Southern Boulevard, East 163rd Street and Hunts Point Avenue, 1919. The semi circular building at no. 941 Southern Blvd, with the masonry medallion at the roofline, was referred to as the Community Building (as per the photographic notes of this 1919 shot). At the right is the entrance to the underground station of the IRT Pelham Line, which opened in January of 1919, likely only a few months before this photograph was taken.

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).

Hunts Point Branch, NYPL, 1929. The Hunts Point Branch of the New York Public Library was the final Carnegie Library to be built in the city. Built in 1928-1929 and designed by Carrère & Hastings, and funded by Andrew Carnegie's endowment, the Italian-Renaissance style building remains the neighborhood library today. The architects of this building designed the main branch of NYPL as well as 13 other Carnegie Libraries. This structure is unique in that it is the only Carnegie built by Carrère & Hastings that utilized terra cotta.

Hunts Point Branch. NYPL 877 Southern Boulevard Designed by Carrère & Hastings, 1929 NYC IL The Hunts Point Branch bears the distinction of being the very last of the Carnegie-funded NYPL branches to be built and was among the 14 Carnegie-funded branches to be designed by Carrère & Hastings. The two-story, palazzo-inspired structure was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style with a blind arcade at the base and arched windows throughout. Its brick façades are accented with ornate terra-cotta details and stone trim. At the time of its construction, automobiles had become a common mode of transportation, so the facility also includes a one-story garage on its west side. The garage housed the Bronx Book Wagon, which served the community from 1928 (a year before the library opened) until the 1980s. Hunts Point was designated a New York City Individual Landmark in 2009.

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.

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.

Woodstock Presbyterian Church, 1938. This brick neo-Gothic church was constructed in 1906 for the Woodstock Presbyterian Church. That congregation occupied this building until it merged with the Home Street Presbyterian Church in 1938 and moved to their quaint wood-frame 1910 church at 1017 Home Street. Since 1938 the church had been owned by the St. Augustine Presbyterian Church, which was established that year. A popular community for African American and Puerto Rican neighbors, the church boomed during the 1940s and 1950s. The founder pastor, Edler Garnett Hawkins, was the first African-American moderator of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church and active in the civil rights movement. St. Augustine is still an active congregation today.

"877 Southern Boulevard. New York Public Library Hunts Point Branch. Children outside library, 1929." This photograph is likely on the opening day of the library.

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.

Simpson Mansion, 1903. The Simpson estate was a 120-acre picturesque property anchored by two large stone mansions. Contemporary descriptions note that the interior was "sumptuously" decorated and a large pipe organ was the owner's prized possessions. The land surrounding the mansions were used to breed Shetland ponies and keep queen bees. The land and structures were sold in 1913 for the development of tenements in the then booming neighborhood.