5205 Sycamore Avenue

Riverdale | built 1867

Open on the map3 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1867

    A gardener's cottage stands at the south gate of Robert Colgate's estate

    This house is thought to have begun as a gardener's cottage on the estate William Cromwell built and Robert Colgate later owned. A building stood here, just south of the southern entrance to the estate driveway, by 1867-68, and an 1876 map shows it with an addition. Plans at the Bronx Department of Buildings show the oldest part is the bay on the east side facing Sycamore Avenue.

    “…this house is thought to have been a gardener's cottage. A building stood on this site, south of the southern driveway entrance to the estate, by 1867-68.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1909

    George W. Perkins has architect Thomas Greenlees Jr. enlarge the cottage

    In 1909, soon after George W. Perkins bought the estate, architect Thomas Greenlees Jr. enlarged the building and added a story, bringing it to two and a half stories. After the work the house had wood siding, round-arched windows and a jerkinhead roof, a design later alterations have since hidden.

    “In 1909, shortly after George W. Perkins had bought the estate, the building was altered by architect Thomas Greenlees, Jr.; a story was added…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1937

    The O'Connell Brothers have Lucht & Anderson remodel the old cottage in brick

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    When the estate was first divided in 1937, the O'Connell Brothers bought this lot and hired the firm of Lucht & Anderson to remodel the house into its present form, with a brick veneer, porches on the east and west, and squared-off window openings. In 1943 Harry Lucht made more changes for Edward F. McShane, rebuilding the roof to its current peaked shape.

    “In 1937, when the estate was first subdivided, the O'Connell Brothers bought this lot and commissioned the firm of Lucht & Anderson to remodel the house…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

All 301 buildings with stories in Riverdale