to the Spanish-American War, dedicated in 1919 and also designed by Davis, with a bas-relief plaque by sculptor Charles Keck.

Metropolis Theatre, 1903. Constructed in 1893 for theatrical productions, the elegant Metropolis Theatre could seat 1600 patrons and was the first theatre in the Bronx. The building included a "Rathskeller" (a German-style restaurant) in the basement and a rooftop garden. In the 1910s, the theatre was converted in a motion picture house—while likely continuing to present vaudeville and burlesque. During a small fire in 1920 the evacuation process for the 700 patrons present was jauntily described: "The theatre is a wealth of exits and moving to a lively jazz tune from the orchestra, the patrons were safe on the streets before the first engine came." Further excitement also came to theatre in 1926 when 10 performers, the theatre manager, and the stage manager were arrested for maintaining a public nuisance and indecent performance, presumably for a burlesque performance. The theatre ceased operations in 1926—perhaps because of the arrests that year— and was sold twice before the end of the decade. The buyer in 1929 was the Loew's circuit, who planned to use the space as a scenic studio for the construction and storage of stage sets, lighting and sound equipment, and props. The building served this function for more a decade. In the 1940s most of the building was demolished, though the facade fronting Third Avenue was retained and still stands as the unexpectedly elegant front of an office building.

Grants Pickle Works, April 30, 1941. In the first half of the 20th century the Jennings Market was a a two-block shopping area for the mostly East European, Jewish, and Italian immigrant communities (many of whom had previously lived on the LES). The market's most famous tenant was 'Jake the Pickle Man' who peddled his pickles from five barrels on the sidewalk at Jennings and Charlotte Streets. The lines for his pickles could be a block long, and he was remember as very eccentric. Jake retired from the pickle business in 1961 and was sadly killed during a robbery in 1963. United Pickle, a fourth-generation family pickle factory in the Tremont section of the Bronx, was founded in 1897 and is still in operation. This company owns the trademark brand Guss' Pickles, which was the best-known Lower East Side pickle guy in the early 20th century. Though little can be specifically discovered about 'Grant's Pickle Works' seen here at Third Avenue and 137th Street, they were likely in good company among the pickle-loving community of the south Bronx.

Public School 31, April 30, 1941. Affectionately called the "Castle on the Concourse," Public School 31 was a Collegiate Gothic style school designed by C.B.J. Snyder and completed in 1899. The design is notable as one of Snyder's first forays in late Gothic features such as pointed windows topped with stone tracery. The irregularity and deeply pointed gables gave the building its castle-like look and created an eye-catching visual on the broad Grand Concourse. The school was designated a landmark in 1986 but closed in 1997 amid concerns of structure deterioration. For the next 15 years the city allowed the building to continue its deterioration. In 2014 the city requested permission from the Landmarks Commission to demolish the building. Despite disgust at the situation and virulent opposition by the local community and preservationists, the building was finally razed in 2015. A large number of architecture features of the 19th century school were saved during the process of demolition and are required to be included in the design of whatever new structure rises in its place.

"The Mott Haven branch of the New York Public Library (a Carnegie library), Bronx, N.Y., undated \[circa 1905-1918]." The oldest New York Public Library in the Bronx, this red brick and limestone structure opened in March of 1905. It was designed by Babb, Cook, and Willard, who also designed the 5th Avenue mansion of the library's funder, Andrew Carnegie.

This is a pretty accurate representation of the South Bronx in the early 20th century. It was a lot of lovely architecture constructed likely just before the turn of the 20th century, but now showing signs of the rapid urbanization of the borough—the many advertisements, the proliferation of needed utility infrastructure, and constant construction (here an IRT subway line is being dug underneath 138th Street). This corner building was gone by the mid century, replaced with a diner and gas station by 1957. The lot has been empty, only a large patch of grass, for the last few decades. . In 2012, the 1991-built apartment house just to the east of the corner was converted into a 145-unit HUD senior and supportive housing building called Borinquen Court (285 East 138th Street). Between 2016 and 2018 the city added two additional buildings to this complex, naming it Tres Puentes (Three Bridges). The mixed-use buildings added 175 new affordable apartments for seniors. The corner building is now 2550 Third Avenue.