Designated March 28, 2000
(Former) AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY and HOME FOR THE FRIENDLESS WOODY CREST HOME, 936 Woodycrest Avenue, The Bronx.
Built 1901-02; architect, William B. Tuthill
Landmark Site: Borough of Bronx Tax Map Block 2504, Lot 6
This elegant Beaux-Arts style building, prominently sited on a bluff overlooking the Harlem River Valley, was constructed in 1901-02 as a home for abandoned and needy children. It was one of a number of important buildings for major charitable New York City institutions built in the Bronx at the tum of the century. The Society was founded in 1834 to aid impoverished women and children and was run entirely by women except for a small board of male counselors. Skillfully massed and terraced to disguise its size and richly decorated in the fashionable Beaux Arts style, the building appears to be a large mansion rather than an institutional structure. Its gray brick, stone, and terracotta facades are embellished with rustication, elaborate window surrounds, garlanded console brackets, and molded cornices. The symmetrically massed facade facing Woodycrest A venue is treated as a recessed entrance court framed by projecting comer pavilions and features an richly-decorated arched entrance surmounted by a balcony. The rounded bays on the south and east sides of the building, the terraced massing of the building on the hillside site, and the red tiled mansard roof punctuated by arched dormers, paneled chimneys and balustrades create a picturesque effect. On Woodycrest Avenue, the elaborate stepped masonry and wrought iron fence, terraced flower beds and double-staircase add distinction to the property.
