Brooklyn and Bronx Developments Recommended For Historic Register Listing

 

Bay View Houses, via Google Maps.

The New York State Board for Historic Preservation has recommended several New York City properties for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, including public housing complexes in Brooklyn and The Bronx. Among the nominations are the Bay View Houses in Canarsie, Brooklyn, and three Northwest Bronx Scatter Site Housing developments, each representing notable moments in the evolution of mid-20th-century housing policy and civil rights-era planning. These nominations are part of a broader list of 19 properties and districts across the state recognized for their historical and architectural significance. 

The Bay View Houses, constructed between 1955 and 1956, reflect the final phase of city-funded middle-income public housing under New York City’s City IV program before the implementation of the Mitchell-Lama law shifted housing development toward private enterprise. The complex embodies mid-century planning ideals and addresses the city’s efforts to provide affordable housing prior to the expansion of state and federal programs. In The Bronx, the Bailey Avenue-West 193rd Street Houses, East 180th Street-Monterey Avenue Houses, and Fort Independence Street-Heath Avenue Houses were developed in the early 1970s under NYCHA’s scatter site program. These projects emerged as a direct response to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, aiming to reduce racial segregation in public housing by dispersing new developments into more diverse neighborhoods across the city.

Bailey Avenue-West 193rd Street Houses, via Google Maps.

The scatter site initiative marked a departure from earlier housing policies that had reinforced residential segregation. Designed to meet federal mandates prohibiting discrimination in federally funded programs, the program faced considerable public resistance and revealed entrenched attitudes toward race and integration in urban neighborhoods. These Bronx sites represent both the ambition and limitations of equitable housing reform during this period, reflecting a complex chapter in New York City’s planning history.

Bay View Houses are located near the Canarsie–Rockaway Parkway station, served by the L train. The Northwest Bronx developments are in proximity to multiple transit options, including stations serviced by the 1, 4, B, and D trains.