Orchard Beach and Hunter Island Walking Tour

Date: October 21, 2023
TIme: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Venue: Orchard Beach Parking Lot, Bronx, NY 10464
Credits: 2 AIA
Price: AIA $20 / Associate AIA $20 / Non-members $30
RSVP to Bob Esnard: besnard@dzco.com , 212-977-4800 
Special Instructions - Wear comfortable shoes and tour will take place rain or shine.

The AIA walking tour will explore the promenade of Orchard Beach and discuss its architectural history, as well as situating the “Riviera of The Bronx” in its historical context; that is, the Robert Moses sponsored urban planning of the 20th century and its impact on The Bronx and New York City. The beach was borne out of the WPA and public works associated with the New Deal era of Franklin Roosevelt The walk will also focus on the development of the Bronx Park system and the City Beautiful movement of the late 19th and early 20th century’s, with a particular emphasis on Pelham Bay Park, at 2,772 acres, the largest park in New York City, of which Orchard Beach is a part. Pelham Bay Park was borne of a particularly propitious moment for city beautiful movement. The annexation of the West Bronx to New York City (in 1874) and the East Bronx (in 1895) hastened the urban development of The Bronx as a major mixed use business/residential urban area, a far cry from its early days as a critical agricultural supplier for New York City. Highlighted will be examples of urban planning and architectural construction that allowed for the creation of green spaces, which began early on in The Bronx with the New Parks Act of 1884. The act, spearheaded by Irish journalist and political reformer John Mullaly, created a committee charged with buying parkland north of the Harlem River, in what became the borough of The Bronx in 1898. As a result, the amount of total parkland in the Bronx is 4,000 acres, the most of any borough of New York City. Bronx Parks includes the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo, two institutions who were founded at the same time as the new parks were formed. All of these components of urban planning and the city beautiful movement will be discussed, as well as the private sector efforts combined with the government of the State and City of New York, to orchestrate the creation of Orchard Beach and Hunters Island in Pelham Bay Park in the 20th century. In addition, a system of “greenways” was laid out to connect these parks, including Pelham Parkway, which connected Pelham Bay Park to Bronx Park, so Bronx residents could get to any of the parks with ease. The access to Orchard Beach and Hunter Island is an excellent example of the Pelham Parkway “greenway” which include; a roadway for buses and cars, horse trails, running path, walkways, bicycle area and various seating locations and open spaces. The tour will visit the Hunter Island Wildlife Reserve, just adjacent to Orchard Beach. The flora and fauna of the East Bronx will be discussed, as will preservation efforts to maintain the ecology of Pelham Bay Park in a heavily urbanized Bronx. The tour will proceed down the Theodore Kazimiroff Nature Trail and hiking trails, and conclude at the Orchard Beach Parking lot where the tour began.