Kingsbridge Armory

The Eighth Regiment Armory, also known as the Kingsbridge Armory, was constructed between 1912 to 1917 in Bronx, New York. The Armory was built to house the National Guard's Eighth Coastal Artillery Regiment unit which relocated from Manhattan in 1917.

Overview

The Kingsbridge Armory is a nine-story red-brick building with a 180,000 square foot drill hall and an 800 seat auditorium, the armory covers the entire block from Kingsbridge Road and 195th Street to Reservoir and Jerome Avenues. The building has a two story office wing and two cellar levels, which used to house military vehicles, space for storage, lecture halls, and fitness rooms, that included a basketball court and a shooting gallery. It was designated a city landmark in 1974, while the Eighth Regiment's former home was demolished in the 1960's. The state gave the title to the armory and its property to New York City in 1996. The Prior site before the Kingsbridge Armory, was "The Bathgate Mansion" (part of once was The Bathgate Estate), which was later purchaced by stock speculator, Leonard Jerome, for the building of Jerome Park Racetrack. When most of the racetrack property was purchaced by The City of New York to build what is today The Jerome Reservoir, the mansion remained till about the 1900's, when it was later raised for the building of the armory.

Redevelopment

The Armory was left to the city by the National Guard, due to nationwide military cutbacks. As a result of the Kingsbridge regiment's departure has inspired many proposals on what to do with the building, which has brought up much debate about the landmark's future. The desire for redevelopment began around 1994, when officials at School District 10 asked that public schools be built on the armory site. Since then, merchants and residents have worked with consultants to come up with ideas, according to Ronn Jordan, president of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition.

Entertainment

Throughout the years the Armory has hosted many events like dog and boat shows, due to the size of the building, but it also was the site of a Beach Boys concert in June of 1971 and in 2006 Warner Bros. rented the Armory for seven months at the price of $350,000 to film parts of Will Smith's, I Am Legend. The drill hall was turned into a preproduction and studio set; Warner Bros choose this site due to the size and age of the building.