New Markers Bring Longwood Historic District’s Bronx Story Into View
- Damian Ali
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
The paired homes at 958-960 East 156th Street show the mirrored bays, stoops, and roof forms found across Longwood. Photo by Rachel Carley. Courtesy of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.
What to Know
Four new markers explain Longwood’s architecture and development.
Many of the district’s distinctive homes date from 1897 to 1900.
Longwood Historic District now tells its story from the sidewalk. On June 3, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission joined the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation and Bronx Community Board 2 to install four markers across Longwood and its district extension in the Bronx. The terra-cotta-colored signs pair maps with brief histories, helping residents and visitors recognize how the neighborhood grew and why its streetscape matters.
At first glance, the markers may look like modest additions to familiar blocks. Look past the signs, however, and the houses supply the larger story. Their rounded bays, high stoops, Roman brick, carved stone, and peaked roofs record the years when a rural corner of the Bronx became an urban neighborhood.
Plans for an IRT subway connection to Manhattan drew development to the area in the late 1800s. Developer George B. Johnson acquired land west of Hunts Point, and architect Warren C. Dickerson designed many of the paired homes built between 1897 and 1900. He arranged them as mirror images under shared rooflines, then varied their bays, entrances, and ornament so the blocks felt unified without appearing identical.
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(L to R) The home at 939 East 156th Street, built in 1897, and, in the right image, 937 East 156th Street. Photo Credit: Rachel Carley, courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives.
One house in the historic record makes those choices easy to see. At 939 East 156th Street, a free-standing end residence anchors a row of eight two-family houses built in 1897. A narrow round tower rises through its front and ends in a steep conical roof. Carved floral details frame the entrance, while dormers and a tall chimney break the roofline.
The survey marker and a worker’s hand remain visible at street level. Behind them, the tower stands above neighboring stoops, turning a routine property record into a portrait of the block.
(L to R) The former Montefiore Hebrew Congregation at 760 to 764 Hewitt Place is marked by broad arches and two onion domes, and on the right, a 1940s tax photograph. (L to R) Photo by Karen Vaughan. Images courtesy of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and the NYC Municipal Archives.
Longwood also holds two religious buildings from different chapters of neighborhood life. The onion-domed structure at 760–764 Hewitt Place was built in 1906 for the Montefiore Hebrew Congregation and later became a church.
St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church (seen below) was built around 1920 at 940 East 156th Street.
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Longwood at 940 East 156th Street. Photo courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives, 1940s Tax Department Photo.
The Longwood Historic District received landmark designation in 1980, followed by its extension in 1983. The buildings survived years when surrounding Bronx communities faced disinvestment, a history that gives the signs more weight than their size suggests.
“As both a homeowner in the Longwood Historic District and a member of Bronx Community Board 2, I am delighted to see these historic district markers installed in our community,” Dr. Lucretia Jones said at the unveiling.
The markers identify the architecture, but the intact blocks also document generations of care. Longwood’s history remains visible because residents kept living in these homes, tending them and defending the character of the neighborhood. The signs now give that work a permanent place on the street.
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