Page 23 - Sajo ENG

1927–1928

ALHAMBRA GARDENS

750-760 Pelham Parkway South, The Bronx, New York City

The Alhambra Gardens apartment complex in Pelham Parkway South served as
a model for other residential buildings in the district, inhabited mainly by up-
and-coming Jews, originally from Eastern Europe, who moved from the Lower
East Side to West Bronx in search of more modern housing.

The Alhambra Gardens project, co-designed by Springsteen & Goldhammer
and István Sajó, shows the architectural influence of what is referred to as
Spanish Colonial Revival. Around 1925–1926, at the Mediterranean Architect
Studio, Sajó, Roland Wank and Loránd Berzőffy developed designs for this style
under the umbrella term Mediterranean Revival Architecture, which proved to
be useful practical experience for Sajó to start working on the Bronx residential
project with his partners.

The size and colour scheme of the U-plan apartment complex is reminiscent of a
Middle Eastern fortress rather than a Mediterranean-style manor. The monotony
of the solid façade is broken up by vertically articulated brick and plastered-and-
painted building sections. It is lent dynamism by horizontally banded pilaster
strips, avant-corps, bay windows resting on corbels and jutting-out like avant-
corps, as well as by attics with varied decorations at the top.

The stairwells of the six-storey complex of 132-apartments could be accessed
through the vaulted passages of an inner garden. The residents of the well-
equipped, modern apartments benefited from modern technology (lifts, electric
cooling, household waste incinerators) and even had their own tennis court and
school bus service.

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