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Back in Bronxville

Robert A.M. Stern has apparently designed a proposal for the site of the old Gramatan garage in Bronxville, behind Christ Church. I have to admit that once the garage was torn down I began imagining the possibilities for the site. Christ Church, by Grosvenor Goodhue the Great (responsible for St. Vincent Ferrer and the Cadet Chapel at West Point among others), is such a beautiful building, and Stern’s design deftly fits into the context.

The design is along the lines of the nearby Kensington Gardens and the other courts of townhouses which are dotted around that area and elsewhere in Bronxville. It seems to be an apartment building, probably along the lines of the Avalon building (previously home to Emma, Lilly, and Momma Kate Haberl, and Roger Mahon too), though of a much better design.

It is, however, a slightly odd mix of buildings that one finds surrounding Christ Church. Immediately to the north are the modern church house and a Spanish Mediterranean building, across Sagamore Road are brick neo-Tudor buildings, and up the road are mock English village structures of the ilk this design emulates. Still, altogether it somehow works, though Christ Church is oddly enough an arts-and-crafts reinterpretation of English Gothic with a Spanish-style courtyard featuring a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. Bizarre, but it all works somehow.

Published at 7:13 pm on Monday 13 December 2004. Categories: Architecture.
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