7. The Gerard

Despite its name, The Gerard is not located on Gerard Avenue, but is about a mile and a half to the east in Longwood, occupying a full blockfront on East 163rd Street between Kelly Street and Intervale Avenue.

Built about 1910, The Gerard was part of a wave of apartment houses constructed in Longwood that followed the opening of nearby subway stations at Intervale Avenue and Simpson Street (today served by the 2 and 5 trains). The area was developed by the American Real Estate Company and in its early years the neighborhood was branded as the “Areco District” after the company’s initials, similar to how Rego Park in Queens takes it name from the Real Good Construction Company. But, the name Areco District did not last and neither did its namesake; the American Real Estate Company went into bankruptcy in 1916.

The Gerard is a fairly typical apartment house of the old Areco District, although a distinctive feature is the framing of the entry doors with terra cotta reliefs of grape vines. Although a bit weathered looking, the terra cotta work is still intact after over a century later.

Some other neighborhood buildings did not fare as well. A tenement building across the street at 952 Kelly Street, where Colin Powell grew up, no longer stands; reportedly it burned down during the period when the neighborhood’s police precinct was known as “Fort Apache.”