History of Parkside Houses — NYCHA, The Bronx
Origins & Land History
2 The land on which Parkside Houses now stands was once part of the former estate of Lorillard Spencer (1860–1912), a descendant of Pierre Abraham Lorillard (1742–1776), a French Huguenot merchant. The estate made up a large portion of this area and Bronx Park. 2 The family built the landmarked snuff mill that still stands in the New York Botanical Gardens. 2 After Lorillard Spencer’s death, his descendants partitioned the land into over 1,000 lots for sale in 1917 to benefit the family and the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue. 2 The parcel remained largely undeveloped, but by 1940, a two-story brick building housing a garage and car service center stood on the property.
Planning & Construction (1947–1951)
1 In 1947, with Robert Moses riding the bulldozer, the NYCHA announced the construction of fifteen new developments that would accommodate sixty thousand new tenants. 1 One of these was the Parkside Houses, formerly eleven acres of granite outcropping in the north Bronx. The blasting commenced in 1948. 2 The city acquired the property through condemnation for the construction of the Parkside Houses complex. The New York City Housing Authority transferred a small parcel to the NYC Parks Department in 1948 to create a playground for the community. 2 The complex was completed in 1950, and the playground opened a year later with eight handball and four basketball courts, a public restroom, a wading pool, a sand pit, and play equipment. 1 In the spring of 1951, the first tenants — often called “the Originals” — began to move in.
Why Residents Moved In
1 For many in this postwar wave of newcomers, the move to the new projects was just as much about seeking decent affordable housing as it was about finding any housing at all. In the years immediately after the war, returning GIs married in record-breaking numbers only to discover that the city’s available housing stock was borderline nonexistent, forcing many of them to live in overpriced, cramped living quarters they could barely afford.
The Name “Parkside”
2 The name of Parkside Houses references the development’s proximity to Bronx Park, one of the largest parks in New York City. Bronx Park includes the New York Botanical Gardens, the Bronx Zoo, and Ranaqua, NYC Parks’ Bronx headquarters.
Early Community Life (1950s–1960s)
1 As elsewhere in the NYCHA kingdom, many Parkside families embraced the “springboard concept,” taking advantage of their relatively better living situations and eventually leaving for even better ones. The development initially served as a stable, mixed community of working families. 1 Into the late 1960s, Parkside more or less maintained a solid racial balance, a combination of no other affordable alternatives and a core of old-timers who still enjoyed life there and saw no reason to move.
Demographic Shifts & the Co-op City Exodus (1968–1970s)
1 In 1968, the white population of all NYCHA housing projects was down 29 percent. 1 Beginning roughly in 1970, Co-op City — a 15,000-unit high-rise complex built a few miles from the Westchester border — began offering apartments and townhouses for sale; a two-bedroom went for $3,000. 1 In one building alone, twenty-one out of twenty-eight families put down their deposit and left. This mass exodus was repeated building by building across the Bronx, leaving behind those who financially couldn’t or wouldn’t go, and creating nearly overnight a public housing occupancy vacuum. 1 By the early 1970s, public housing had turned a corner — increasingly segregated and increasingly economically strapped.
Decline in the 1970s–1980s
1 Parkside in the late 1970s was a community in which economic security was tenuous at best; the market crashes and rising unemployment of that decade, combined with institutional racism, political indifference, and an unspoken acknowledgment in the NYCHA that it was now in the business of running a welfare state, contributed to a period of serious decline for the development. 1 In 1968, the NYCHA began accepting tenants from welfare hotels, which further changed the social fabric of developments like Parkside.
Physical Layout & Statistics
5 Parkside Houses, located at 2945 White Plains Road in the Bronx (ZIP 10467), has 878 current units (879 total), 3,708 rental rooms, 14 residential buildings ranging from 6 to 15 stories, and a total area of 485,455 square feet. The average monthly gross rent is $550. 5 The total population is approximately 1,604 residents, with 393 families on fixed income, representing 47% of residents. The development’s original construction cost was 5 $9,676,316, with a cost per rental room of $2,606.
Community & Playground Improvements
2 In 1999, the Parkside Playground was renovated; four handball courts were refurbished, the basketball courts were resurfaced, new play equipment was installed, and a small concrete frog was added. 2 In 2024, green infrastructure to capture stormwater was also added.
Location & Community Board
7 Parkside Houses is one of the NYCHA developments located in Bronx Community Board 11, along with Eastchester Gardens and Pelham Parkway Houses, and its management office is located at 2963 White Plains Road, Bronx, NY 10467.
In summary, Parkside Houses has had a rich and complex history — from its origins on the estate of a prominent tobacco family, to its construction as part of Robert Moses’ postwar urban renewal ambitions, through decades of community life, demographic transition, economic hardship, and ongoing efforts at revitalization.
Parkside Houses – NYCHA Development History
Location and Construction:
10 Parkside Houses was completed on June 12, 1951, as an 11.14-acre Bronx development bordered by Adee and Arnow Avenues, White Plains Road and Bronx Park East. 2 The name references the development’s proximity to Bronx Park, one of the largest parks in New York City.
Pre-Construction:
1 Parkside Houses was one of fifteen new developments announced by NYCHA in 1947, built on what was formerly eleven acres of granite outcropping in the north Bronx. 2 The city acquired the property through condemnation for the construction, and NYCHA transferred a small parcel to Parks in 1948 to create a playground for the community.
Physical Description:
10 Parkside Houses has 14 buildings, ranging from 6, 7, 14 and 15-stories tall with 879 apartments. The development is located at 2963 White Plains Road in Community Board 11 of the Bronx.
Demographics and Social History:
1 Parkside was considered “middle income” and was whiter than some other NYCHA developments but more mixed than others. The development evolved significantly over the decades, experiencing demographic changes that reflected broader trends in public housing. 1 In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a mass exodus of residents across Bronx public housing, leaving behind those who financially couldn’t or wouldn’t go, and by the early 1970s, public housing had become increasingly segregated and economically strapped.
Parkside Houses remains an active NYCHA development today, serving residents in the Bronx’s Community Board 11.