Fieldston Fire Station – Bronx NY

Description

The Works Progress Administration constructed the firehouse on the Henry Hudson Parkway East in the Fieldston section of the Bronx.

Frank da Cruz with the Kermit Project describes the history of the firehouse thus: “The Engine 52 / Hook & Ladder 52 firehouse at 4550 Henry Hudson Parkway East in the Fieldston section of Bronx NY (MAP), serving Fieldston, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Kingsbridge, and Marble Hill since 1884. The present building was designed and constructed in 1939[1,2] by the US Works Projects Administration[2]:

Public Buildings … The new house built by the WPA for Engine Company 52 at 4550 Riverdale Avenue replaces an old frame building. The new structure, of a design to harmonize with the architecture of the neighborhood, is a two-story and basement building 75 feet 8 inches by 74 feet, with a three-story hose tower, the whole of steel and brick construction with limestone trim, lead-coated copper roof, copper kalamein doors and windows and glazed terra cotta walls throughout the first floor.[2,p.24]

The firehouse is still there and active, but the name of this part of the street has changed from Riverdale Avenue to Henry Hudson Parkway East. You can see the building has a promising-looking plaque right of the door but ironically, the plaque (next image) does not credit the WPA, so for this building, the New Deal pedigree comes from a WPA document[2] and not from the plaque, which is the opposite of case of the City Island firehouse.”