Historic Bronx Parks –Tour 1 Tour 1

Home , Aymar Embury II, Bronx Park, Frederick Philipse, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, John Mullaly, Mosholu Parkway

A Guide to Historic New York City Neighborhoods

Hi storic Bronx Parks Bronx The Historic Districts Council is New York’s citywide advocate for historic buildings and neighborhoods. The Six to Celebrate program annually identifies six historic New York City neighborhoods that merit preservation as priorities for HDC’s advocacy and consultation over a yearlong period.

The six, chosen from applications submitted by community organizations, are selected on the basis of the architectural and historic merit of the area, the level of threat to the neighborhood, the strength and willingness of the local advocates, and the potential for HDC’s preservation support to be meaningful. HDC works with these neighborhood partners to set and reach preservation goals through strategic planning, advocacy, outreach, programs and publicity.

The core belief of the Historic Districts Council is that preservation and enhancement of New York City’s historic resources—its neighborhoods, buildings, parks and public spaces—are central to the continued success of the city. The Historic Districts Council works to ensure the preservation of these resources and uphold the New York City Landmarks Law and to further the preservation ethic. This mission is accomplished through ongoing programs of assistance to more than 500 community and neighborhood groups and through public-policy initiatives, publications, educational outreach and sponsorship of community events.

Six to Celebrate is generously supported by The New York Community Trust.

Additional support for Six to Celebrate is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and by public funds from the New York City Depart- ment of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and New York City Councilmembers Margaret Chin, Inez Dickens, Daniel Garodnick, Vincent Gentile, Sara Gonzalez, Stephen Levin and Rosie Mendez.

Cover: Bronx River from Burke Bridge (Tour 2, site #8) Guide design: Lost In Brooklyn Studio Guide design: Lost In Brooklyn A Brief History

hen the western Bronx was annexed by New York City in 1874, it was only a mat- ter of time until this rural area would experience widespread urban expansion and Wa surge in population. John Mullaly (1835–1915), regarded as the “father of the Bronx Park system,” was a newspaper reporter and editor who looked upon this future growth with concern for the well-being of city residents and for the intelligent development of the city itself. To this end, he convened a group of men he hoped would help, presenting facts and figures to make his crucial point about the dire need for more open spaces. His argument was that DeWitt Clinton, New York City’s mayor from 1803 to 1807, had planned the city’s parks in 1807 with one acre of parkland to every 160 inhabitants. The reality by 1881, however, was that there was just one acre for every 1,500 inhabitants. By contrast, Paris had one acre for every 13 inhabitants at that time. Mullaly proposed that 4,000 acres be set aside for park land in The Bronx. He succeeded in convincing these men and eventually many others, who became known as the New York Park Association (NYPA), founded in 1881.

Regarding what would someday become Pelham Bay Park, Mullaly was notably quoted in the New York Herald: “If we make a park out of this land, it will be the favorite suburban resort of the mass of the population, the toilers of the city: it will be their Newport.” The NYPA’s effort culminated in the 1884 New Parks Act and the City’s 1888–90 purchase of lands for Clare- mont, Crotona, Van Cortlandt, Bronx, St. Mary’s and Pelham Bay Parks, as well as the Mosholu, Bronx, Pelham, and Crotona Parkways that connect the parks to one another. In 1932, 18 years after his death, Mullaly Park in the south Bronx was dedicated in his honor.

2013–2015 marks the 125th anniversary of the consolidation of the Bronx Park system. To celebrate this occasion and raise awareness of these vital resources, the Bronx Parks 125 An- niversary Committee launched a series of programs and symposia. This brochure includes two walking tours, each covering a number of the parks that were part of the original acquisition of 1888–90 and sites in between. Each one takes roughly two hours by foot. With a bike or other mode of transport, these may be covered in much less time. Those who wish may also venture farther to see some of the borough’s other great parks that are not mentioned in this brochure, including two parks and two parkways acquired in 1888–90: Pelham Bay Park, St. Mary’s Park, Bronx River Parkway (completed in 1925) and Pelham Parkway (originally called the Bronx and Pelham Parkway).

LEGEND OF DESIGNATIONS National Historic Landmark: F National Register of Historic Places—District: H National Register of Historic Places—Property: J New York City Historic District: Q New York City Individual Landmark: X New York City Interior Landmark: D Historic Bronx Parks –Tour 1 Tour 1:

1. FORMER NEW YORK, WESTCHESTER AND BOSTON RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION BUILDING J X East 180th Street at Morris Park Avenue Fellheimer & Long with Allen H. Stem, 1912 Located at the southern tip of Bronx Park, this Italian Renais- sance style building was originally the administration office for the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway system. After the system went out of business in 1937, the City tied the Bronx portion of the line into the subway system. Since then, the building has served as the East 180th Street station for the 2 and 5 subway lines. Of note in the center of the façade is the ornate clock surround, which features a winged head of Mercury, the Roman god of travel. Architect Allen H. Stem si- multaneously worked with Charles Reed to design Grand Central Terminal, whose grand Beaux- Arts style contrasts this Italian villa, just as midtown Manhattan’s urban environment contrasted The Bronx’s bucolic setting at that time. In 2011, the City undertook a major restoration of the building.

2. FORMER DELANCEY MILL DAM Inside River Park at East 180th Street and Boston Road River Park is within the southern tip of Bronx Park, and features this beautiful 13-foot waterfall. The falls were first modified into a dam to power mills along the river by William Richardson shortly after 1680. Later, some of the mills were owned and operated by the DeLancey family, Huguenots (French Protestants) who settled in New York in 1686. James DeLancey (1746–1804) was famously known as the “Outlaw of the Bronx” for his loyalist stance during the Revolutionary War, during which he led the “Westches- ter Chasseurs,” a group of Tory troops. After the war, his land was confiscated and he moved to Nova Scotia, where he became a prominent politician.

3 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Bronx Parks 3. BRONX ZOO 1899 In 1884, Fordham University sold a large parcel of its campus to the City for use as a zoo and garden, known as Bronx Park. The property had histori- cally been part of the Lorillard estate, whose snuff mill is still extant within the New York Botanical Garden. In 1888, the City allotted 250 of its acres to the New York Zoological Society, and in 1891, another 250 to the New York Botanical Society. The largest of the city’s five zoos, The Bronx Zoo is divided into northern and southern sections. The north is characterized by its formal layout, with Astor Court in the center, surrounded by Beaux Arts buildings, some of which are designated city landmarks. The landscape in the south is more naturalistic, with buildings ranging in style from Modern to Brutalist. This entry is the Asia Gate, which leads into a forest surrounding the Bronx River, with Asian wildlife displays.

4. WEST FARMS SOLDIERS CEMETERY X East 180th Street and Bryant Avenue, Ca. 1815 Walk back down Boston Road and turn right onto East 180th Street. One block down on the right is a nearly 200-year-old cemetery. The oldest public veteran’s burial ground in The Bronx, this roughly 2/3-acre plot contains 40 graves of soldiers who fought in four American wars: the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and World War I. Founded by John Butler for a private burial, the Butler family owned it until the City took possession in 1954. The bronze statue of a Union Army soldier was erected in 1909. The plot is named after its location in what was then called West Farms Village, established in 1663.

4 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Bronx Parks 5. BECK MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 980 East 180th Street 1905 The congregation of this church dates back to 1815, when some of the roughly 300 inhabitants of West Farms Village formed the First Presbyterian Church. This is the church’s second building, funded by trustee Charles Bathgate Beck in mem- ory of his mother. The Gothic Revival stone building features rectangular arrowslit openings that evoke a medieval castle. Its large, imposing terra-cotta-clad tower features a mansard roof with dormer windows and an ornate weathervane.

6. CROTONA PARKWAY MALLS, 1910 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 1900 Crotona Parkway Ca. 1925 The Crotona Parkway Malls, between Crotona Parkway and Southern Boulevard, lend a pleasing atmosphere to the parkway. The City acquired the land for Crotona Parkway in 1888 to connect Crotona Park and Bronx Park. Southern Boulevard dates back to the 1870s, when it opened as a grand thorough- fare from East 133rd Street and Third Avenue to present-day Kazimiroff Boulevard. The pink granite obelisk at East Trem- ont Avenue is a memorial to the 87 people who lost their lives in a fire that destroyed the Happy Land Social Club across the street on March 20, 1990. At Fairmount Place is St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church, whose Gothic Revival building lends elegance to this stretch of the parkway.

5 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Bronx Parks 7. CROTONA PARK 1888 Crotona Play Center X D: Herbert Magoon, Aymar Embury II and others, 1934–36 This park was originally part of the roughly 2,000- acre Morris estate, dating back to 1679. In 1848, Gouverneur Morris II (1813–1888) auctioned off much of his property to profit from the area’s suburbanization. This 127.5-acre parcel was sold to the Bathgate family, who owned it until 1888, when it was acquired by the City. Due to plans for numerous athletic facilities in the park, it was named after Croton, the ancient Greek city that was home to many Olympic champions. Indian Lake is a scenic highlight that the Bathgate family allowed the public to use for recreation before the property became public. Concrete walls and paths around the lake were installed in 1914. The boathouse was built in the 1940s under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses after a conces- sion stand burned down on the site. Across the lake is a stone bridge and amphitheater, which was unveiled in 2009. The Cro- tona Play Center, a bathhouse and swim- ming pool at the park’s western edge, was constructed in the Art Deco style under the Works Progress Administration. It features a monumental arched brick entry with two square towers topped with glass- block skylights and an interior open-air courtyard.

6 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Bronx Parks 8. CLAREMONT PARK 1888 This park was also part of the expansive Mor- ris estate until it was sold to Elliott and Anna Zborowski de Montsaulain, who named it “Cla- remont.” In 1859, they built a mansion and land- scaped the grounds with terraced lawns descending toward Mill Brook (now Webster Avenue). When the property became part of the Bronx park system in 1888, many changes were made, including new paths, recreational facilities and the removal of orchards. The mansion briefly served as the Bronx Parks Department’s administrative headquarters, but was demolished in 1938 when the headquarters moved to a new building on Bronx River Parkway.

7 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Bronx Parks Historic Bronx Parks –Tour 2 Tour 2:

1. VAN CORTLANDT PARK 1889 The current park is part of a large parcel acquired by the Dutch West India Company from the Wiechquaskeck tribe in 1639. It was owned by Adrian Van der Donck, New Amsterdam’s first law- yer, then purchased in 1670 by Frederick Philipse, New York’s wealthiest man. Philipse’s son-in-law, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, mayor of New York City in 1710–11 and 1719–20, purchased a part of the estate—the present park—in 1699. At that time, Tibett’s Brook was dammed to power two mills, forming the Van Cortlandt Lake, which still exists. The Van Cortlandts operated the mills and a grain plantation here. In 1778, British soldiers killed 37 patriot Stockbridge Indians in an ambush at the northeast end of the property. “Indian Field” marks their burial ground. After 140 years, the Van Cortlandts sold the property to the City in 1889. To transform it into a park, the City filled in swamps, planted trees and added recreational facilities, including the country’s first municipal golf course in 1895.

2. VAN CORTLANDT MANSION 1748 F J X D Porter statue: William Clark Noble, 1902 This fieldstone and brick Georgian style manor is The Bronx’s oldest house, built for Jacobus Van Cortlandt’s son, Frederick. Unfortunately, he died before it was completed and was the first to be bur- ied in the family burial plot on Vault Hill, north of the house. During the British occupation of New York in 1776, Augustus Van Cortlandt, who was serving as City Clerk, hid the municipal records in the house’s vault. George Wash- ington used the house for military maneuvers and as a temporary headquarters before his tri- umphant march into Manhattan. Since 1897, the building has operated as a house museum (the city’s first), exhibiting its collection of 18th- and 19th-century furniture and decora- tive arts. The grounds also include a 1902 bronze statue of Major General Josiah Porter by William Clark Noble and a window from the Rhinelander Sugar House. The Sugar House, formerly located on Duane Street in Manhattan, was one of several 18th-century warehouses

9 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Bronx Parks where sugar and molasses imported from the Caribbean were stored before being shipped to Britain’s refineries. During the Revolutionary War, British troops infamously used the Sugar Houses as prisons, though it is not known whether Rhinelander was one of these. The window is appropriate to the Van Cortlandt House site, as the Van Cortlandt family built a Sugar House in the yard of Trinity Church in 1755 (demolished in 1852), which is known to have been used as a prison during the war.

Walk east on Van Cortlandt Park South. At the intersection of Bailey Avenue and Van Cortlandt Avenue West, walk up the stairs. At the intersection of Mosholu Parkway and Gun Hill Road, cross Mosholu Parkway and take the small stair up to the pedestrian path, turning right to walk south on Mosholu Parkway.

3. VALENTINE–VARIAN HOUSE J X 3266 Bainbridge Avenue 1758 The second oldest in The Bronx, this house was built by blacksmith and farmer Isaac Valentine out of native stone on the property’s 260 acres. During the Revolutionary War, it was occupied by British, Hessian and patriot troops, and was the site of several skirmishes. The house survived the conflict, but its owner fell on hard times and sold it to Isaac Varian in 1792. With growing development in the area, the property’s acreage diminished, and what remained was sold to a developer in 1904. William F. Beller purchased the house in 1905 and maintained it for 60 years. In 1965, his son, William C. Beller, donated the house to The Bronx County Historical Society, which operates it as the Museum of Bronx History.

10 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Bronx Parks 4. WILLIAMSBRIDGE OVAL 1884–89 FORMER WILLIAMSBRIDGE RESERVOIR KEEPER’S HOUSE J X 3400 Reservoir Oval West George Birdsall, chief engineer, NYC Department of Public Works, 1889–90 The Williamsbridge Reservoir was created to bring fresh water to west Bronx residents via a pipeline from lakes north of White Plains. Due to the contiguous construction of the New Croton Aqueduct, it only operated until 1919 and was handed over to the Parks Department in 1934. Of note is the Recreation Building, constructed in 1937. The cottage across the street was built for the reservoir’s supervisor. The cottage is made of rock-faced ashlar with a granite foundation and trim, and features a slate gable roof, copper gutters and an ornate porch. The house was unoccupied for many years until it was purchased in 1946 as a private residence. In 1999, the Mosholu Preservation Corporation transformed it into their headquarters.

5. MOSHOLU PARKWAY 1888; Extended: 1935–37 In the 1860s, Frederick Law Olmsted designed a system of roads to connect the city’s parks. These “parkways” were meant to accommodate different types of traffic and allow for optimal efficiency. Separated by pleasing landscaping, the center road- way was for private through traffic, while parallel side roads were for local and commercial traffic. Intersections were via bridges and tunnels to avoid breaks in traffic flow. Mosholu Parkway was acquired in 1888, and originally connected Bronx and Van Cortlandt Parks. In 1935– 37, its three miles were extended to link up with the Henry Hudson Parkway in the northwest (the two become the Saw Mill River Parkway to the north) and the Bronx River Park- way to the east. Mosholu is the Algonquin word for “smooth stones” and refers to Tibbett’s Brook, which runs from Yonkers through Van Cortlandt Park.

11 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Bronx Parks 6. 52ND POLICE PRECINCT STATION HOUSE J X 3016 Webster Avenue Stoughton & Stoughton, 1904–06 When the East Bronx was annexed in 1898, its population grew rapidly and this area was in need of police protection, which led to the construction of the 52nd Police Precinct. The red brick Italian Renaissance Revival villa features a square tower with projecting eaves and blue and white terra-cotta clocks on three of its sides, protected by pitched roofs with wooden bracket supports.

7. NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN Established 1895 F J Museum Building: Robert W. Gibson, 1896–1901 X Fountain of Life: Charles E. Tefft, 1903–05 X Tulip Tree Allée: Nathaniel Lord Britton, 1903–11 X The New York Botanical Garden, an internationally renowned public garden and research institution, is within Bronx Park in an area previously owned by tobacco magnate Pierre Lorillard. In 1891, the City allocated 250 acres for a public botanical garden, for which the Torrey Botanical Club had advocated for some time. The Club led a private fundraising campaign for the project, and this public-private structure still exists to- day. Nathaniel Lord Britton and his wife Elizabeth Gertrude Britton, prominent botanists, worked with the Club on this initiative, and in 1896, Mr. Britton became the institution’s first director.

Cross to the north side of Kazimiroff Boulevard and walk on the sidewalk as it veers left and into the Bronx River Forest (passing the Allerton Ballfields on the right).

12 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Bronx Parks 8. BRONX RIVER FOREST 1888 BRONX RIVER AND BRONX RIVER PARKWAY 1925 Before European settlement, this area was covered with old- growth hardwood trees. Though the trees are only about 100 years old, this forest recalls that magnificent historic resource. Burke Bridge is a lovely place to experience the forest and the Bronx River. Originally called “Aquehung” or “River of High Bluffs” by the Mohegan Indians, the 23-mile river originates from a small tributary stream in Westchester County and emp- ties into the East River. In 1639, Swedish pioneer Jonas Bronck (1600–1643) purchased 500 acres from the Mohegans, including a large section of the river, which became known as “Bronck’s River.” Thus, the river, and subsequently the borough, got its name. Bronck and other settlers harnessed its energy to power mills, and three of these still exist downstream. The river was very clean before construction of the New York Central Railroad in the 1840s, which created an industrial corridor that polluted the river dramatically. The formation of Bronx Park in 1888 created a buffer in an effort to protect it. In 1925, the 15.5-mile Bronx River Parkway was completed as a pleasure drive and recreation zone, with parks stretching up to the Kensico Dam.

13 — Historic Districts Council — Historic Bronx Parks Historic Bronx Parks