The Bronx has a cluster of handsome art deco apartment houses on the southern portion of Grand Concourse (plus the “moderne” Bronx County Courthouse). Some need restoration and others, including the renowned “Fish Building”, with its glowing mosaic of an aquarium, are still looking good. The first art deco apartment house built in The Bronx (1931) is Park Plaza at 1005 Jerome Avenue (no elevated on this portion of Jerome) and W. 164th Street. Designed by architects Horace Ginsbern and Marvin Fine, Park Plaza is an eight-story structure divided into five sections. It contains 200 apartments ranging from one room to five rooms. The most prominent feature of Park Plaza is its facade embellished with magnificent art deco polychromatic designs. Developer Bernard Noonan was so impressed by Park Plaza that he commissioned Ginsbern and Fine to design Noonan Plaza some blocks north (HG recently did a nostalgic and admiring post about Noonan Plaza). Park Plaza and Noonan Plaza are both designated New York City Landmarks. The late Julien J. Studley, who created one of the country’s largest and most innovative real estate firms, was also intrigued by the elegance of Park Plaza. He bought it in the 1970’s knowing that rent control had done much damage. HG is quoted in The Studley biography, “Shaping the Skyline” by Peter Hellman: ” ‘Julien thought he would make a better world by being a caring landlord,’ said Gerry Freeman, his press agent-cum-confidant.” The tenant response to such caring was a destructive rent strike. Julien was forced to give up Park Plaza. Said Julien: “That was my first taste of total failure.”
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