The two-story, Northern European Renaissance Revival style Firehouse, Engine Company 73, at the corner of Prospect Avenue and East 152nd Street in the Longwood neighborhood of the South Bronx, was constructed in 1900 during the period when an enormous number of public structures were being placed in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs following the Consolidation of Greater New York in 1898. The architects of this firehouse were [Arthur J.] Horgan & [Vincent J.] Slattery, a firm politically well-connected during the administration of Mayor Robert Van Wyck. The main facade is clad in orangish ironspot brick, limestone, and terra cotta, features a second-story enframement with a scrolled pediment, and originally had a decorative cornice and balustrade (replaced by a concrete parapet). The adjacent Firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 42, was built in 1912 to the design of [Frances L.V.] Hoppin & [Terence A.] Koen, partners who had worked in the firm of McKim, Mead & White, and whose most prominent commission was the New York City Police Headquarters (1905-09). This three-story, neo-Classical style structure was a standardized design intended for some 20 locations, “simple and dignified and without any unnecessary elaboration,” which was to be of fireproof concrete construction with a stucco finish. After bids for these firehouses overran appropriations, red brick, limestone, and cast-stone cladding was substituted. Engine Company 73 and Hook & Ladder Company 42 have continuously served the Longwood neighborhood to this day.
