Port Morris Branch: Third Avenue
After a short stretch of open trench between Third Avenue and East 161st Street, the track proceeded into another short tunnel under O'Neill Triangle and Elton Avenue. When I visited in 2008, the tunnel seemed to have been rebuilt recently, perhaps covering a formerly open section of trench to create O'Neill Triangle.
The Beaux-Arts Bronx Borough Courthouse was designed by Oscar Bluemner and completed in 1915. It is the sole survivor of what was a complex of government buildings. Troubles for the star-crossed building began even before it opened. It was finished a decade behind schedule and over budget. A corrupt Tammany Hall operative claimed the credit (and the commission) for the building. Surrounding elevated trains made it difficult to hear in the courtrooms and closing the windows made it unbearably hot. Growing population made the courthouse undersized and obsolete within a couple of decades of its opening and much of its caseload moved west to a new courthouse in the 1930s. It later served as a night court and storage building before being abandoned in the 1970s.
Ideas for reuse of the landmark building came and went over the years but the Giuliani Administration finally auctioned it off in 1996 for $130,000. When that bidder never paid, a second auction in 1998 got $300,000 from a speculator who promptly did nothing but sit on it and wait for the surrounding community to improve. Plans for a school in the building began circulating in 2007, although the site was listed for sale in 2007 at $25 million. In the Spring of 2008, plans to convert the building into a charter school were announced, although as of Summer 2008, no action at all seems to be taking place.
The rail line in this area sits in the shadow of a ridge topped by Eagle Avenue. I took a little side trip up the hill to have a look around the neighborhood. This was a wasteland after the fires of the late 1970s, but much of it has been nicely redeveloped by both the city housing authority and by private developers. I'm not sure I'd want to live here, but its alot better than it was.
Right-of-way emerging from the Brook Avenue tunnel
Closeup of trench wall
Rail line passing under Third Avenue
South side of Third Avenue Bridge
Railing along rail line just south of Third Avenue Bridge
Third Avenue Bridge over tracks
South guard wall of Third Avenue Bridge
North guard wall of Third Avenue Bridge
Right of way proceeding north of Third Avenue between some older buildings
Vacant lot off Brook Avenue looking into the trench
Overgrown rail line looking south from the 161st Street Tunnel
Old Bronx Borough Courthouse
Old Bronx Borough Courthouse
Justice - not blind
Koch-era sign proclaiming seal-up of the derelict building
Old Bronx Borough Courthouse
East side of the courthouse
North side of the courthouse
North side of the courthouse
West side of the courthouse
Where all those Delicioso Coco Helado carts come from
Older building on the corner of 161st Street across from the courthouse
We have things them
Hillside up to Eagle Avenue
Union Rincoena Social Club
NYCHA South Bronx Area
NYCHA South Bronx Area
NYCHA South Bronx Area
Rebuilt row houses on 158th Street
Grove Hill Playground
Grove Hill Playground
Community garden in Grove Hill Playground
Parking over the hillside off Eagle Avenue
El Batey Borincano Community Garden - Eagle Avenue
El Batey Borincano
El Batey Borincano
View of courthouse from Eagle Avenue
831 Eagle Avenue
831 Eagle Avenue
831 Eagle Avenue
831 Eagle Avenue
Casita
Eagle Avenue Bridge over East 161st Street
Eagle Avenue Bridge over East 161st Street
East 161st Street south of Eagle Avenue
East 161st Street north of Eagle Avenue
New Hope for All Saints Lutheran Church
Shops off Third Avenue at 161st Street
Kennedy Fried Chicken!
Wall of the rail trench between buildings
Looking into the trench from off Washington Avenue
Entrance to the newly rebuilt Elton Avenue Tunnel
Warning sign at entrance to the Elton Avenue Tunnel
Washington Ave. curving onto East 161st Street over the tunnel
O'Neill Triangle - sitting area over the tunnel
O'Neill Triangle - tunnel path is obvious
Some kind of civil building off O'Neill Triangle
Cops parked behind the building
Elton Avenue crossing the tracks
Trees in the trench east of Elton Avenue
Gentrification off Elton Avenue