A few weeks ago I was cruising around Yankee Stadium on my bicycle and I saw this one-story convex building on the corner of 161st and Walton.
The terracotta frieze around the top reminded me of the lacework that graces the stadium, once part of the house that Ruth Built and now reinvented on the new one.
This photo, taken by me at the stadium about a year ago offers both the front and the back of that frieze.
So was the building up the hill an homage to the stadium? I decided to find out.
It’s a well documented building, dated 1928 and featured in Bronx architectural reports.
The original stadium opened in 1923, so this building could have been a reflection of the original.
And the frieze is referenced in the reports, too,
“Significant Architectural Features: Gothic Revival-style terra-cotta parapet at main (east/south) and west facades, featuring stylized tracery, zigzag banding, rope details, knob finials, and horse heads.”
Yep, I found the horse heads.
But nothing appears to indicate this terracotta ornamentation was intended to celebrate the frieze around the stadium.
My imagination, then. :-)
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