The NY Correction History Society (NYCHS) thanks Charles E. Vandrei of the NYS Environmental Conservation Historic Preservation Unit for helping us obtain a copy of the Bronx House of Detention Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS).

Publication of the HABS documentation came about because, unlike NYC's own Landmark Preservation Commission August 19, 2004 finding that the Bronx House of Detention was "of no architectural concern," the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) determined on August 30, 2004 that the Bronx House of Detention was among several buildings on the Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market project site "eligible for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places."

The documentation was required to be undertaken as part of a plan to mitigate the adverse historical effect resulting from the building's then impending demolition which has since taken place. For more background on the Bronx House of Detention demolition mitigation plan, click the crated eagle icon left to access NYCHS' Bronx House of Detention eagles: Where headed? Where landed?

The top-of-the-page image above is from a scan of the label on the black archival 3-ring binder box containing the HABS documentation. In the next nine web pages of this NYCHS presentation, a page number will appear on the top-of-page label image, in the upper right corner, to identify the particular numbered page of the HABS documentation on screen. Because the numbered page text presentation adheres to the original documentation, page by page, one page may end in mid-sentence but the next page will pick up where that incomplete sentence had stopped.

The image right is from a digital photo of the archival three-ring binder box opened to the unnumbered title page of the documentation.

Texts scanned from the unnumbered pages of documentation, such as the title page, appear below on this opening web page of the NYCHS presentation.

Appearing throughout this NYCHS web presentation of the texts from the documentation's nine numbered pages are images scanned from a map, a diagram and 16 photos in the original printed documentation. There each of them -- the map, the diagram and the 16 photos -- has its own 3-ring-holed page. Here text and images are presented together. All the HABS text, page by page, is presented. All the photos in the HABS documentation are presented, some with additional detail sections scanned by NYCHS. These NYCHS detail section enlargements do not appear in the original HABS documentation but come from the full photos in the documentation.

Although the documentation is dated July 20006, ringed-boxed copies only became available months later. NYCHS obtained a copy in March 2007.

NYCHS is pleased that the bibliography of sources used in producing the HABS documentation includes two presentations on our web site:

-- NYCHS Webmaster

text of title page --

DOCUMENTATION OF THE
BRONX HOUSE OF DETENTION FOR MEN

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (HABS)

BRONX HOUSE 0F DETENTION FOR MEN
653 RIVER AVENUE
BRONX, NEW YORK

Prepared by:
AKRF, Inc.
440 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016 July 2006

text of contents table page --

DOCUMENTATION OF THE BRONX HOUSE OF DETENTION FOR MEN
BRONX, NEW YORK

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (HABS)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE

HISTORICAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------1
HISTORICAL CONTEXT -----------------------------------------1
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION --------------------------- 4
BIBLIOGRAPHY ----------------------------------------------------8
F1GURES
PHOTOGRAPHS
INDEX TO PHOTOGRAHS
VIEWS 1-13

text of figures list page --

DOCUMENTATION OF
THE BRONX HOUSE OF DETENTION FOR MEN
BRONX, NEW YORK

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (HABS)

LIST OF FIGURES

1. Map of Resource
2. Site Plan
3. Photograph of Bronx House of Detention under construction, ca. 1936
4. Photograph of Bronx House of Detention under construction. ca. 1937
5. Photograph of Bronx House of Detention, ca. 1939

2 more unnumbered pages --

DOCUMENTATION OF
THE BRONX HOUSE OF DETENTION FOR MEN
BRONX, NEW YORK

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (HABS)

Location: 653 River Avenue
Bronx
Bronx County. New York
Tax Block 2357, Lot I

U.S. Geological Survey Quadrangle: Central Park
UTM Coordinates: 590,346 East /4,519,533 North

Present Owner: City of New York
2006 Use: In reserve status, not currently occupied.
Significance: The Bronx House of Detention for Men, formerly the Bronx County Jail, was constructed in 1936-8 as a WPA project to the design of architect Joseph H. Freedlander. The Building meets Criterion C as an outstanding example of WPA-era institutional architecture.
Project Information: CEQR Number: O4DMEOI7X
OPRHP Number: 04PR02034
Project Description: The Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market project will redevelop the Bronx house of Detention for Men (BHOD), as well as an 18-acre portion of the Bronx Terminal Market, with approximately 957.700 gross square feet (gsf) of retail establishments, 2,835 parking spaces in a multi-level parking garage and at-grade parking, and a 250-room hotel. The project includes the renovation and reuse of existing Building D of the Bronx Terminal Market for retail.

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prepared for the project by AKRF, Inc. (2005) analyzed the potential effects of the Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market project. Under the project, two of the historic structures on the project site (the BHOD and Building B of the Bronx Terminal Market) would be demolished and replaced by the buildings mentioned above. The EIS identified the BHOD as well as Buildings B, D, G, H and J of the Bronx Terminal Market as historic resources that had been determined eligible for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPHP).

Under the State Environmental Quality Review Act and City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR), and using the methodologies set forth in the City Environmental Quality Technical Manual, the potential demolition of these structures is by definition a significant adverse effect that requires mitigation. In consultation with OPRHP, a mitigation plan consisting of, among other items, Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)-level archival photographic documentation of the BHOD and an accompanying narrative was undertaken for submission to OPRH. A copy of the documentation also will be sent to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, the New York Stale Archives, and the Bronx Historical Society.


text of photo section title page --

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (HABS)
PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION

The Bronx House of Detention for Men (BHQD)
653 River Avenue (Block 2357 Lot 1)
Bronx County, New York

June 2006

text of photos index page --

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY
INDEX TO PHOTOGRAPHS

The Bronx House of Detention for Men (BHOD)
653 River Avenue (Block 2357 Lot 1)
Bronx County
New York

Photographer: David S. Allee

June 2006

BHOD 1 ---- North and east elevations, looking southwest

BHOD 2 ---- South (partial) and east elevations, looking northwest

BHOD 3 ---- East elevation (partial), looking west

BHOD 4 ---- South and west (partial) elevations, looking north

BHOD 5 ---- South (partial) and west (partial) elevations, looking northeast

BHOD 6 ---- North elevation, looking south

BHOD 7 ---- Detail of main entrance (river avenue)

BHOD 8 ---- Detail of visitors entrance (river avenue)

BHOD 9 ---- Interior, typical prison cellblock

BHOD 10 --- Interior, typical prison cell

BHOD 11 --- INterior, typical recreational/dining room

BHOD 12 --- Interior, chapel

BHOD 13 --- Interior, gymnasium

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Bronx House of Detention eagles: Where headed? Where landed?