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Near 809 Westchester Avenue
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Engine Co. #73, Hook & Ladder #42
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FDNY Engine 73. During the 1970s and 80s, when many fire stations in the Bronx were disbanded and the borough suffered from neglect, Engine 73 responded to a huge number of calls, over 7000 in 1977.
Montefiore Hebrew Congregation Synagogue
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Montefiore Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, 1938. The Montefiore Hebrew Congregation was founded in 1901 and six years later moved into their brand new synagogue on Hewitt Place. The Romanesque building was modeled on eastern European synagogue styles but is also topped with a pair of—somewhat fanciful— onion domes, more common in the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. For two decades the congregation was led by an impassioned and dynamic leader named Rabbi Jacob Katz. Russian born, he arrived to New York City as toddler, later attending City College, Columbia, and Jewish Theological Seminary before getting a law degree from NYU. He began his career at a Flatbush synagogue before taking the leadership in 1920 of this Bronx community. He also served for 32 years as the chaplain at Sing-Sing Prison. As chaplain he attended to the spiritual needs of the general population and as well as more than 70 men executed for their crimes. Rabbi Katz moved on from Montefiore in the early 1940s. The religious building was designated a landmark in 1980 (as part of the Longwood Historic District) while serving as the home of the Hewitt Place United Church. The imposing structure still stands, with its eye-catching roofline, but sans its ornate stained glass (which is either lost or covered up).
St. Anselm's Church
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St. Anselm's Roman Catholic Church as viewed from Wales Avenue, 1938. The parish of St. Anselm's dates to 1891, while the current church building was not constructed until 1918. A clear stylistic change from most of the earlier nearby churches, St. Anselm's was designed in the Byzantine Revival style. It is said that the design was inspired by the Hagia Sophia, the basilica, turned mosque, turned museum in Istanbul, Turkey. A quirky bit of religious history was once housed at St. Anselm's. The body of St. Peregine, who was martyred in Rome in A.D. 192 and entombed as a shrine and venerated by communities in Rome and then Germany, came to the Bronx for a time. In 1895, after a fire in the church where it had been housed , the shrine traveled to the United States and was kept at St. Anselm's in the Bronx until 1927, when it was removed to St. John's Abbey in Minnesota.
985 Prospect Avenue
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Loew's Burland Theatre, 1938. The Loew's Burland originally opened in 1896 as an open air theatre that was only open during the warm summer months. The theatre seen in this photograph opened in 1913 and had both an indoor and outdoor theatre that could house more than 3000 patrons total. Not originally opened as a Loew's theatre, it is not clear when it became part of that circuit. The theatre closed in 1971 and is currently occupied by a laundromat.
Woodstock Branch, NYPL
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New York Public Library, Woodstock Branch, ca. 1915. This Bronx Carnegie Library was designed by the venerable firm of McKim, Mead & White and constructed in 1913-1914. The Renaissance Revival building shares many of the same features as other NYC Carnegies including brick with limestone cladding and the general shape and palazzo-style front. It is almost identical to the West 40th Street Branch, also designed by McKim, Mead & White, and finished a year before this one.
Prospect Theatre
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Prospect Theatre, April 26, 1938. Opened November 12, 1910, the Prospect Theatre was designed by Charles E. Horn, with interior decoration and murals by French artist, Arthur Brounet. When completed it was one of the largest theatres in the Bronx with seating for 1,600. The original offers of the venue were legitimate theatre, vaudeville, burlesque, and Yiddish theatre. By the 1930s the space was converted into a movie theatre (an all too common transformation of New York theatres). This April 1938 photograph captures the marquee advertises 'I Met My Love Again' with Joan Bennett and Henry Fonda. The theatre was operated by RKO for many years. The recently history of the still-standing building is unfortunately bleak. It is unclear exactly when the movie theatre went out of business, but the space was renovated in 2000 for a short-lived concert venue. While the restoration was comprehensive, the concert hall was an unsuccessful business venture that closed in 2006. Over the next few years the venue was occupied (also short-lived) by a church who largely gutted the interior. As of 2018, the building remains in rough and neglected condition, inside and out, with no concrete plans for its future.
Franklin Theatre
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Franklin Theatre, 1928. Built by successful theatre owner and producer B.S. Moss and named for Benjamin Franklin (Moss was a Franklin fanboy), the Beaux-Arts venue opened in 1921. Designed by famed theatre architect Eugene DeRosa, the space had a capacity for nearly 3000 patrons. Originally presenting Keith-Albee vaudeville and movies, the theatre eventually became strictly a movie house. In 1954 the theatre was robbed at gunpoint. While a movie was playing, the manager and two staff were forced to hand over $2,500 and their own jewelry, before being handcuffed to water pipes. The victims called out for almost an hour before they were heard by a few movie-goers. The theatre closed by the 1960s and the space was converted into a supermarket. The building was demolished in the 1980s and a garden apartment complex was constructed in the site.
Photos
(25)
809 Westchester Avenue
809 Westchester Avenue and 158th Street. Burland Casino interior showing ceiling.
809 Westchester Avenue
809 Westchester Avenue and 158th Street. Burland Casino interior showing ceiling.
Machtzikel Talmud Torah Torath Moses Synagogue
Bronx: Prospect Avenue - Macy Place Prospect Avenue (right), at the S.E. corner of Macy Place, showing the Machtzikel Talmud Torah Torath Moses Synagogue. April 26, 1938 P. L. Sperr.
Prospect Theatre
Woodstock Branch, NYPL
761 East 160th Street between Forest and Tinton Avenues. New York Public Library, Woodstock Branch.
Woodstock Branch, NYPL
Bronx 29, Woodstock Public Library, 761 E. 160th St; Jerry Spearman, Photographer
Prospect Avenue and East 156th Street
Bronx: 165th Street (East) - Prospect Avenue East 165th Street, north side, west from Prospect Ave., to Tinton Ave. In the background, extending from Union to Tinton Aves., is Public School No. 23. April 26, 1938. P. L. Sperr.
Prospect Avenue and East 156th Street
Bronx: 156th Street (East) - Prospect Avenue E 156th Street, east from but not including Prospect Avenue. The street bends southward at Hewitt Place. April 26, 1938. P. L. Sperr
887 Union Avenue
Bronx: Union Avenue - 161st Street 887 and 889 (left to right) Union Ave., north of the N.W. corner of East 161st Street. About 1924. W. B. Vernaw.
Franklin Theatre
Franklin Theatre
Bronx: Prospect Avenue - 161st Street (East) 887 Prospect Avenue, west side, between E. 161st and E. 162nd Streets, showing the Franklin Theatre. April 26, 1938. P. L. Sperr
901 East 156th Street
Apartment building at E. 156th Street and Hewett Place, Bronx, undated (ca. October 1916).
Montefiore Hebrew Congregation Synagogue
888-898 Westchester Avenue
S.E. Cor. Westchester & Stebbins Ave. N.Y.C. Stores # 898 - 896 - 894 - 892 - 890 - 888 Westchester Ave.
699 Prospect Avenue
Bronx: Prospect Avenue - 155th Street (East) 699 to 719 Prospect Avenue, west side, at E. 155th Street. The view is northward. April 26, 1938. P.L. Sperr
861 East 162nd Street
Bronx: 162nd Street (East) - Prospect Avenue 861 to 883 E. 162nd Street north side, east from but not including Prospect Avenue, to Westchester Avenue (elevated thereon). No. 861, a 4 story frame and brick building, is the Franklin Casino. April 26, 1938. P. L. Sperr
Westchester Avenue at East 162nd Street
\[East Side Viaduct, Westchester Avenue: IRT East Side Line] Survey photograph of work in progress on the East Side Viaduct of the IRT East Side Line on Westchester Avenue, Bronx.
St. Anselm's Church
Saint Mary's Park Houses
Saint Mary's Park Houses, Melrose, Bronx, New York City Housing Authority Drawing of Saint Mary's Park Houses by Charles B. Prince in 1955 for Voorhees, Walker, Smith and Smith Architects. This project was under the New York City Housing Authority for which Poy Gum Lee was a project advisor/supervising architect. Charles B. Prine 1955 \ Voorhees, Walker, Smith and Smith Architects
Engine Co. #73, Hook & Ladder #42
Bronx 22, Engine Co. \_73, Hook & Ladder \_42, 655 Prospect Ave; Jerry Spearman, Photographer
Engine Co. #73, Hook & Ladder #42
Engine Co. #73, Hook & Ladder #42
Bronx: Prospect Avenue - 152nd Street (East) Prospect Avenue, at, and adjoining the N.W. corner of E. 152nd Street, showing Fire Engine No. 73, and Hook and Ladder No. 42. April 26, 1938. P. L. Sperr
Engine Co. #73, Hook & Ladder #42
Engine Co. #73, Hook & Ladder #42
985 Prospect Avenue
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