1005 Jerome Avenue South of 165th Street. Horace Ginsbern, architect 1928-1931 The Park Plaza Apartments was one of the first (if not the first) Art Deco style apartment houses erected in The Bronx. It was conceived in the mid-1920s when The Bronx was the fastest growing borough in New York City. It is sited across Jerome Avenue from Mullaly Park, which provides the structure with its name. When its construction was completed,

it was within a short walking distance from the Jerome and Anderson Avenues station of the Sixth and Ninth Avenue Elevated line at 162nd Street. Just one block further south was the new Yankee Stadium that helped give prestige to the neighborhood.

 

 

Architect Horace Ginsbern completed his design in 1928, and construction began early in 1929. A great fire swept through the almost finished structure on June 25, 1929. Both the Building and the Fire Departments demanded changes in the design. As a result, when completed in 1931, the final edifice stood eight stories high, rather than the planned ten stories, and the rooftop ornamentation was largely eliminated.

 

 

Even with the changes, the Park Plaza stands out from its surroundings. The brickwork is orange in color, which differs from the red, brown or cream colored brick of its neighbors. It is also taller by at least two stories than nearby buildings as well. Most noticeable is the highly colorful terra cotta decoration found on the exterior of the lower floors. Among other depictions are multiple representations of the nearby High Bridge that carries the Croton water supply across the Harlem River, the sun with its rays displayed rising behind a skyscraper tower and Art Deco geometrical designs. Even the elements that are clearly representational show a tendency toward geometrical abstraction that is the hallmark of Art Deco. Perched on it all, located between the windows, are terra cotta bas reliefs of bald eagles with their wings displayed. The name of the building is found in narrow metal stylized letters above the entrance. The whole is attractive rather than garish.

 

 

The Park Plaza is one building consisting of five sections separated by courtyards beginning on the third floor. Each section is reached through its own elevator accessed through the common entrance at the center. The entrance hall is twenty feet high with mezzanine arcades above, all in the Art Deco style. The apartments range from one to five rooms and, when completed, boasted of the latest amenities of the day, such as larger rooms than found in Manhattan and electric refrigerators and other appliances. Incinerator chutes on each floor accepted the waste produced by the tenants. The whole exudes an air of urban elegance.

 

The architect, Horace Ginsbern, later designed several of the Art Deco style apartment houses along the nearby Grand Concourse and its side streets during the 1930s.

 

Lloyd Ultan