Some holdout houses in New York are wedged between newer buildings, shy domiciles that don’t seem to want to be noticed. Others are proud rebels that refused to bow to the wrecking ball.
Then there are the holdouts that stand on their own, unsupported by neighbors, lonely relics of a different era that don’t offer hints about their backstory.
Number 55 East 176th Street in the Morris Heights-Mount Hope section of the Bronx fits into the latter category. Its terra cotta entryway and wide-brimmed cornice place it as a late 19th century example of the kind of row house going up across the Bronx—a respectable home for the family of a professional, perhaps, or a business owner.
Property Shark dates it to 1899, when the great estates of this neck of the borough were being sold off and parceled out, and a middle class in need of housing was flooding the Bronx from the lower reaches of Manhattan.
It was likely part of a row of houses built by a developer on speculation. Similar survivors can be found in other pockets of the neighborhood. Here’s two for sale on Zillow that have the same bow front and window lintels.
It’s a style that seems specific to the Bronx, as it doesn’t match the row houses going up in other late 19th century developing residential areas, like the Upper West Side.
What makes this former row house so alluring is its miniature, dollhouse-like appearance, and the small details on its facade. But it’s a curious dwelling because of its lack of a backstory. All houses have stories. But records and information about this one have been hard to come by.
In 1909, a New York Times article describes it as a two-family dwelling. It made the small print of the newspaper because it was traded to another owner in exchange for a different house in the Bronx.
Another article a year later in the New York Tribune says the house, with a slender 25-foot frontage on a 125 foot plot, was sold again; no price was given.
By 1940 (third photo), the house was already the lone survivor of its (probable) row, with the same apartment house on one side and a fruit exchange, dry cleaner, and laundry on the other. Curtains cover the windows, which seem to be open though the people on the street are wearing coats.
Not long after the photo was taken, this part of the Bronx would begin to see its middle class depart and poorer residents move in.
In later decades, the house transitioned into a three-unit apartment residence. The Bronx fell into hard times; window bars went up on the parlor floor. In 2020, a woman who lived at Number 55 was found murdered in another Bronx building.
A sign for a construction company is affixed below the parlor windows. Is Number 55 getting a renovation? Its past is as yet unknown, and it’s future is uncertain.
Hopefully this unusual holdout is headed for better times, and by peeling back its layers during an upgrade, its story will emerge.
[Third photo: NYC Department of Records & Information Services]
Tags: 55 East 176th Street Bronx, Brick house 1899 Mount Hope Bronx, Bronx Holdout Houses, Bronx Row Houses from 19th century, Holdout house 55 East 176th Street Bronx, Morris Heights Historic House Bronx, Mount Hope Historic House Bronx, Unusual old houses Bronx
This entry was posted on January 5, 2026 at 5:05 am and is filed under Bronx and City Island. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.