Noonan Plaza Apartments
105 West 168th Street | also 1244 Ogden Avenue, 1238 Ogden Avenue, 1240 Ogden Avenue | Highbridge | built 1931
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1931
Former saloon keeper Bernard J. Noonan builds Noonan Plaza in Highbridge
Bernard J. Noonan was born around 1875 in Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland, and emigrated in 1886. From 1901 to 1918 he ran saloons in Greenwich Village, Hell's Kitchen and the Upper West Side, then owned Flood's Department Store on Sixth Avenue before turning to real estate full-time around 1921. He judged Highbridge "the most desirable location" in the city for better apartments, and Noonan Plaza followed in 1931.
“From 1901 until 1918, he was a saloon proprietor, in Greenwich Village, then Hell's Kitchen, and later, the Upper West Side.”
- 1931
A $1 million mortgage finances 283 apartments around a garden court
Noonan's Nelden Corp. took the sloping site at West 168th Street in October 1930, and in March 1931 obtained a ten-year, $1 million first mortgage to build. The Times reported plans for 283 apartments of one and a half to five rooms, 14 stores and a 125-by-110-foot garden court. The company's prospectus promised a location "destined to remain ever free from mediocrity."
“In March 1931, a ten-year, $1 million dollar first mortgage was obtained for the construction of an apartment complex that came to be known as Noonan Plaza.”
- 1931
Horace Ginsberg and Marvin Fine wrap the complex in tan brick and Art Deco trim
The firm of Horace Ginsberg designed the complex, and Marvin Fine is credited with the exterior. The two had also designed the Park Plaza Apartments on Jerome Avenue. The six-to-eight-story building wears tan ironspot brick, its continuous piers set against brown-and-black brick spandrels. Its main entrance, an angled portico at Nelson Avenue and West 168th Street, sits between towers that once carried ornamental lanterns.
“…designed by the firm of Horace Ginsberg, with the exterior credited to Marvin Fine…”
- 1931
The garden court opens with a swan pond, a lighthouse and a waterfall
All the interior apartments looked onto a large garden court laid out with patterned cement walks, statuary, and a pond stocked with fish and swans and spanned by rustic wooden bridges. A lighthouse stood in the court and a waterfall ran in one corner. The complex also had a ballroom, a community room, a roof garden promenade and a playground.
“…a pond (with fish and swans) crossed by rustic wooden bridges, a lighthouse, and a waterfall in one corner…”
- 1962
The DiLorenzo-Goldman real estate empire buys Noonan Plaza
The Nelden Corp. owned the complex until 1962, when it sold to Southern Assocs., an entity of partners Alex DiLorenzo Jr. and Sol Goldman, whose holdings later included the Chrysler Building. The partners were known for hiding their ownership behind corporate names, and Noonan Plaza later passed through their Oxford, Chatham and Avon Associates.
“Noonan Plaza Apartments was continuously owned by the Nelden Corp. until 1962, when the complex was sold to Southern Assocs., Inc.”
- 1976
A nonprofit tries to rescue the vandalized complex as a co-op
An exhibition on the Bronx's Art Deco apartment houses called Noonan Plaza "nearly devastated," and the Times wrote that vandals had destroyed much of its Art Deco detail. In 1976 the Settlement Housing Fund, a nonprofit, set out to rehabilitate it and turn it into a co-op, with the Noonan Plaza Tenants Association and city housing financing.
“A rescue of Noonan Plaza was attempted in 1976 by the Settlement Housing Fund, a nonprofit housing development corporation…”
- 1980
Only six families remain as the rescue effort gives up
By 1980 the complex had hit bottom, with just six families still living there. The Settlement Housing Fund, overwhelmed by the project's problems and costs, petitioned to sell, and another wave of vandalism followed. That year Noonan Plaza Assocs., part of Glick Development Affiliates, acquired the property.
- 1982
A $9 million rehabilitation, aided by the original architect's son, wins an award
Glick Construction Co. finished a $9 million rehabilitation in 1982 that turned the complex into federally subsidized apartments. Frederick Ginsbern, son of the original architect, took part in the work. The Municipal Art Society of New York gave the project a Certificate of Merit Award that year.
- 2010
Noonan Plaza becomes a New York City landmark
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Noonan Plaza Apartments on June 22, 2010, calling it one of the most impressive Art Deco apartment complexes in the Bronx. Four people spoke in favor at the December 2009 hearing, among them speakers for the Historic Districts Council, the New York Landmarks Conservancy and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
“Noonan Plaza Apartments, in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, is one of the most impressive Art Deco style apartment complexes in the borough.”
Further reading
- Noonan Plaza ApartmentsWikipedia
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