Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s greatest writers, spent the last years of his life in this modest cottage in the Bronx.

Rex Cole Showroom, interior, 1931.

Due to the hilly terrain of the Bronx as well as some parts of upper Manhattan, these steep, often block-long, open air staircases were built to accommodate pedestrian traffic. Referred to as step streets, the staircase seen to the right of 2415 Marion Avenue is one of 63 such "streets" in the Bronx. Though some date to the end of the 19th century, this staircase was constructed by the WPA during the Depression.

This 1923 building once housed the Jacob H. Schiff Center, a Jewish community and cultural center and synagogue. Schiff was a banker and philanthropist. He acquired funding from European investor to assist in building America’s railroads, mines, and other infrastructure enterprises. He strongly held to the German-Jewish tradition of communal welfare. He was involved in building and supporting American civic, cultural, and educational institutions. These acts included lobbying for New York State government reform, donating a large sum to Cornell University, and the building of community spaces such as this one in the Bronx.

Wagner Building, 1937. Constructed in 1937 for the businessman Constantin Wagner, Jr., the Art Deco structure epitomizes the streamlined look and decorative elements (here glazed terra cotta) of the style popular along the Grand Concourse. Early advertising for the building notes its advantageous location on commercial streets, near to public transit, as a well as new population centers (housed in the rising Deco apartment houses on the Concourse) and other shopping and entertainment. The building's Art Deco features remain today, though they have been largely obscured by massive chain store signage, in this case, the huge red and white sign for the stationary store, Staples.

William G. Schrafft was a Boston chocolate and candy maker whose confections were sold in stores owned by a businessman named Frank G. Shattuck. The original candy stores opened in 1898, and by 1909 the shops were selling lunch in addition to sweets. The first two Schrafft stores in New York were in Manhattan, but by 1930 more than 25 stores were open in the New York area. These luncheonettes catered to a largely female clientele, with a largely female front and back of house staff. A descendant of the original owner once said of the patrons, “Everyone wore hats and handmade suits. And if you were a lady, it was safe to sit at the soda fountain and drink gin from a teacup.”

The two story wood-frame home seen in this 1936 photograph was once the home of Riker Carroll Livingston, a mechanical engineer involved in the early plans for flood control of the Mississippi River. The home was replaced a year later by a 7-story Art Deco residential building. The brick building to the left of the wood-frame home is the former Fordham Library Center of the New York Public Library. Built in 1923, the building closed as a library in 2005 when the nearby and brand new Bronx Library Center opened.

Once a series of four wood-frame houses on East 188th Street between Elm Place and Marion Avenue, only the corner house remains (though so too does the large tree seen in this 1938 photograph).

Originally built as the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, this brick church building now houses the congregation of the Solomon Temple Baptist Church. The once next door neighbor of the church has been demolished since this 1938 photograph was taken.

The small white farmhouse now known as Poe's Cottage was built circa 1812. The structure once occupied a plot across the street from its current location in Poe Park (once a large apple orchard). In 1846 poet Edgar Allan Poe and his wife Virginia began renting the cottage for $100 a year. Virginia, who suffered from tuberculous, died in 1846 and Poe lived in the cottage, at least part of the time, until his death two years later. Around the turn of the 20th century, the home was in danger of demolition because of the proposed widening of Kingsbridge Road. A local literary group petitioned for the house to be moved across the street and to have a park created around the structure. Poe Park opened in 1902 and was a bucolic area of winding paths, trees, and flowerbeds. In 1913 the home was moved once more (only a few hundred feet) to its current position and has been in the care and custody of The Bronx County Historical Society since 1975.

"Children filing into the library after the formal opening with a public celebration." This photograph depicts the 1923 opening day of the Fordham Branch of the New York Public Library. The land for the building was purchased in 1917 but the First World War delayed the construction. The McKim, Mead, and White-designed building was originally called the Bronx Central Library and, when opened, was the largest library building in the borough. The building included a lecture space and was used to teach local immigrants communities (Irish, Italian, and Jewish) how to read and write English and adjust to American culture. The children lined up in the opening day photograph were likely the children of these local immigrant communities.

Entrance to the Dollar Savings Bank, 2530 Grand Concourse, ca. 1970. Constructed between 1932 ans 1933 in a classic Art Deco style, the Dime Savings Bank is one of a number of highly visible Deco buildings on the Grand Concourse. Deigned by Adolf Muller of Halsey, McCormack \&Helmer (well known as bank architects), the bank building continued to grow after its original construction. In the late 1930s the building was extended 100 feet along the Grand Concourse and in 1950 a new 50 foot extension of the facade accompanied the building of a 10-story office block and 50-foot tower. The tower included four clock faces, which could be seen from the distance. Today none of the clocks are active (they are all stopped at different times). The main bank building served as a bank (lastly Apple Bank) until 2014. The tower has been vacant since the early 2000s. In 2013 both the tower building and the bank were purchased and the new owners noted their interest in renovating and filling both spaces, as well as, perhaps restoring the clocks.

"Grand Concourse, west side, north from but not including E. 184th Street, showing W.P.A. men repaving the west lane of the thoroughfare. Shown, too, is Loew's Paradise Theatre." The Loew's Paradise Theatre (seen the distance, flags flying in front) is one of five Loew's 'Wonder Theatres' opened in the New York City/New Jersey area in the 1929 and 1930. This large movie house, opened in September 1929, was designed by architect John Eberson in the Atmospheric style. In this type of design, particular to movie palaces, the construction and decoration of the interior gave the illusion of being in an outdoor setting, complete with celing paintings of the night sky. Both the exterior and interior of the theatre are landmarked and it is currently used as the home of the World Changers Church New York.

Rex Cole Showroom, 1931. Rex Cole was a local tri-state area appliance store in the early to mid 20th century. The man himself was a lamp manufacturer, who in the 1920s became associated with General Electric, and was chosen as the main retailer of GE's new white enamel Monitor Top refrigerators. By the 1930s, more than 15 Rex Cole showrooms dotted the city and surrounding areas and Cole was making a reported $15 million a year in appliances. This Art Deco inspired store (along with other all over the city) was designed by famed Deco architect Raymond Hood. Hood is best known as the senior designer of Rockefeller Center and architect of McGraw-Hill Building on 42nd Street. The Hood-designed showrooms were impressive and perfect for the marketing of shiny new appliances; here he created a two-story-high central window to display the wares. Despite the quick success of the Rex Cole stores in the early 1930s, Cole was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1935. He closed a number of stores as a result, and the few that remained survived only until the mid 1950s.

2444 Tiebout Avenue, 1941. Sadly the two homes squished between the large brick apartment buildings are no longer, and the land is now used as a parking lot.