Designated October 25, 2011
The Grand Boulevard and Concourse in the Bronx has a history as one of New York’s most dazzling, stylish thoroughfares. Opened to traffic on November 25, 1909, the Grand Concourse was at the center of the economic and population boom that transformed the borough in the following half-century.
The Grand Concourse was the concept of Alsace-Lorraine immigrant and civil engineer Louis Risse. Inspired by the celebrated boulevards of Paris, Risse designed the Grand Concourse as a four-mile long thoroughfare divided into three roadways by tree-lined dividers. Its broad sidewalks allowed for a lively street scene.
Today, the Grand Concourse is lined with an incomparable concentration of Art Deco and Art Moderne apartment buildings. Much of their elegance has begun to fade, but the neighborhood’s proud history is evident. The majority of the structures in the district were built between 1916 and 1941 in styles ranging from neo-Renaissance to the neighborhood’s renowned Art Deco. While the buildings represent a variety of styles, the apartment houses are closely related in materials, scale and use of ornamentation.
STATUS Designated Historic District
The Neighborhood
Morrisania
The historic township of Morrisania became residential area in the late 19th Century. The development of Morrisania began in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, as a result of the New York & Harlem Railroad connecting Manhattan and the Bronx in the 1840s and the opening of...
Explore the Neighborhood >