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Grand Concourse (Bronx)
Encyclopedia
The Grand Concourse is a major thoroughfare in the borough
of the Bronx
in New York City
. It was designed by Louis Aloys Risse, an Alsatian
immigrant who had previously worked for the New York Central Railroad
and was later appointed chief topographical engineer for the New York city government.
to the northern Bronx. Construction began on the Grand Concourse in 1894 and it was opened to traffic in November 1909. Built during the height of the City Beautiful movement
, it was modeled on the Champs-Élysées
in Paris
but is considerably larger, stretching four miles (6 km) in length, measuring 180 feet (54.9 m) across, and separated into three roadways by tree-lined dividers. Some minor streets do not cross the Concourse.
The cost of the project was $14 million, the equivalent to $340 million in 2008 dollars. The road originally stretched from the Bronx Borough Hall at 161st Street north to Van Cortlandt Park
, although it was later expanded southward to 138th street after Mott Avenue was widened to accommodate the boulevard.
The IRT Jerome Avenue Line
of the New York City Subway
opened a few blocks west of the Grand Concourse in 1917, initiating a housing boom amongst upwardly mobile, predominantly Jewish and Italian, families who were fleeing the crowded tenements of Manhattan. Development of the Concourse was further encouraged by the opening of the IND Concourse Line
in 1933. By the mid-1930s, almost three hundred apartment buildings had been built along the Concourse. Customarily five or six stories high with wide entrance courtyards bordered with grass and shrubs, among these apartments are many of the finest examples of Art Deco
and Art Moderne architecture in the United States.
In 1923, Yankee Stadium opened near the Grand Concourse at 161st Street, down the hill from the Concourse Plaza Hotel
. South of Fordham Road, the palatial Loew's Paradise theater, one of the Loew's Wonder Theatres and at one time the largest movie theater in New York City, was constructed in 1929.
Although the Great Depression
ended the period of tremendous growth, privately financed apartment buildings continued to be constructed. During this period, The Bronx had more amenities than other boroughs: in 1934, almost 99% of residences had private bathrooms, and 95% had central heating. http://www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/journal/historyofthebronxjournal.html In the 1939 WPA guide to New York, the Grand Concourse was described as "the Park Avenue
of middle-class Bronx residents, and the lease to an apartment in one of its many large buildings is considered evidence of at least moderate business success."
In 1941, the New York City Planning Department proposed converting the boulevard into an expressway, in order to connect the Major Deegan Expressway
and the proposed Park Avenue Expressway to the south with the Mosholu Parkway
to the north. However, these plans were abandoned following the southern extension of the Bronx River Parkway
in the 1940s and the extension of the Major Deegan Expressway to the north in the 1950s.
The south and central Bronx began to rapidly deteriorate in the 1960s. White flight
drained many residents of the South Bronx
, pulled by the dream of suburban life and pushed by fear of mounting crime. At the same time, over 170,000 people displaced by slum clearance in Manhattan, mostly African American
and Puerto Rican
, moved to Concourse. The city also adopted policies of relocating welfare recipients to the area, paying fees to landlords.
Migration to the suburbs, retirement to Florida
, and the construction of Co-op City
in the fringes of the northeastern Bronx between 1968 and 1970 drained the areas along the Grand Concourse of most of its remaining middle-class residents. Many if not most buildings in the area were damaged by arson and a lack of maintenance. Even along the Grand Concourse, some buildings and apartments were left abandoned and boarded or bricked shut. Starting in the 1990s, when the Bronx's population began to grow for the first time in twenty years, a wave of affordable housing
construction came to the area.
At the turn of the 21st century official efforts to restore the Grand Concourse included large exit signs, in the manner of limited-access highways, and the Grand Concourse is set to undergo an $18 million restoration and landscaping that will widen the medians and improve lighting from 161st to 171st Streets.
In June 2010, the city Landmarks Preservation Commission gave consideration to establishment of a historic district on the Grand Concourse from 153rd to 167th Street. A final decision was expected in the coming months. The State of New York had previously nominated for listing the buildings at 730-1000, 1100-1520, 1560, and 851-1675 Grand Concourse for listing on the National Register of Historic Places
as a historic district and several New York City Landmarks are on the Concourse.
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It was designed by Louis Aloys Risse, an Alsatian
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
immigrant who had previously worked for the New York Central Railroad
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
and was later appointed chief topographical engineer for the New York city government.
History
Risse first conceived of the road in 1890, as a means of connecting the borough of ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
to the northern Bronx. Construction began on the Grand Concourse in 1894 and it was opened to traffic in November 1909. Built during the height of the City Beautiful movement
City Beautiful movement
The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy concerning North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of using beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. The movement, which was originally associated mainly with Chicago,...
, it was modeled on the Champs-Élysées
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
but is considerably larger, stretching four miles (6 km) in length, measuring 180 feet (54.9 m) across, and separated into three roadways by tree-lined dividers. Some minor streets do not cross the Concourse.
The cost of the project was $14 million, the equivalent to $340 million in 2008 dollars. The road originally stretched from the Bronx Borough Hall at 161st Street north to Van Cortlandt Park
Van Cortlandt Park
Van Cortlandt Park is a park located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the fourth largest park in New York City, behind Pelham Bay Park, Flushing Meadows Park and Staten Island Greenbelt....
, although it was later expanded southward to 138th street after Mott Avenue was widened to accommodate the boulevard.
The IRT Jerome Avenue Line
IRT Jerome Avenue Line
The IRT Jerome Avenue Line, also unofficially known as IRT Woodlawn Line, is a New York City Subway Line along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. It was opened on June 2, 1917 as a shuttle service between Kingsbridge Road and 149th Street. This was in advance of through service to the IRT Lexington Avenue...
of the New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
opened a few blocks west of the Grand Concourse in 1917, initiating a housing boom amongst upwardly mobile, predominantly Jewish and Italian, families who were fleeing the crowded tenements of Manhattan. Development of the Concourse was further encouraged by the opening of the IND Concourse Line
IND Concourse Line
The Concourse Line is an IND subway branch line of the New York City Subway system. It runs from Norwood – 205th Street in Norwood, Bronx to 145th Street in Harlem, Manhattan. It is the only "B" Division and only fully underground line in the Bronx....
in 1933. By the mid-1930s, almost three hundred apartment buildings had been built along the Concourse. Customarily five or six stories high with wide entrance courtyards bordered with grass and shrubs, among these apartments are many of the finest examples of Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
and Art Moderne architecture in the United States.
In 1923, Yankee Stadium opened near the Grand Concourse at 161st Street, down the hill from the Concourse Plaza Hotel
Concourse Plaza Hotel
The Concourse Plaza Hotel was a luxury hotel located at Grand Concourse and 161st Street in The Bronx, New York. Once the site of presidential campaign stops and host to major sports stars, it is now a senior citizens residence owned and operated by the New York City municipal government.-Halcyon...
. South of Fordham Road, the palatial Loew's Paradise theater, one of the Loew's Wonder Theatres and at one time the largest movie theater in New York City, was constructed in 1929.
Although the Great Depression
Great Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement...
ended the period of tremendous growth, privately financed apartment buildings continued to be constructed. During this period, The Bronx had more amenities than other boroughs: in 1934, almost 99% of residences had private bathrooms, and 95% had central heating. http://www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/journal/historyofthebronxjournal.html In the 1939 WPA guide to New York, the Grand Concourse was described as "the Park Avenue
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
of middle-class Bronx residents, and the lease to an apartment in one of its many large buildings is considered evidence of at least moderate business success."
Major Deegan Expressway
The Major Deegan Expressway is a north–south expressway in the New York City borough of the Bronx...
and the proposed Park Avenue Expressway to the south with the Mosholu Parkway
Mosholu Parkway
The Mosholu Parkway is a hybrid freeway-standard parkway and grade-level roadway in the New York City borough of the Bronx, constructed from 1935 to 1937 as part of the roadway network created under Robert Moses...
to the north. However, these plans were abandoned following the southern extension of the Bronx River Parkway
Bronx River Parkway
The Bronx River Parkway is a long parkway in downstate New York. It is named for the nearby Bronx River, which it parallels. The southern terminus of the parkway is at Story Avenue near Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx neighborhood of Soundview...
in the 1940s and the extension of the Major Deegan Expressway to the north in the 1950s.
The south and central Bronx began to rapidly deteriorate in the 1960s. White flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
drained many residents of the South Bronx
South Bronx
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. The neighborhoods of Tremont, University Heights, Highbridge, Morrisania, Soundview, Hunts Point, and Castle Hill are sometimes considered part of the South Bronx....
, pulled by the dream of suburban life and pushed by fear of mounting crime. At the same time, over 170,000 people displaced by slum clearance in Manhattan, mostly African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
and Puerto Rican
Puerto Rican people
A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...
, moved to Concourse. The city also adopted policies of relocating welfare recipients to the area, paying fees to landlords.
Migration to the suburbs, retirement to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, and the construction of Co-op City
Co-op City, Bronx
Co-op City , located in the Baychester section of the Borough of the Bronx in northeast New York City, is one of the largest cooperative housing developments in the world. Situated at the intersection of Interstate 95 and the Hutchinson River Parkway, the community is part of Bronx Community Board 10...
in the fringes of the northeastern Bronx between 1968 and 1970 drained the areas along the Grand Concourse of most of its remaining middle-class residents. Many if not most buildings in the area were damaged by arson and a lack of maintenance. Even along the Grand Concourse, some buildings and apartments were left abandoned and boarded or bricked shut. Starting in the 1990s, when the Bronx's population began to grow for the first time in twenty years, a wave of affordable housing
Affordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
construction came to the area.
In June 2010, the city Landmarks Preservation Commission gave consideration to establishment of a historic district on the Grand Concourse from 153rd to 167th Street. A final decision was expected in the coming months. The State of New York had previously nominated for listing the buildings at 730-1000, 1100-1520, 1560, and 851-1675 Grand Concourse for listing on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as a historic district and several New York City Landmarks are on the Concourse.
In popular culture
- Novelist E. L. DoctorowE. L. DoctorowEdgar Lawrence Doctorow is an American author.- Biography :Edgar Lawrence Doctorow was born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of second-generation Americans of Russian Jewish descent...
has featured the Grand Concourse in much of his writing. Short fiction writer Jacob Appel's story, "The Grand Concourse" (2007), a woman who grew up the in the Lewis MorrisLewis MorrisLewis Morris was an American landowner and developer from Morrisania, New York. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continental Congress for New York....
Building returns to the Morrisania neighborhood with her adult daughter to discover the boulevard is far from how she remembers it. - The Grand Concourse figures prominently in Tom Wolfe's novel "The Bonfire of the VanitiesThe Bonfire of the VanitiesThe Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City and centers on four main characters: WASP bond trader Sherman McCoy, Jewish assistant district attorney Larry Kramer, British expatriate...
" (1987), where its evolution from "the summit of the Jewish dream" and the "new Canaan" to a rundown, unsafe thoroughfare is seen through the eyes of frustrated Assistant District Attorney Larry Kramer. - In the television series RhodaRhodaRhoda is an American television sitcom, starring Valerie Harper, which ran for five seasons, from 1974 to 1978 airing in 109 episodes. The show was a spin-off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which Harper between the years 1970 and 1974 had played the role of Rhoda Morgenstern, a spunky,...
, Rhoda Morgenstern's parents Ida and Martin live in an apartment on the Grand Concourse.
See also
- Edgar Allan Poe CottageEdgar Allan Poe CottageThe Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, sometimes called simply Poe Cottage, is the former home of American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It is located on Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse in the The Bronx, New York, a short distance from its original location, and is now in the northern part of Poe Park.The...
- Transportation in New York CityTransportation in New York CityThe transportation system of New York City is a cooperation of complex systems of infrastructure. New York City, being the largest city in the United States, has a transportation system which includes the largest subway system in the world, measured by track mileage; the world's first mechanically...
- IND Concourse LineIND Concourse LineThe Concourse Line is an IND subway branch line of the New York City Subway system. It runs from Norwood – 205th Street in Norwood, Bronx to 145th Street in Harlem, Manhattan. It is the only "B" Division and only fully underground line in the Bronx....
- IRT Jerome Avenue LineIRT Jerome Avenue LineThe IRT Jerome Avenue Line, also unofficially known as IRT Woodlawn Line, is a New York City Subway Line along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. It was opened on June 2, 1917 as a shuttle service between Kingsbridge Road and 149th Street. This was in advance of through service to the IRT Lexington Avenue...
- Grand Concourse busesGrand Concourse busesThe New York City Transit Authority operates two bus routes - the Bx1 Grand Concourse and Bx2 Grand Concourse - on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, New York City, United States. As the numbers suggest, these were the first two bus franchises in the Bronx....
- 1100 Grand Concourse1100 Grand Concourse1100 Grand Concourse is a co-operative apartment building located in the Grand Concourse neighborhood of The Bronx, New York. It was built in 1928 and was originally called the John Ericsson Building; John Ericsson's name can still be found in several parts of the structure...
- Paradise Theater
External links
- http://boulevard.fromthesquare.org/
- Louis Aloys Risse article on NYWiki
- Grand Concourse Expressway Proposal @ NYCROADS.com
- Forgotten-NY.com Authoritatitve articles on New York City history, including: